Building Open to the Public 2025: “The House that Weaves Time” Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum

Last updated on 2026-05-26

My impressions of the “Building Open to the Public 2025: The House That Weaves Time” exhibition, which I viewed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum on July 7, 2025.

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Exhibition Overview
View Report
Gallery
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Exhibition Overview

Building Open House 2025 “The House that Weaves Time”
June 7th (Sat) – August 24th (Sun), 2025
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (Main Building + New Building)
General Admission: 1000 yen, other discounts available, admission possible with the Gurutto Pass.

In addition to the artwork list, this exhibition distributed a tri-fold A5-size guidebook titled ‘The House That Weaves Time’.

This guidebook contains articles about the museum’s 89-year history and its architect, Yokichi Gondo.

As this exhibition permits free entry to and exit from the garden area outside the museum, you must show your ticket at the entrances to the new and main buildings when moving between exhibition rooms. If you view the exhibition in one continuous flow and exit the new building into the garden, you only need to show your ticket once. However, if you return to the main building or re-enter the new building to view the exhibits again, you will need to show your ticket each time. This system is inconvenient for people who like to view the exhibits in any order. Having to show your ticket repeatedly is surprisingly troublesome, so it would be appreciated if they provided a wristband or something similar to indicate entry.

My impression: “The building as a landscape”

On 4 July 2025, I visited the ‘Building Open to the Public 2025: The House That Weaves Time’ exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, which focuses on the museum itself. This year’s theme was ‘Time’.

I went at a time when there were relatively few visitors, which allowed me to view the museum from a distance. While it is good to focus on a single element, it is also rewarding to see the various elements of the museum together. This exhibition offered a unique viewing experience: the side door of the perfume bottle display was closed; a tea set had been placed in the dining room; a gramophone and bookshelves had been displayed in the second-floor hall; the normally closed ‘Second Bathroom’ had been made accessible; and works by contemporary artists who had previously exhibited at the Teien Art Museum had been displayed in the new wing. Walking through the museum was a fresh and exciting experience.

On the evening of Friday 22nd August, near the end of the exhibition, I visited the museum again for a social gathering. Having arrived before 5 pm, I was surprised to find a queue at the ticket office, but since I had bought my ticket online in advance, I was able to enter without any problems. During my last visit, I presented my ‘Gurutto Pass’ at the initial entrance in exchange for a paper ticket, which I then presented at each subsequent entrance. This time, assuming the initial entrance would be the same, I joined the queue, but it turned out that showing the QR code issued online at each entrance was sufficient, eliminating the need to queue at the initial entrance.

Due to the large number of visitors, the lockers were full and unusable.

Outside, there were food trucks, musical performances and dancing, and the gardens were filled with people dressed in 1920s and 1930s attire.

I wanted to watch the sunset from the checker room, but the queue to get in was incredibly long, so I gave up.

As there was no way to stop people entering the building, it became extremely crowded and I was concerned for the safety of the cultural artefacts. Some people were touching the walls and those trying to stop them seemed unable to move. This made it an unsuitable environment for enjoying the museum.

Even after 7 pm, people kept coming in through the entrance and there was a long queue at the ticket office. It didn’t look like it would get any less crowded, so I decided to leave. This building is truly beautiful at night.

Photos from the evening event on August 23rd have been posted in the gallery.

As an exhibition aligned with “time,” it features historical photographs and travel-related items formerly owned by the Asaka Imperial family. The bag shown below is one example.

Top: Poster for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. Bottom: Trunk (Y.A.), formerly owned by the Asaka Imperial Family.

On the second floor, next to the “North Room,” the “Second Bathroom” is open to the public. The wallpaper in this room is in poor condition, so it is expected to be restored in the future.

The fireplace area in the “Princess’s Living Room” on the second floor is recreated with miniature furnishings.

This is “Jewelry Room,” a work by sister artists Akiko and Masako Takada, which is part of our collection.

It’s an unexpected use of space, and I didn’t realize it was a work by Akiko and Masako Takada until I saw it on their Instagram.

The delicate craftsmanship of the miniatures is wonderful. You can appreciate the fireplace a little more closely from the side.

In the new building, in addition to items related to Princess Yoshiko, wife of Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, we were able to see two works by contemporary artist Ai Sasaki, “The Dreams the Birds Saw” and “Door,” two works by Otto Kuntzli, “Mirror” and “Komainu VII,” and finally, reproductions of the building’s decorative items.

Both contemporary artists have exhibited at this museum before. Ai Sasaki participated in the 2020 exhibition “Garden of Life – Microcosms Discovered by 8 Contemporary Artists,” and Otto Kuntzli held the “Otto Kuntzli Exhibition” in 2015.