Sompo Museum of Art
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One of the best parts of living in a gigantic city like Tokyo is that it’s pretty much impossible to have seen everything. There are always new restaurants, cafes, shops, and other attractions to check out. Being the proprietors of a Japan travel blog, we spend a lot of time looking for hidden gems in Tokyo. Despite this, sometimes it feels like we haven’t seen anything, that we know nothing about the city in which we’ve lived for the past two years. That was certainly the case on White Day this year, when we discovered there’s a museum in Tokyo that has a Van Gogh painting just sitting there to be looked at whenever we want. So we went there.
The Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo
The Sompo Museum of Art, located in Shinjuku, has been open since 1976, even though we’d never heard of it. It was founded by a rich guy from an insurance company, because of course it was. You might not even realize the museum is there if you were in the area, because this part of Shinjuku is full of big, long, empty blocks and is somewhat difficult to navigate.
The museum itself is pretty and clean. There are plenty of lockers in which to put your coats and purses during your visit, and unlike some other museums, those lockers are free, so you don’t have to have a coin to get the key. There are a lot of strict rules at the Sompo Museum, such as no food or drink, which includes water, gum, and candy. That may seem overly harsh and paternalistic, but… honestly, it’s not that big of a museum. Just don’t eat in there. Go to floor 1 or 2 when you need to take a drink.
Because the museum is small, there’s no need for a map, unless you’re the confused white lady we saw who didn’t understand that, like the Artizon Museum, the way you’re supposed to go through this place is to take the elevator up to floor 5, then view the galleries in descending order, ending your journey on level 2 where the gift shop is.
We paid our entry fee and were given ballots and tiny pens for the main exhibit. Why ballots? Allow me to explain.
The FACE 2025 contest exhibit
The current exhibition at the Sompo Museum featured selections from entrants of the 2025 FACE (Frontier Artist Contest Exhibition) contest. Over 1,300 entrants from across Japan submitted artwork, and 57 of them were chosen for display.
The major prizes had already been given out, with Dai Saito’s camp fire being awarded the Grand Prix. The other works in the above gallery were also winners of various prizes. But there was still the audience vote, for which we were entrusted with the honor of being THE DECIDER(s). We were to walk through the galleries on floors 4 & 5 and choose one painting we felt was the best, then write its number down on a ballot we would submit at the end.
We took our responsibility as voters quite seriously. We looked at all the paintings for a long time, judging them with our judgiest faces. As people who like to look at art but know nothing about it, we felt we were the perfect individuals to cast votes in this contest.
Selections from the 2025 FACE contest exhibit
I realize it was a Friday at around 3pm, but nonetheless, I would have expected more people than there were. This museum was practically deserted. We had all the time we wanted to look up close at every single painting, and it was SILENT in there. Not a peep from anyone (except us, talking at length about our opinions on every single painting).
Each painting had a small card next to it with the artist’s name and the title of the work, as well as a number. We were to write down the number of the one painting we wanted to vote for on our little slip of paper. No ranked voting here - you could only pick one - which really upped the drama. We took notes on the ones we liked and continued through the exhibit.
Some of our favorites from the FACE 2025 selections
I don’t know how good I expected these paintings to be, but whatever I thought, I was wrong. Going in, I didn’t know these 57 had been whittled down from 1,300. But looking at them, I guessed there were many, many entries, because every work in this exhibition was phenomenal. There were so many different types of art represented, all of them done with incredible precision and creativity. We were absolutely blown away.
This is not some amateur contest. It wasn’t filled with copycats of famous artists, or confusing contemporary pieces, or pictures of war with the words “COCA-COLA MCDONALD’S” printed on them or whatever. Each and every artist selected had done a tremendous job.
This made picking a single favorite really difficult. In the end, my choice came down to three, including two you see above, #13, Takashi Uemiya's Profusion (the one with the blue and purple blotches), and #36, They are, I am, by nag. (The one that looks like black strands of hair.)
