Prefectural museum

The prefectural museum is a post-war development in Japan. These museums tend to be large and some are more distinguished for their architecture than for the collections they hold. Since these institutions are of recent origin, their collections tend not to contain older Japan arts. Meiji era and 20th century art, with an emphasis on local art, tend to dominate the collections. The prefectural museums do host exhibitions from collections from Tokyo, though these exhibits tend to be contemporary as well.

Examples of prefectural museums include:

* Aomori Prefectural Museum
* Kōchi Prefectural Cultural Hall
* Okayama Prefectural Museum
* Okinawa Prefectural Museum

Noted architect Maekawa Kunio designed both the Kumamoto Prefectural Art Museum in Kumamoto as well as the Saitama Prefectural Museum at Ōmiya.

Some prefectural museums specialize in one aspect of the local culture. The Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum is an example of one of these. It houses a collection of Nagasaki School paintings.