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Finlando Sauna
This is a huge 24-hour complex of baths and steam rooms right in the middle of Kabukichō sleaze. This is a good place - for men only - to escape the madness of the streets outside, or to spend the night if you've missed your train.
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Fuji TV
Designed by the late, great Kenzō Tange, the Fuji TV headquarters building is recognisable by the 90-degree angles of its scaffoldinglike structure, topped with a 1200-tonne ball. You can actually go into the ball, which is a terrific observation deck. Pick up an English guide at the dog bone (err, desk?) out front, for information on a self-guided tour.
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Fukagawa Edo Museum
This museum re-creates a 17th-century Edo neighbourhood complete with a fire lookout tower, life-sized façades and buildings you can enter. Explore the shops like the greengrocer's and rice shop, or slip off your shoes to enter the tenement homes and handle the daily utensils and children's toys. Be sure to note the Inari shrine and the kura (storehouse) where belongings were kept for protection from fire and, just as big a danger, Edo's legendary humidity.
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Fukagawa Fudō-Dō (Fukugawa Fudō Temple)
The history of this giant temple dates from 1703 as a sub-temple of Shinshō-ji in the city of Narita, one of the head temples of Shingon Buddhism. The main image, which is housed in a recently constructed inner hall, is Fudōmyō, a venerable Buddha depicted in murals by Nakajima Chinami (2004). On the 2nd floor is a gallery depicting all 88 temples of the 1400km pilgrimage route on the island of Shikoku - it is said that offering a prayer at each alcove has the same effect as visiting each temple.
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Gallery Koyanagi
This gallery exhibits photography and prints in a space conspicuously set off by blinding white light. The staff speaks fluent English and is willing to talk about the work on the walls, which includes some of the leading artists of Japan and abroad, like Sugimoto Hiroshi and Marlene Dumas. Enter around the rear of the building housing the White Bell jewellery shop on Chūō-dōri.
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Ghibli Museum
When you saw Spirited Away by Miyazaki Hayao (or Princess Mononoke, and so on) you probably fell in love with its mythical themes, fanciful characters and outrageous landscapes. Needless to say, do did every kid in Japan, which means you need to arrange tickets long before you arrive at this museum of the work of Ghibli, Miyazaki's animation studio.
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Ginza Graphic Gallery
Excellent exhibitions with an emphasis on graphic design are this gallery's forte. The gallery also hosts workshops and talks by visiting artists, covering everything from tiny typography to monumental architecture.
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Gokoku-Ji (Gokoku Temple)
Though this temple has been declared an Important Cultural Property, it gets surprisingly few visitors. One of the few surviving Edo temples, it dates from 1680, and was built by the fifth Tokugawa shōgun for his mother. Exiting the temple grounds and turning to the left, you'll soon reach Toshimagaoka Goryo, an imperial mausoleum that is closed to the public.
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Golden Gai
This ramshackle block of tiny boîtes became golden just in time for the '64 Olympics. By day, there's not much going on here except for dozens of stray cats. But by night, the closet-sized bars, some accessed by stairways steep enough to bruise your shins as you ascend, light and fill up, mostly with off-duty office workers.
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Hachikō Statue
In the 1920s, a professor who lived near Shibuya Station kept Hachikō, a small Akita dog, who came to the station every day to await his master's return. The master died while at work in 1925, but the dog continued to show up and wait at the station until his own death 10 years later. Hachikō's faithfulness was not lost on the Japanese, who built a statue to honour his memory.
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Hachiman-Jinja (Hachiman Temple)
It's so small that you might stroll past and not notice it - which is exactly what makes Hachiman-jinja worth pausing for. Real-estate values in Ginza have generally forced places of worship elsewhere (or relocated them to the rooftops of Ginza's temples of commerce). Near Shimbashi Station, this is one shrine that remains at street level, a feat that was achieved by building over the top of it.
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Hama Rikyū Onshi-Teien (Detached Palace Garden)
Once a shōgunal palace extending into the area now occupied by the fish market, this traditional Japanese garden is one of Tokyo's finest. The Detached Palace Garden features a large duck pond with an island that's home to a charming tea pavilion, as well as some wonderfully manicured trees (black pine, Japanese apricot, hydrangeas, camellias etc), some of which are hundreds of years old.
Read more about Hama Rikyū Onshi-Teien (Detached Palace Garden)
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Hanayashiki Amusement Park
Tokyo's oldest amusement park dates back to 1853, and is an absolute delight for the young ones. If you're having trouble finding the entrance, just listen for the delighted shrieking of young children, as well as the rollercoaster creaking and whooshing along its aging wooden tracks.
