Yūshū-kan

Kōrakuen & Akihabara

LoginSave

Most history museums in Japan skirt the issue of WWII or focus on the burden of the common people. Not so here: Yūshū-kan begins with Japan's samurai tradition and ends with its defeat in WWII. It is also unapologetic and has been known to boil the blood of some visitors with its particular view of history.

There are also some emotionally harrowing exhibits, such as the messages (translated into English) of kamikaze pilots written to their families before their final missions. In the lobby is a locomotive that ran along the Burma Railroad.

Transportation

  • subway: Hanzōmon line to Kudanshita, exit 1

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Tokyo Imperial Palace, tokyo, japan 138905807 ancient, architecture, asia, asian, attraction, bridge, building, castle, city, edo, emperor, fort, fortress, historic, historical, history, imperial, japan, japanese, king, landmark, moat, monarchy, nijubashi, old, oriental, otemachi, palace, royal, royalty, stone, tokyo, tower, travel, urban, wall

    Imperial Palace

    1.04 MILES

    The Imperial Palace occupies the site of the original Edo-jō, the Tokugawa shogunate's castle. In its heyday this was the largest fortress in the world,…

  • April 29, 2018: The Robot statue in an open garden space at the Ghibli museum.

    Ghibli Museum

    9.72 MILES

    This museum is the heart of the Studio Ghibli world, a beloved (even 'adored') film studio responsible for classic, critically-acclaimed animated titles…

  • Shinjuku, Tokyo, Kanto region, Japan. Tiny alleys crowded with night bars and clubs at Golden Gai district.

    Golden Gai

    2.16 MILES

    Golden Gai – a Shinjuku institution for over half a century – is a collection of tiny bars, often literally no bigger than a closet and seating maybe a…

  • Tokyo, Ueno, Taito-ku: Tokyo National Museum, Honkan

    Tokyo National Museum

    2.48 MILES

    If you visit only one museum in Tokyo, make it the Tokyo National Museum. Here you'll find the world's largest collection of Japanese art, including…

  • Tokyo, Japan view of Shibuya Crossing, one of the busiest crosswalks in the world. aerial, architecture, asia, asian, billboards, buildings, business, city, cityscape, commercial, cross, crosswalk, crowd, district, downtown, dusk, evening, famous, futuristic, japan, japanese, landmark, lights, location, metropolis, metropolitan, modern, morning, night, office, pedestrian, people, place, plaza, road, scene, scenery, scenic, shibuya, shopping, signs, skyline, skyscrapers, square, street, tokyo, twilight, urban, view, walk

    Shibuya Crossing

    3.44 MILES

    Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world (and definitely in Japan), Shibuya Crossing is like a giant beating heart, sending people in all…

  • Tokyo, Japan - May 6, 2017: Cup noodles Museum Front display in Yokohama.; Shutterstock ID 652705672; Your name (First / Last): Laura Crawford; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: BiA: Takayama, south of Tokyo POI images for online

    Cup Noodles Museum

    17.54 MILES

    This impressively slick attraction is dedicated to, you guessed it, cup noodles. But in reality, its focus is more broad, with numerous exhibitions…

  • teamLab Borderless

    teamLab Borderless

    2.3 MILES

    Digital-art collective teamLab has created 60 artworks for this museum, open in 2018, that tests the border between art and the viewer: many are…

  • Exterior of the Sensouji Temple. 1075025648 architecture, asakusa, asia, background, blue, buddhism, buddhist, building, capital, city, copy, cultural, day, destination, famous, god, japan, japanese, landmark, landscape, morning, old, people, pray, red, religion, senso-ji, sensoji, sensouji, shinto, shrine, sky, space, temple, tokyo, tourism, tourists, travel, worship

    Sensō-ji

    3.3 MILES

    Tokyo’s most visited temple enshrines a golden image of Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy), which, according to legend, was miraculously pulled out of…

View more attractions

Nearby Kōrakuen & Akihabara attractions

1. Yasukuni-jinja

0.08 MILES

Literally ‘For the Peace of the Country Shrine’, Yasukuni is the memorial shrine to Japan’s war dead, around 2.5 million souls. First built in 1869, it is…

2. Mizuma Art Gallery

0.24 MILES

Run by longtime Tokyo art-world figure Sueo Mizuma, Mizuma Art Gallery represents some of Japan's more successful contemporary artists, such as Aida…

3. Tayasu-mon

0.35 MILES

Dating from 1635, the northern gate to Kitanomaru-kōen was once part of Edo-jō and is designated as a national important cultural asset.

4. Chidori-ga-fuchi

0.35 MILES

This section of the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace is one of the city's most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots. There's a 700m-long…

5. Tokyo Dai-jingū

0.37 MILES

This is the Tokyo branch of Ise-jingū, Japan's mother shrine in Mie Prefecture. Credited with establishing the Shintō wedding ritual, Tokyo Dai-jingū is a…

6. National Shōwa Memorial Museum

0.44 MILES

This museum of WWII-era Tokyo gives a sense of everyday life for the common people: how they ate, slept, dressed, studied, prepared for war and endured…

7. Kitanomaru-kōen

0.51 MILES

This large park north of the Imperial Palace is home to noteworthy museums as well as the Nippon Budōkan concert hall. The gate at the park’s northern end…

8. Crafts Gallery

0.55 MILES

This red-brick building, an annex of MOMAT, stages excellent changing exhibitions of mingei (folk crafts): ceramics, lacquerware, bamboo, textiles, dolls…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "url": "japan/tokyo/akihabara-and-around/attractions/yushu-kan/a/poi-sig/1235912/1323659",
  "destination": "Kōrakuen-&-Akihabara",
  "continent": "Asia",
  "country": "Japan",
  "city": "Tokyo",
  "neighborhood": "Kōrakuen-&-Akihabara",
  "position": "superzone"
}