Eriko had her choice boiled down to two, with her runner-up being #54, Nana Yokono’s Can't get through to them. We went back and looked at our favorites one last time, and in the end, we were able to make our decision.
Which ones did we pick as our favorites? Here’s who we voted for.
My vote went to #30, Atsuo Sato's Mutual dialog with existence. With so many impressive, detailed, creative, wild, out-there paintings of all styles, I was surprised to find that the one I couldn’t get off my mind was a picture of a shadow. But after positioning myself in front of each and every entry, I found this was the one that spoke to me the most. I decided to trust my gut and not question why.
Eriko’s favorite, a vote she changed at the last minute, was #44, Yuki Makino's Short day. A complex and varied abstract piece utilizing what I think are described as Earth tones (brown), this one definitely had a lot to offer. Eriko’s rationale of this over her other favorite was that if she had the money to buy any of these pieces to hang in our home, she’d choose this one. I can’t argue with that logic.
We cast our votes and walked down to floor 3, which houses selections from the museum’s permanent collection, including past FACE winners. Sadly, photography was not allowed on this floor, so we can’t share any photos with you. It’s too bad, because this exhibit had some of the best things we saw that day, like Hiroki Miyazato's WALL and Emiko Aoki's INFINITY Red. But there was one area on this floor where you could take pictures, so we took a lot of them.
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the Sompo Museum
The pig de resistance at the Sompo Museum is Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. It sits behind a thick pane of glass to prevent those jerks from gluing themselves to it, but the glass does not inhibit the viewing experience. The painting and frame are big and impressive and jump right out at you.
For some reason, we had several minutes with no one else in the room to just stare at this thing. It’s hard to look at a Van Gogh and not think about him suffering and trying to kill himself, or to read that sadness into everything he painted. I look at the wilting flowers at the bottom and think, “Aha! Pain! Give it to me, Vincent!” But maybe that’s just me.
I will say, usually when I see a Van Gogh, what always strikes me is his use of color. His paintings are notably brighter than other impressionist painters, but this one was rather muted. Once we got down to the gift shop where Eriko bought some tape and sticky notes that look like the sunflowers (she’s in the musem product game), I saw in a book that this is one of many versions of this sunflower painting, all with different color schemes, and that some of them were indeed brighter than this one while others were darker than this one. It seems this is an experiment with certain shades, and we saw one that ranked around the middle.
But the most important part is that this is a Van Gogh that is absolutely beautiful and moving, housed in a museum in Tokyo not far from places we’ve gone before, and we didn’t even know it was there. Sometimes life in the city can be pretty cool.
Verdict: should you make time in your trip to Tokyo for the Sompo Museum?
The FACE 2025 exhibition was a limited engagement, which means that by the time you make it to Tokyo, something else will be on display at the Sompo Museum, and it might not be a type of art that you enjoy. But man, did we like these paintings. I would say I saw more art that I liked at the Sompo Museum than at the Artizon Museum, and that one is full of famous artists.
No matter what, you’ll still get to see Sunflowers, and selections from the permanent collection. And I’m sure the showings on floors 4 & 5 will have their merits as well. It’s a quick experience and there’s no need for advance tickets, so if you’re staying at the Hilton Tokyo or hanging out in Shinjuku, you have every reason to stop by and check it out.
Best of all? It was 800 yen apiece. That’s five bucks. I’ve paid a lot more than that for things that were way less enjoyable. You probably won’t see the Sompo Museum on most lists of what to do in Tokyo, but you should. Go there and brag to your friends that you knew about it and they didn’t.
Where to find the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo
Address: 1 Chome-26-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku City, Tokyo 160-0023
Phone: 50-5541-8600
Website: SOMPO Museum of Art
Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; closed Monday.
The Sompo Museum is west of Shinjuku station, near the Hilton Tokyo and Puppy Cafe Rio, but on the opposite side from Shanghai Xiao Long Bao. Finding a train that goes to Shinuku is easy, but finding your way out of the station (and in the direction you want) is a truly Japanese experience. We have no advice for that. Good luck.
