Odaiba museums, compared

Odaiba has no big national art gallery on the waterfront. What it has is a cluster of museums built for taking part: walking barefoot through projections, posing inside optical illusions, standing next to wax celebrities, peering at miniature cities. Most of them are within a few minutes of each other on the Yurikamome line, and two share one mall.

If you searched for “odaiba art museum” or “odaiba museum digital”, the two closest matches are digital art at teamLab Planets and trick art at DECKS. The teamLab museum that used to stand in Odaiba itself has moved; the closed attractions page explains where.

The museums side by side

Prices are the official adult prices at the time of our check. “Time needed” is our planning guide, not an operator figure. Several museums use date-based pricing, so check the official site or the ticket card for your day.

teamLab Planets: the one most people come for

teamLab Planets is the museum behind most “teamlab odaiba” searches, but it is in Toyosu, not on Odaiba island. Get off the Yurikamome at Shin-Toyosu and the entrance is a minute from the north exit. From Daiba it is roughly a quarter of an hour on the same line, which is why it slots so easily into an Odaiba day.

You walk parts of it barefoot, and the water can rise to knee height even for adults. Free rental shorts come in sizes XS to 6L, and there are free lockers after the gate. The outdoor Moss Garden glows after sunset, so an evening slot suits people who want that; a morning slot suits people who want to be in Odaiba by lunch.

Tickets are for a set entry time, with no cancellations or refunds. The official DMM store lets you change the date up to 2 hours before entry, at most 3 times, which is worth knowing if your plans are loose. The run is announced through the end of 2027.

Full details, including sizes, timing and how the ticket options differ, are on the teamLab Planets page.

DECKS Tokyo Beach: two museums, one building

DECKS is the rainy-day answer. The Trick Art Museum and Madame Tussauds sit a few floors apart, and Joypolis, LEGOLAND Discovery Center and the Daiba Haunted School are in the same complex. Odaiba-kaihinkoen station is 2 minutes away.

Tokyo Trick Art Museum (Seaside Mall 4F) is the cheapest paid museum here at ¥1,200 for adults and ¥800 for ages 4–14. The theme is Japanese and Edo-period trick art: you pose, change angles and let the camera do the work. Photos are encouraged; food and drink are not allowed. Go with at least one other person, because most illusions need someone to hold the phone.

Madame Tussauds Tokyo (Island Mall 3F) has zones for film, music, sport, fashion and world leaders, plus VR experiences. Officially named figures include Masaki Suda and YOSHIKI of X JAPAN alongside Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The web advance price is ¥2,100 against ¥2,600 on the day, and payment on site is by card or some e-money only, no cash. Buy by the day before and you save the difference.

The Odaiba Takoyaki Museum on the same premises is a place to eat takoyaki, not a museum in the usual sense, but it makes an easy lunch stop between the two.

Small Worlds: the long visit

Small Worlds is in Ariake, three minutes from Ariake-Tennis-no-mori station, a short ride past Odaiba on the Yurikamome. The operator describes it as one of the largest miniature museums in Asia, with about 7,000 m² of floor space. Areas include a Space Center, a Kansai International Airport, a Shibuya area and two Evangelion areas.

It rewards slow looking, so it is the museum where people most often underestimate the time. Adults pay ¥3,200, ages 12–17 ¥2,100 and ages 4–11 ¥1,700, and the price is the same online and at the door. Tripods and selfie sticks are not allowed.

There is also a 3D figure service: you are scanned on 3F and a small figure of you is posted home about a month later. An M-size (1/35) figure costs ¥6,600.

Unko Museum: a museum about poop, in DiverCity

The Unko Museum on DiverCity Tokyo Plaza 2F is exactly what the name says. Rooms include the Poop Volcano, the Dancing Poop Room and a neon gate, and the My Poop Maker lets you make your own. It is loud and not deep, and children love it.

Adult prices run from ¥2,000 on standard days to ¥2,800 on the busiest ones. There is no re-entry and no luggage storage, so leave bags in a coin locker first. The Gundam Base Tokyo, free to enter, is five floors up if someone in your group needs a trade.

