Travellers from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland often arrive in Japan already knowing its furniture and its architects. They have sat in bentwood chairs, walked through glass pavilions and read about Tadao Ando. What they look for next is the place where those things are made and the towns where they still sit in daily life. Three stops answer that well: the woodworking town of Takayama in the Hida mountains, the castle town of Kanazawa with its modern museums, and the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea.

This article follows that route for travellers who care about design: the chairs of Hida, a merchant house built by a master carpenter, the glass and water of Kanazawa's museums, a four-room ryokan, and Ando's museums on Naoshima, with the connections between them. On November 5, 2026 we read the pages of the museums, makers, ryokan, bus and rail operators, Japan's national tourism organisation and the press, and contacted none of them; the sources are listed at the end. For the gold leaf, lacquer and gardens of Kanazawa, see Kanazawa: The Golden Route Stop to Slow Down →, and for the islands beyond Naoshima, Beyond Naoshima: Seto Inland Sea Art Trail →.

Key points

ASK US ABOUT A DESIGN ROUTE THROUGH JAPAN →

WHY THIS ROUTE

Japan's national tourism organisation, JNTO, describes in its 2024 handbook for the Nordic market what travellers over fifty seek in Japan: traditional crafts, historic inns, gardens, contemporary architecture, museums and contemporary art. The same handbook lists tours sold in Denmark that already combine Takayama, Kanazawa and Naoshima, and notes that Kanazawa appeals because it keeps its old streets and draws fewer visitors than Kyoto.

The route also suits the way Nordic travellers like to move, by train and road through the country. It runs from the mountains of Hida to the Sea of Japan, then south to the Inland Sea, finishing within reach of Okayama and Osaka. Finnair, which flies to Tokyo and Osaka all year, plans to raise its Japan flights from 28 a week in summer 2026 to as many as 32 a week in summer 2027, so arriving in Tokyo and leaving from Osaka is a natural shape.

THE CHAIRS OF HIDA

Hida has been known for its woodworkers since the Asuka period, when craftsmen called the Hida no takumi were sent to build temples in the capital. The modern furniture industry of Takayama traces itself to 1920, when the company now called Hida Sangyo was founded to make bentwood chairs from the beech of the surrounding forests, a wood then used for little more than charcoal and the teeth of wooden sandals. Its own history records a bentwood chair shown at an international exposition in Belgium in 1929, exports that reached 64 percent of sales by 1953, a design contract with the Italian designer Enzo Mari in 2003, and a piece made with the studio Atelier Oï for the Milan furniture fair in 2016.

For a designer's eye, the place to begin is the company's Takayama store, about 15 minutes on foot from the station, which it describes as holding one of the largest selections of furniture in Japan, with a café furnished with chairs by Kengo Kuma. Its gallery in the old town shows hand tools and woodworking. On selected dates the company opens its No. 1 factory for a tour from 13:00, lasting about an hour. The store and gallery open from 10:00 to 18:00 and close on Wednesdays and the third Thursday of the month, which is worth planning around.

BEAMS AND LIGHT IN TAKAYAMA

In the old town, the Kusakabe Folk Art Museum shows what Hida carpenters did with a house. It was rebuilt in 1879 after a fire, by the master carpenter Kawajiri Jisuke, and was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1966. Its open hall, with heavy beams crossing high under the roof and light falling from above, is one of the clearest lessons in Japanese timber construction anywhere. It opens from 10:00 to 16:00 and closes on Tuesdays.

For the night, Wanosato stands in Ichinomiya, south of the town, in a garden through which the Miyagawa River runs. It has a detached building in the gassho style, the steep thatched form known from Shirakawa-go, and four types of suite, with kaiseki dinners built on the season. If you would like to sleep in Shirakawa-go itself on the way north, the arrangements are set out in Shirakawa-go Overnight Stay in 2027: How to Book and Visit →.

OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO KANAZAWA

Nohi Bus runs an express from the Takayama Nohi Bus Center, beside the station, through Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa Station in 2 hours 5 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes. Some departures require a reservation and others do not, so the seats are best settled before the day. A private car on the same road lets you stop in Shirakawa-go in the early morning, before the day visitors arrive.

Large suitcases travel better separately. Sending them ahead from the hotel in Takayama to the ryokan in Kanazawa leaves only a small bag for the bus or the car, as described in Luggage Forwarding in Japan: Sending Bags Between Hotels and the Airport →.

GLASS AND WATER IN KANAZAWA

The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, opened in 2004, is a low circle of glass by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, the firm that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2004 and the Pritzker Prize in 2010. The museum explains that the circle was chosen so that it has no front and no back and can be entered from every side, and that glass was used for most walls so that people inside and outside sense one another. In January 2024 the Noto Peninsula earthquake brought down part of the glass ceiling in two or three galleries, the art magazine Bijutsu Techo reported. On its website the museum now announces a closure for major repairs from May 6, 2027 until March 2028, as planned. For a design journey in 2027, that makes spring the season for Kanazawa.

The second building is quieter and, for many, the finer one. The D.T. Suzuki Museum, completed in July 2011 to a design by Yoshio Taniguchi, the architect of the expanded Museum of Modern Art in New York, joins three wings by corridors around three gardens. The last of them, the Water Mirror Garden, is a still, shallow pool around the Contemplative Wing, a pale cube where visitors sit and look. Across the city, the Museum of Architecture, Kanazawa, built by Yoshio Taniguchi on the site of his father Yoshiro's house, reproduces the hall and tea room of Yushintei from the Akasaka Palace guest house. Its exhibition on Shigeru Ban's disaster relief work in Oku-Noto runs from November 7, 2026 to May 9, 2027; the museum opens from 9:30 to 17:00 and closes on Mondays.

