Hakone Open Air Museum, Hakone
Address Hakone, Kanagawa, 250-0493 Japan Map, Tel 0460-82-1161 Call, Directions see museum website Website
This is a great modern art museum in the mountains in Japan, not too far from Tokyo. There are neat sculptures for adults, but some truly awesome interactive sculptures for kids under 12. We particularly loved this giant macrame structure. It had holes to climb through, and blebs to swing on, and doughnuts to relax on. Really wacky and really fun. There were also giant koi to feed and a lookout tower / echo chamber made of stained glass. We had limited time, so we skipped the more adult areas like the Picasso building, and hurried through. We'd love to go back.
In order to get to the museum, you take a bullet train, a mountain train and a funicular train. After the museum, you then continue on to a gondola/ski-lift-like ride and a fake galleon ride to complete the sightseeing circuit. All a bit over the top, and all really exciting for young kids.