What other travelers are saying about Shoji Ueda Museum of Photography
is a pretty small museum.
was it worth 1000 yen? if you have some extra time. To do the whole building, it takes around 44 minutes, in a generous saying.
it’s art. but for those who truly love photography, the exhibition here could be underwhelming - fact is, it’s a long trip from the yonago station for just this one hat+window photo.
i took taxi coz i don’t bother the train+bus. at the yonago station tourist centre, you can ask the staff to book in advance (before you go to the museum) the taxi for your way back, so you can leave comfortably.
Fabulous exhibition of photography on the first and second floors 🙅🏻♀️no photos allowed of the exhibit. But photos are allowed for the architecture which was modern and clean. A gift shop sells books of the artists work and other items.
Very beautiful modern museum dedicated to a photographer's love for taking pictures of his daily observations. We spent close to 2.5 hours, enjoying the exhibits and the video of his life story. The museum's location is near the foot of Mt Daisen, so you can see it in the distance from the glass windows.
Although there is a small cafe and souvenir shop, it does not serve food, only hot coffee. Ample parking spaces available and it is not too crowded.
Stunning building and beautiful view of Daisen. However, and it pains me to say this, I was really disappointed by the lack of personal artifacts for more in-depth context of his work. The two short documentaries with near identical content helped a little bit. Also I think in total there was less than 60 works on display (from an archive of 12,000).
It would have been nice to see photos of Ueda when he was young, replicas of cameras he used, contact sheets, notebooks or other ephemera that showed his thinking. For his fashion series—showing the ads or magazines they were shot for would have been interesting. His many awards!! Hello!!
For a museum in his name it didn’t feel all that intimate. I guess with all the time and effort it took to get here I felt a little bit slighted. But again, the space is gorgeous so if you’re willing to make the trek and the weather is good definitely stop by.
Access notes: I ended up spending over 4000yen on a taxi from Yonago Station. Whoops! Just as well though because Kishimoto Station is teeny tiny. If you have a Japanese phone you could call a cab from this station and save some yen. Or wait for the bus or walk ~35min uphill. If you’re traveling through this area you already know you need cash but entrance is 1000yen cash.
Merch: Cash only because their system was down. Wanted the book but only had enough yen left for the poster. They didn’t have tubes so had to carry it in a small bag. Please offer tubes for sale for posters!
TL;DR: Go if you’re already in the area and wanna get a nice view of Daisen and see a few interesting photos.
Shoji Ueda was a Japanese photographer born in Sakaiminato, Tottori in 1913, who became internationally acclaimed for his surrealistic photographic style that combined realistic depiction with subjects arranged as compositional elements. His distinctive approach was so unique it earned its own designation in French photography circles: "Ueda-cho" (Ueda style). He particularly loved photographing against the backdrop of the Tottori Sand Dunes, often using his own family members as subjects.
The Shoji Ueda Museum of Photography was founded in 1995, five years before the photographer's death in 2000. The museum's collection consists of over 12,000 works by Shoji Ueda, with rotating exhibits throughout the year showcasing different themes and aspects of his vast body of work.
On the museum's second floor, visitors can create their own surreal photos by posing with props in front of a view of Mount Daisen. There are pools of water that can be used to create mirrored effects in photos, and visitors can use the famous Ueda hat in their compositions. The museum also features a giant camera obscura that uses natural light to project real-time images of the landscape outside.
The museum is located in the Mount Daisen area of Hōki, Tottori Prefecture. It can be reached by taxi from JR Yonago Station in approximately 20 minutes. The museum typically operates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last entry at 4:30 p.m.) and is usually closed on Tuesdays and during periods between exhibits.