Near the coast, the Kanazawa Umimirai Library, opened in 2011 and designed by Coelacanth K&H Architects, is a white box pierced by about 6,000 small round windows that fill the reading rooms with soft light. Visitors who know Oodi in Helsinki will recognise the idea of a library as a room for the whole city.

A SUKIYA NIGHT IN KANAZAWA

Ryokan Asadaya, founded in 1867, is a house in the sukiya style with only four rooms, about ten minutes by taxi from Kanazawa Station. Its rooms look onto small inner gardens, and dinner is Kaga cuisine on carefully chosen tableware. The house notes that it has no lift. For a design-minded guest, a night here completes what the museums begin: the same restraint and attention to material, at the scale of a room. For a resort in the hot spring villages of Kaga after the city, see the closing pages of Kanazawa: The Golden Route Stop to Slow Down →.

Yayoi Kusama's yellow pumpkin on a pier on Naoshima, the Seto Inland Sea behind

NAOSHIMA TO CLOSE THE ROUTE

From Kanazawa, the fastest trains reach Osaka in 2 hours 9 minutes with a change at Tsuruga, from where the Sanyo Shinkansen continues west to Okayama. The JR Uno Line takes about 50 minutes from Okayama to Uno, and the ferry about 20 minutes to Miyanoura on Naoshima. It is a long day, which we often break with a night in Osaka or Kyoto.

Naoshima turns the attention from wood and glass to concrete and light. The Chichu Art Museum, built in 2004 and designed by Tadao Ando, lies mostly underground and shows five of Claude Monet's Water Lilies, three works by James Turrell and one by Walter De Maria under natural light. Entry is by a ticket for a set date and time, bought online; when they sell out, none are sold at the door. The Naoshima New Museum of Art, opened in spring 2025 near the Honmura district, is Ando's tenth building for Benesse Art Site Naoshima and shows artists from across Asia. Both close on Mondays.

To stay inside the art, Benesse House, opened in 1992, is both a museum and a hotel, with rooms in four buildings: Museum, Oval, Park and Beach. Its notices for early 2027 say the Terrace Restaurant and the Beach building will close from January 4 to March 4, and the whole hotel from January 12 to 18. For Teshima, Inujima and the islands beyond, see Beyond Naoshima: Seto Inland Sea Art Trail →.

WHEN TO GO AND HOW WE ARRANGE IT

We usually give the route seven or eight nights: two in Takayama, three in Kanazawa, one between, and two on Naoshima. In 2027 the season matters more than usual. Spring, before May 6, includes the 21st Century Museum and the last weeks of the Shigeru Ban exhibition. Summer, when the Finnair flights are most frequent, shifts Kanazawa towards the D.T. Suzuki Museum, the architecture museum and the craft studios. The closing days also need a calendar: Tuesdays at the Kusakabe house, Wednesdays at the Hida store, Mondays in Kanazawa's architecture museum and on Naoshima.

Within Signature, our planning for journeys of 7 to 21 days, we set out the stays, the bus and train connections, the timed tickets and the luggage, and arrange the ryokan, cars and guides. Vegetarian and vegan meals are best requested when the ryokan are arranged; the options are covered in Vegetarian Kaiseki and Vegan Fine Dining in Japan →. Rooms and visits are settled with each house in the simplest way available, usually on your bill or on the day.

SOURCES AND HOW WE CHECKED

We read the pages below on November 5, 2026. Travel times are rounded. We did not contact any museum, maker, ryokan, operator or other body.

QUESTIONS TRAVELLERS ASK

Is the 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa open in 2027?

Until early May. The museum plans to close for major repairs from May 6, 2027 until March 2028, so a design trip in 2027 that includes it should reach Kanazawa in spring.

How long does it take from Takayama to Kanazawa?

The Nohi Bus express runs by way of Shirakawa-go in 2 hours 5 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes. Some departures must be reserved, so seats are best settled in advance. A private car on the same road is the other way.

How do you get from Kanazawa to Naoshima?

Take the train to Osaka, 2 hours 9 minutes at the fastest with a change at Tsuruga, then the Sanyo Shinkansen to Okayama, the JR Uno Line to Uno in about 50 minutes and the ferry to Naoshima in about 20. A night in Osaka or Kyoto makes it an easy two days.

Do I need tickets in advance for the Chichu Art Museum?

Yes. Entry is by a ticket for a set date and time bought online, and when they sell out none are sold at the museum. It closes on Mondays.

Can I see furniture being made in Takayama?

Hida Sangyo opens its No. 1 factory for a tour of about an hour from 13:00 on selected dates. Its Takayama store and gallery are open from 10:00 to 18:00, closed on Wednesdays and the third Thursday.

ASK US ABOUT A DESIGN ROUTE THROUGH JAPAN

Send us your dates and the makers, buildings or museums you have in mind. We will draw the route with the closing days, the timed tickets and the places to stay, so that each visit falls on a day it is open.

Begin planning →

We reply within 24 hours, in writing

Some of the restaurants and bars we arrange seat guests only by introduction or membership. We ask on your behalf; the table and the evening are the house's decision. We do not publish their names.

Also from STAYGO
Kanazawa: The Golden Route Stop to Slow Down → Beyond Naoshima: Seto Inland Sea Art Trail → Shirakawa-go Overnight Stay in 2027: How to Book and Visit → Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and Toyama: The Crossing, the Dam and the Gorge → Vegetarian Kaiseki and Vegan Fine Dining in Japan → Luggage Forwarding in Japan: Sending Bags Between Hotels and the Airport →