This article examines the representation of Japan at three national museums in Japan: the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Japanese History and the National Museum of Ethnology. It explores the way in which the museums have displayed difference both within Japan and between Japan and the other countries to which it is compared. The essay examines how this has produced a claim of Japanese uniqueness in the museum, the difficulty museums therefore have in connecting the Japanese past to the present and a number of recent attempts to overcome these problems in the representation of Japan
