Ad Museum Tokyo
Good to know before you go
- Getting there
- Shiodome Station · 1 min walk (Toei Ōedo Line, Yurikamome)
- Hours
- 12:00–18:00 (Tuesday–Saturday; closed Sunday, Monday, and irregular exhibition change periods)
- Admission
- Free
- Time needed
- 30–60 min
- Best time to go
- Tuesday through Thursday between 12:00 and 14:00, when foot traffic is lowest and audiovisual archive booths are readily accessible
Hours can change on holidays — check the official site before travelling.
Location
Catetta Shiodome, 1-chōme-8-2 Higashishinbashi, Minato City, Tokyo 105-7090, JapanHigashishinbashi, Tokyo
About
As the world's only museum dedicated to advertising, this hidden gem in Shiodome offers a fascinating look at Japanese culture and societal shifts from the Edo period to modern times. Visitors can explore creative packaging, historic woodblock prints, and iconic TV commercials that reflect Japan's unique consumer psyche. It is a highly visual, inspiring stop for design lovers, marketers, and anyone curious about Japanese pop culture.
What Japanese guides note
Visitors occasionally mistake the venue for a commercial Dentsu showroom, but it functions as an independent public archive chronicling Japanese social and commercial history since the Edo era. Direct underground concourses connect Shiodome and Shinbashi stations to Caretta Shiodome, providing rain-free pedestrian access that easily links to the nearby Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art. The museum maintains fixed closures on Sundays and Mondays, with additional multi-day shutdowns during periodic exhibition turnover, requiring advance confirmation on the official calendar.
Details from local sources
- Established in December 2002 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of former Dentsu president Hideo Yoshida, the facility is operated by the Yoshida Hideo Memorial Foundation. [source]
- The permanent collection holds approximately 330,000 advertising-related historical materials ranging from Edo-period woodblock flyers to modern broadcast media. [source]
- The B1F advertising library maintains over 30,000 specialized marketing publications alongside digital archive terminals for commercial video review. [source]
- Library regulations forbid utilizing the reading desks for general exam study or non-collection schoolwork. [source]
- Museum regulations prohibit video recording, monopods, tripods, and selfie sticks throughout all exhibition spaces. [source]
- The entrance is located on the B2F level of Caretta Shiodome at Gate A directly beside the Marugame Seimen restaurant. [source]
- Neither the museum nor the Caretta Shiodome building provides cloakroom storage or public coin lockers. [source]
Insider Tip
Don't miss the digital archives on the touchscreens, where you can watch decades of quirky and artistic Japanese television commercials.
Frequently asked
Is photography permitted inside the exhibition galleries?
Non-commercial still photography is permitted in exhibition areas provided other guests are not photographed without permission. Commercial shoots, video recording, tripods, monopods, and selfie sticks are strictly prohibited throughout both the galleries and the research library to preserve visitor privacy and respect copyright restrictions on displayed materials.
Where is the entrance located inside Caretta Shiodome?
Although the museum occupies both the B1 and B2 levels of Caretta Shiodome, the sole public entrance is on level B2. Visitors entering the outdoor sunken Caretta Plaza should enter through Gate A, located directly next to the Marugame Seimen noodle shop, where the admission reception desk is situated.
Can tourists access the specialized library on the B1 floor?
The B1F library is open to all visitors free of charge for browsing advertising, marketing, and design texts or searching digitized commercials. Self-service photocopies of eligible materials are available for a small fee within legal limits, but using the reading carrels for non-research exam studying is prohibited.
Are there coin lockers or luggage storage services on site?
The museum has no luggage storage, coat check, or coin locker facilities, and the Caretta Shiodome complex itself contains no coin lockers. Visitors must carry all personal items with them while browsing the galleries, so travelers carrying suitcases should store them at nearby JR Shinbashi Station before arriving.
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