Karuizawa
KARUIZAWA

Karuizawa

A mountain resort at the foot of Mount Asama, beloved by locals

  • Duration: Approx. 9 hours (from 9:00, Tokyo)
  • Price: On request
  • Departure: Hotels in central Tokyo

Overview

Discovered as a summer retreat by foreign missionaries in the late 19th century, Karuizawa still draws artists and architects with its forests and clear air at the foot of Mount Asama.

 

The journey begins with about 70 minutes on the Hokuriku Shinkansen in GranClass. From the station, a private car with a Japanese driver takes you to museums set in the woods and to buildings in dialogue with nature: Hiroshi Senju's waterfall paintings in Ryue Nishizawa's architecture, a church of stone and light, and a museum of modern art in the forest.

 

Start: 9:00 / Duration: approx. 9 hours. Private car with driver. Round trip on the Hokuriku Shinkansen in GranClass included.

Route: Tokyo hotel → Karuizawa Station → Hiroshi Senju Museum → Kumoba Pond → Harunire Terrace → Stone Church → Sezon Museum of Modern Art → Karuizawa Station → Tokyo hotel

Key Features

  1. Hiroshi Senju Museum — A museum devoted to the painter Hiroshi Senju, designed by Ryue Nishizawa. A gently sloping floor and glass courtyards bring the light of the forest into the galleries, home to his celebrated Waterfall series.
  2. Kumoba Pond — A long, spring-fed pond also known as "Swan Lake". A path circles the water, and in the seasons of fresh green and autumn leaves its reflections form one of Karuizawa's best-known views.
  3. Harunire Terrace — A wooden boardwalk among elm trees along the Yukawa River in the Hoshino area, lined with restaurants, cafés and shops of local produce and crafts — a glimpse of Karuizawa's resort life today.
  4. Stone Church — Completed in 1988 to a design by the American architect Kendrick Kellogg. Overlapping arches of stone and glass draw light and greenery inside. A memorial to the thinker Uchimura Kanzo.
  5. Sezon Museum of Modern Art — A museum of 20th-century and contemporary art from Japan and abroad. Sculptures stand in a garden with a flowing stream, so the visit moves between the galleries and the forest.
  6. GranClass — Just 18 leather seats per car, three across. The highest class on the Hokuriku Shinkansen takes you from Tokyo to Karuizawa in about 70 minutes, with room to relax on both legs of the trip.

Itinerary

Day 1 — A Day in Karuizawa

By Shinkansen to a forest town, for a day of art and architecture

  • 08:30 Departure from Tokyo
    Transfer from your hotel to Tokyo Station, then the Hokuriku Shinkansen in GranClass to Karuizawa.
  • 10:15 Karuizawa Station
    Your driver meets you and the private car heads into the woods world.
  • 10:30 Hiroshi Senju Museum
    The Hiroshi Senju Museum is a rare example of a space where architecture, nature, and painting exist as a unified whole. Designed by Ryue Nishizawa, the museum follows the natural contours of the site and is filled with soft daylight and interior gardens. Its architecture provides an especially fitting setting for Senju’s world of waterfalls, cliffs, and forests, where light, the movement of water, and stillness become the central elements.
  • 11:55 Kumoba Pond
    A short walk along the shore to see the forest reflected on the water.
  • 12:45 Lunch at Harunire Terrace
    Lunch at a riverside restaurant, then free time among the shops of local produce and crafts.
  • 14:00 Stone Church
    A few minutes' walk through the woods from Harunire Terrace. Light falling between the stone arches, greenery through the glass: see from inside a building designed to become part of nature.
  • 14:55 Sezon Museum of Modern Art
    The Sezon Museum of Modern Art brings together a notable private collection of 20th-century art within the quiet forest setting of Karuizawa. Works of European modernism, American postwar art, and Japanese artists extend into the sculpture garden, where art is experienced in direct dialogue with the surrounding nature.
  • 16:10 To Karuizawa Station
    Hokuriku Shinkansen back to Tokyo, on a train chosen to suit the day's timetable, then a transfer to your hotel.

INTO THE FOREST

Opening to the Forest — Architecture and Art in Karuizawa

The architecture of Karuizawa shares one trait: it never turns its back on the forest. At the Hiroshi Senju Museum, glass courtyards take the place of walls and bring the trees into the galleries. At the Stone Church, light and greenery fall through gaps between the stone arches until the building itself seems part of the woods.

 

Karuizawa was discovered as a summer retreat in the late 19th century, and what people have sought here ever since is not only relief from the city's heat but time spent within nature. A day among its museums follows the same rhythm, moving easily between looking at art and looking out at the forest.

 

Art, architecture and forest — follow, at your own pace, the places where the three meet.

Additional options

 

  • Shiraito Falls — Fine streams of water falling across a broad rock face; for guests who prefer nature to a second museum.
  • Musée Ando à Karuizawa — A private museum devoted entirely to Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (opened 2022), known for his cats and portraits of girls.
  • Karuizawa New Art Museum — Near Old Karuizawa, focusing on Japanese post-war and contemporary art.
  • Onioshidashi Park — A landscape of rocks formed by the lava of Mount Asama's great eruption in 1783.

Practical Information

Start time / Duration
9:00 / approx. 9 hours
Included in the price
・Hokuriku Shinkansen GranClass (round trip)
・Private car with driver in Karuizawa
・Transfers in Tokyo
・Admission fees

*Meals and options are not included.

*The Hiroshi Senju Museum is closed in winter (26 Dec–end of Feb) and on Tuesdays, and the Sezon Museum on Thursdays; other venues may also close or shorten hours in winter.

*The Stone Church is closed to visitors during weddings; we confirm access in advance.

*GranClass on this route is seat-only (no food or drink service).