Nara National Museum

This guide to Nara National Museum starts with the underground passage built to keep visitors out of the summer heat, then rises into the Meiji-era hall above it, finished in 1894 by architect Katayama Tokuma as Nara's first Western-style building. From there it turns to the Shosoin, the eighth-century storehouse holding Emperor Shomu's belongings under an imperial seal, and asks how a museum built for shade ends up tied to treasures kept locked away for centuries. Look for the underground passage's shop and cafe, cool no matter the season.