Tokyo National Museum

The experience

Japan's oldest national museum, founded in 1872, spread across several buildings at the north end of Ueno Park. The Honkan runs Japanese art chronologically from Jomon pottery through Buddhist sculpture, swords, armour and ukiyo-e; the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures holds 7th-century objects from the Nara temple. A landscaped garden with relocated teahouses sits behind the Honkan and opens seasonally.

The single best place to see how Japanese art actually developed, laid out in order and never rushed.

What a membership adds.

Everything above is free: the name, the photo, the rating, the exact spot. What members get is the part you can't Google: the sourced insider tip for this place (what to order, when to go, what to skip), every day of your trips unlocked in full with the insider tip on every researched stop, and the concierge at full strength, answering with your own insider tips, no daily meter.