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Hanazono-Jinja
During the day merchants from nearby Kabukichō come to this Shintō shrine to pray for the solvency of their business ventures, but at night the spotlights come on, legions of high school kids and salarymen show up, and action spills over from nearby Golden Gai and from further-away Yasukuni- dōri. On Sunday the grounds become a marketplace ( - ), where you'll find bargains on knick-knacks and, possibly, some antiques.
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Hibiya-Kōen (Hibiya Park)
Built around the turn of the 20th century at the height of Meiji Restoration, this leafy park just west of Ginza was Tokyo's first Western-style park. At the time, Western design was the height of fashion, and it doesn't take long to notice the similarities in public spaces to London, Paris and New York. If you're in need of a break on a quiet afternoon, find your way to one of the two ponds for a cup of tea at a pavilion.
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Hie-Jinja
This Shintō shrine traces its roots to the sacred Mt Hiei, northeast of Kyoto, and it has been the protector shrine of Edo Castle since it was first built in 1478. The present site dates from 1659, though the shrine was destroyed in the 1945 bombings and later rebuilt in 1967.
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Hinokicho-kōen
The highlight of the Tokyo Midtown complex. Formerly a private garden attached to the Azabu villa residence for the Mori family, a member of the Hagi Clan during the Edo Period, Hinokicho was reopened as a public park for the benefit of visitors to Tokyo Midtown. Adjacent to the park is the aptly named Midtown Garden, which was the former site of the Japan Self Defense Agency, though today it's a cherry-tree lined grassy space that's perfect for a picnic.
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Idemitsu Museum Of Arts
This excellent collection of Japanese art, sprinkled liberally with Chinese and Korean pottery and a few stray Western pieces, is the result of the lifetime passion of petroleum magnate Idemitsu Sazo. As there is no permanent display, exhibits change every few months, highlighting the complete depth of Idemitsu's collection. The museum also provides broad views across to the grounds of the Imperial Palace.
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Ikebukuro Bōsai-Kan
Quick: what should you do in case of an earthquake? What if your house is on fire? This facility operated by the Tokyo Fire Department prepares you for these and other disasters by means of videos (available in English) and incredibly realistic simulations; it's hard not to be rattled once the room starts a-shaking. A visit here is important preparation if you're planning on living in Japan.
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Imperial Palace East Garden (Higashi-Gyōen)
Higashi-gyōen is the only corner of the Imperial Palace proper that is regularly open to the public, and it makes for a pleasant retreat from the grinding hustle and bustle of Tokyo. Here you can get up-close-and-personal views of the massive stones used to build the castle walls, and even climb the ruins of one of the keeps, off the upper lawn. Although entry is free, the number of visitors at any one time is limited, so it never feels crowded.
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Isetan Art Gallery
On the 5th floor of the Isetan Building, it hosts print, ceramic and fine art exhibits by Japanese artists.
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Jakotsu-Yu
This Edo-era bath is one of our favourite sentō in Tokyo (and the preferred place of repose for neighbourhood yakuza , Japanese mafia, as well). First, be warned: the bathers here adore this place and initially will watch you carefully to make sure no dirty or soapy bodies make their way into the sacred tub. Once you've convinced them you're up to scrubbing every inch, head into the incredibly hot indoor soaking area where you'll be massaged by tea-coloured water that is propelled by vigorous jets.
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Japan Traditional Craft Center
Operated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, this showroom is less a museum than a resource for working artisans and crafts collectors. You'll find on display some 130 different types of crafts, from lacquerwork boxes to paper, textiles to earthy pottery. You can also buy much the same from the discriminating collection.
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Japanese Sword Museum
In 1948, after American forces returned the swords (katana) they'd confiscated during the postwar occupation, the Ministry of Education established a society to preserve the feudal art of Japanese sword-making. There are about 120 swords with their fittings in the collection, of which about one-third are on view at any one time. The museum also showcases crafts of tempering and polishing steel.
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JCII Camera Museum
What's that? You didn't know that Japan is obsessed with photography? This museum, established in 1989 by the Japan Camera Industry Institute, takes it a step further, for those for whom equipment is the thing. Holdings consist of over 10,000 cameras, of which as many as 600 may be on show at any one time. Highlights of the collection include the world's first camera, the 1839 Giroux daguerreotype (one of an estimated seven worldwide) and the Sony Mavica, a prototype for the original digital camera, from which images had to be downloaded to a floppy disk.
