Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum

42 years. That's how long Japan's most explosive artist lived and worked behind this unusual curved facade you're seeing now in Minami-Aoyama. Taro Okamoto's famous declaration "Art is an explosion" didn't just inspire avant-garde galleries... it became the battle cry of a ninja character in the manga Naruto, embedding this very house's creative spirit into popular culture worldwide. What you're looking at isn't just any artist's studio. This convex lens-shaped building was custom designed in 1954 by Junzo Sakakura, a direct student of the legendary Le Corbusier, rising from the ashes of Okamoto's family home that was completely destroyed in World War Two. The architect created these sweeping curves at Okamoto's specific request, making this the only Le Corbusier school residence in Tokyo designed to look like a giant eye watching the fashionable streets of Omotesando. Step inside and you'll encounter something no other artist's museum dares... life-sized wax figures of Okamoto himself, still "working" at his easel as if he never left. But venture into the sculpture garden, and you'll discover his most mischievous creation: chairs with human faces that literally refuse to let you sit comfortably. Here, between the luxury boutiques and the ancient Nezu Museum, Japan's most beloved rebel artist spent four decades creating works that would vanish to Mexico, resurface in subway stations, and stand 70 meters tall in Osaka, forever changing how an entire nation sees art.