The POLA Museum of Art is celebrating its first anniversary, and its excellent exhibition -- "Paris, City of Artists" -- capitalizes on the museum's fine standing collection, proving just what an asset the POLA is to the the hot-spring resort area of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Visitors are first struck by the museum even before stepping inside. Its architecturally daring design -- a large cross-shaped structure embedded in a densely wooded mountainous area -- gives visitors a panoramic view of the vicinity and the surrounding 300-year-old beech trees.
What's inside is no less striking. The museum's collection was built up over 40 years by the late Tsuneshi Suzuki (1930-2000), former president of POLA Cosmetics Inc. It comprises some 9,500 works, both Western and Japanese, which include Impressionist masterpieces, woodblock prints and sculpture, as well as earthenware, glass art and cosmetic utensils.