The museum exhibits works of a photographer Shoji Ueda (March 27, 1913 - July 4th, 2000) who has left a lot of famous photographs using the unique method to lay out the photographic models as surrealist compositional elements with realistic depiction. Shoji Ueda was born in Sakaiminato city. His distinctive style has been broadly introduced as "Ueda-cho" in France. He is an internationally-acclaimed photographer. His audacious composition against the backdrop of Tottori sand dunes gives us a fresh impact even after decades.

The museum was designed by a well-known architect Shin Takamatsu, who also designed the Quasar Building in Berlin and Kirin Plaza in Osaka. The artificial stoic building in the middle of idyllic scenery gives us surrealistic impression as the photography of Shoji Ueda does. In the museum, you will also be able to enter the huge camera obscura room as if you were inside of a camera. The 625-kilogram supersized lens are used to put the optical device into practice.

This museum was a filming location for the Korean TV drama "Athena: Goddess of War".