Yushukan

Adjoining Yasukuni Shrine, this is Japan's oldest military and war museum, first established in the late nineteenth century. Its galleries trace the country's modern conflicts through weapons, uniforms, personal effects, and large exhibits including an aircraft and a locomotive. The museum's interpretation of history has drawn international controversy, making a visit as much an exercise in understanding contested memory as in viewing artifacts. Its stone entrance hall and collection reward those interested in how nations narrate their past.