Miraikan: closed for renovation

Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, is closed from 1 October 2026 to 22 April 2027. Reopening is planned for 23 April 2027. Do not book a Miraikan ticket from an agent for a date inside that window; a ticket bought for those dates cannot be used.

When it is open, it is the best-value museum in the area: ¥630 for adults and ¥210 for ages 18 and under (free on Saturdays). The centrepiece is Geo-Cosmos, a globe 6 metres across made of OLED panels. One myth to drop: ASIMO demonstrations ended in March 2022, so there is no ASIMO on show.

During the closure, Small Worlds is the closest substitute in feel, and it is only a few stops away. Our Miraikan page covers the reopening plans.

Museum of Maritime Science: only the ship Soya

Older guides still list the Museum of Maritime Science as a full museum. It is not. Demolition of the ship-shaped main building began in February 2024, and the annex and outdoor exhibits closed to the public on 28 January 2024.

What you can still board is Soya, the Antarctic ship. Entry is reported as free, and hours as 10:00–17:00 with last boarding at 16:30, closed Mondays. The nearest station is Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, which was called Fune-no-kagakukan until it was renamed. Older maps may still show the old name.

Getting between them in a sensible order

All of these museums sit on or near one railway, the Yurikamome, which runs from Shimbashi out across the bay and ends at Toyosu. That makes it easy to string them together if you move in one direction instead of zig-zagging.

A good order for a full day starts at the far end. Take a morning slot at teamLab Planets (Shin-Toyosu), then ride back two stops to Ariake-Tennis-no-mori for Small Worlds. Continue towards Odaiba and get off at Odaiba-kaihinkoen for DECKS, where Trick Art is open until 20:00 at the time of our check; Madame Tussauds closes earlier, so do it first. The Unko Museum is in DiverCity, about five minutes on foot from Aomi station or three from Tokyo Teleport on the Rinkai line.

That is too much for one day for most people. Pick two museums and leave room for the waterfront: the beach and the free Tokyo Aqua Symphony fountain shows in Odaiba Marine Park are a few minutes’ walk from Daiba and Odaiba-kaihinkoen stations.

If you make three or more Yurikamome trips, the one-day pass (¥820 for adults, ¥410 for children) is cheaper than single fares.

Small, cheap extras

Two stops are not museums in name but fill a gap between them. The Fuji TV building near Daiba station has a gallery and a Gachapin×Mukku museum on 5F, plus free areas on 1F and 7F; the Hachitama observation room on 25F costs ¥800. At DiverCity, the Gundam Base Tokyo on 7F is free to enter and works as a model-kit showroom.

Which museum for whom

• One museum only, adults: teamLab Planets. Book ahead, pick your slot, bring nothing you mind getting wet.
• Families with young kids: Trick Art plus the Unko Museum is a cheap-ish, short-attention-span pair. Small Worlds suits children who like looking closely.
• Rain all day: stay in DECKS. Trick Art, Madame Tussauds and Joypolis are all indoors, with lunch at the Takoyaki Museum.
• Anime and model fans: Small Worlds for the Evangelion areas, then the Gundam Base Tokyo in DiverCity.
• Tight budget: the ship Soya (free), the Trick Art Museum (¥1,200) and Fuji TV’s Hachitama observation room (¥800) cover a day for very little. Miraikan joins that list again after it reopens.
• Science: wait for Miraikan’s reopening, or accept that nothing nearby replaces it.

Can a pass save money?

Trick Art, Madame Tussauds and Small Worlds are all among the facilities in the Odaiba Tour Pass, sold on Klook as the Special Tour Pass in Odaiba. The edition we checked was valid from 1 April to 30 September 2026. It is sold in seasonal editions, so check whether your dates are bookable. If they are, it can cut the cost of two or three museums in one day. Our Odaiba pass page has a worked example and the fallback options.

Klook Check Special Tour Pass dates on Klook

For getting between museums, the Yurikamome one-day pass costs ¥820 for adults. The Tokyo Subway Ticket does not cover it. The getting there page has the details.