Yamanashi Prefectural Museum

Around 80 percent of Yamanashi Prefecture is verdant woodland and rugged mountain ranges. That considered, it is fitting that the prefecture’s principal museum tells Yamanashi’s fascinating story through the lens of the relationship between nature and humankind.

Opened in 2005 and set within expansive gardens, the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum’s sleek, low-profile architecture embodies a quietly restrained modernism in harmony with its surroundings. Inside, before entering the exhibition area proper, you will pass by a tranquil Zen-style garden designed to symbolize the landscape of Yamanashi.

Take advantage of a free audio guide (in English, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean) to bring the museum’s exhibits fully to life. Visually rich and powered in places by the latest interactive technology, these see locally sourced artifacts—dating back as far as 10,000 years ago, when Yamanashi was home to the Jomon people—given illuminating context.

From prehistory through to antiquity, the turbulent Warring States period (1467-1568), and the beginnings of modernity in the Edo period (1603-1868), Yamanashi’s central role in the nation’s history is conjured up by immersive hands-on installations and full-size replicas of historic statues. You are also invited to try on period costume, heightening the time-travel effect.

Reminding us that nature is both benevolent and at times fearsome, the museum places emphasis on how Yamanashi’s rivers, mountains, and forests have provided transportation, food, and other resources, yet also endangered the locality with catastrophic flooding and other disasters.