Of the aesthetic values that have endured in Japan over the past millennium, okashisa<— pleasantly surprising incongruity — is perhaps the easiest to spot in present-day Tokyo. Just head to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, where an hour’s exploration turns up art in all sorts of unconventional corners.

Originally built as a private home in Tokyo’s quiet Kitashinagawa district (and at one time serving as the Sri Lankan embassy), the Art Deco mansion now houses works by the likes of Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol in its various nooks and crannies. Visitors might wander through an unmarked door into the replicated workroom of Yoshitomo Nara, whose pastel paintings of children manage to be both cute and unsettling, or peer into a bathroom and come face to face with a startling installation by artist Yasumasa Morimura.

From the gift shop featuring crafts and prints by local artists to the garden terrace overlooking sculptures by Lee UFan, the museum is a perfect place to spend an afternoon cultivating an appreciation for the unusual — be it a piece of pop art or the man you saw on the Tokyo subway sporting cat paws and a tartan skirt.

The Hara Museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Wednesdays until 8 p.m.) at 4-7-25 Kitashinagawa in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

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