The entrace and other public areas face a valley that is displayed through floor to ceiling windows. The exhibits are set back into the mountain. As you move through the museum, there is a play between the enclosed, focused setting of the exhibits and the open, wide-angle setting of the museum. 

The exhibits are beautifully done. Some of the rooms have higher ceiling or other unusual features just to display special pieces. On several occassons, we came around a corner and just had to stop -- a for a minute to just take in an exhibit. There are excellent signs in Japanese and English and small brochures for all of the exhibits. This is a museum of art, but also a museum of the history of the technology and the people that created the art. 

We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and left at 1:00 p.m. We had just enough time to see the architecture of the museum, view the exhibits and have a snack in the Pine View Tea Room (click on restaurant) -- a view similar to the one above, but through the gardens with a wider panorama. Another hour or two would have been added some depth to the experience, but three hours was enough to justify the trip. 

They have a Web site. There a periods when they are not open; plan ahead.