The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama

The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama is the seaside home of the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura and Hayama, an institution with a special place in Japanese cultural history as the first public museum of modern art ever established in the country. Set on the coast of the Miura Peninsula just south of Kamakura, with galleries that open toward Sagami Bay and, on clear days, a view of Mount Fuji across the water, it combines serious art with one of the most beautiful settings of any museum in the region.

The parent institution was founded in the postwar years and long occupied a celebrated modernist building beside the Heike Pond at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in central Kamakura, a landmark of twentieth-century Japanese architecture. When that historic Kamakura gallery closed, the museum's activities consolidated at the Hayama location, which opened at the turn of the millennium as a purpose-built modern facility. Together the museum's collection and exhibitions carry forward decades of pioneering work in introducing and championing modern and contemporary art in Japan.

The Hayama building is an attraction in itself. Low, light-filled and designed to harmonize with its coastal surroundings, it arranges spacious galleries, a courtyard, a museum shop and a restaurant around views of the sea and the pine-fringed shore. The permanent collection is strong in modern Japanese painting, sculpture and prints, and includes works by leading twentieth-century figures alongside international pieces, while a lively program of special exhibitions brings in everything from historical retrospectives to contemporary installations. Sculptures are also placed outdoors, where they can be enjoyed against the backdrop of the bay.

What sets a visit here apart is the way art and landscape flow together. The restaurant and rear terrace look directly onto the beach, and visitors can step down to the rocky, wave-washed shore immediately behind the galleries, making a museum trip here feel like a day at the seaside as much as a cultural outing. The changing light over Sagami Bay, the sea breeze and the sound of the surf create an atmosphere quite unlike a city museum, and the pairing of thoughtful exhibitions with sweeping ocean views is deeply refreshing.

Hayama has long been associated with leisure and the arts; it is home to an imperial villa and has drawn writers, artists and holidaymakers for generations, and the museum fits naturally into this cultured, coastal milieu. A visit combines beautifully with a walk along the Hayama and Isshiki beaches, some of the cleanest and most scenic near Tokyo, and with the seafood restaurants and cafes of the area.

The museum lies a little beyond the usual Kamakura sightseeing circuit, which keeps it pleasantly uncrowded. It is reached by bus from Zushi Station toward Hayama, or in about twenty minutes by car from central Kamakura, with free parking available. Allow around seventy-five minutes for the galleries and time on the terrace, and check which exhibition is showing before you go, as the program rotates. For art lovers and anyone seeking a calm, scenic escape combining culture and coast, the Museum of Modern Art at Hayama is a rewarding excursion from the temples and crowds of Kamakura proper.