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Louis Vuitton Store
For several years running, the Japanese have had something of a love affair with Louis Vuitton, which is why the Louis Vuitton Store is usually packed wall-to-wall with shoppers. Meant to evoke a stack of clothes trunks, Jun Aoki's design features offset panels of tinted glass behind sheets of metal mesh of varying patterns, creating a fabric-like effect.
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Love Hotel Hill
If you think that Japan is all about raked pebble gardens, geisha in kimono and Zen meditation, make a point of taking a stroll through Love Hotel Hill. Offering one of the largest concentrations of love hotels (see for more details) in Tokyo, this famous hill is where most men and women out on the prowl hope the night will end.
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Meguro Gajoen (Meguro Wedding Hall)
One look at the ads on virtually any subway car will tell you that wedding halls are big business in Tokyo. For better or for worse, Gajoen is one of the biggest, and as a study in anthropology you can hardly beat it. 'Wedding hall' doesn't do justice to its many storeys of chapels, banquet halls, expensive restaurants and hotel rooms.
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Meguro Museum Of Art, Tokyo
Half local, half global, one part of this museum exhibits the work of Meguro artists, while the other is dedicated to fine art and craft exhibits from around the world (think the work of Charles and Ray Eames). The building is a delight - it's airy, spacious and well-lit compared with many other Tokyo art museums, which can want for space - and there is a coffee shop on the 1st floor with pleasant views of the grounds.
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Meguro Parasitological Museum
Yeah, ew. Probably the grossest museum in Japan, this spot was established in 1953 by Satoru Kamegai, a local doctor concerned by the increasing number of parasites he was encountering in his practice due to unsanitary postwar conditions. The grisly centrepiece is an 8.8m-long tapeworm found ensconced in the body of a 40-year-old Yokohama man.
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Meiji-Jingū (Meiji Shrine)
Tokyo's grandest Shintō shrine, this 1920 edifice enshrines the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, under whose rule Japan ended its isolation from the outside world. Destroyed in WWII bombings and reconstructed in 1958, the shrine buildings occupy just a corner of the precinct's 70 forested hectares (175 acres). In fact, its 100,000 trees are said to have been donated by 100,000 visitors from all over Japan.
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Meiji-jingū Gyōen
A lovely strolling garden at the Meiji Shrine. Once the property of two daimyō families, after it came under imperial control, Meiji himself designed the garden as a gift to the Empress Shōken. There are peaceful walks to the pond and teahouse and a good dose of privacy on weekdays, and spectacular irises and satsuki azaleas in season.
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Miraikan (National Museum Of Emerging Science & Innovation)
Kids will love the engaging exhibits at this science museum, where most displays have excellent explanations in English and English-speaking guides fill in the blanks. There's the spectacular planetarium (buy tickets for a show as soon as you arrive), demonstrations of robots and opportunities to interact with them, and tons of exhibits about space, medicine and the environment.
Read more about Miraikan (National Museum Of Emerging Science & Innovation)
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Mori Art Museum
Perched on the 52nd and 53rd floors of Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills complex, the high ceilings, broad views and thematic programmes of this new museum have somehow managed to live up to all the hype. Exhibits are consistently beautifully presented and run the gamut from Bill Viola and Sugimoto Hiroshi to the Da Vinci Codex and the silver of Georg Jensen.
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Musée Tomo
This marvellous museum may be one of Tokyo's most elegant and tasteful. It is named for Kikuchi Tomo, whose collection of contemporary Japanese ceramics wowed them in Washington and London before finally being exhibited in Tokyo. Exhibitions change every few months and might include highlights of the Kikuchi collection or a special study of raku pottery; you can bet that the displays will be atmospheric and beautiful. The museum is behind the Hotel Ōkura.
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Museum Of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Dedicated to showcasing postwar artists and designers from Japan and abroad, MOT also holds some 3800 pieces exhibited in rotation in its permanent collection gallery, by the likes of David Hockney, Sam Francis and Andy Warhol, as well as Japanese artists such as Yokō Tadanori. The building's stone, steel and wood architecture by Yanagisawa Takahiko is a work of art in its own right - highlights include a sunken garden, V-shaped structural supports, and a water and stone promenade.
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Museum Of Maritime Science
This museum is ship-shape, literally. From the outside it looms like an ocean liner by the water's edge, and inside are four floors of excellent displays related to every aspect of ships; don't miss the stunningly crafted replicas of Japanese ships, or try the navigation simulator. Outside, the 83.7m icebreaker Sōya is preserved. The museum is full of activities for kids, including a pool next door used for swimming and demonstrations and instruction of small craft.
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Namco Namjatown
Namjatown is owned by the arcade-game company Namco, which should tell you all you need to know about one half of the activities here (it can be pretty cacophonous!). The other half consists of three food theme parks. In the Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium, 23 vendors from all over Japan compete for your business with their version of pan-fried dumplings.
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National Art Center, Tokyo
This architectural marvel designed by Kishō Kurokawa, which opened in 2007 as Japan's fifth national-class museum, has no permanent collection but boasts the country's largest exhibition space for visiting shows, which have included painter Yokoyama Taikan and photographer Shigeo Anzai. The NACT is also worth visiting for its awesome undulating mesh façade, its café atop a giant inverted cone and the great gift shop.
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National Diet Building
Built on a site once inhabited by feudal lords, the National Diet was completed in 1936 with its landmark pyramid-shaped dome. The chambers - the Shūgi-in or House of Representatives (the Upper House) and the Sangi-in or House of Councillors (the Lower House) - have been the scene of fist fights and wrestling matches over the occasional hot-button issue. Recently things have been a bit more tame, though you can still take in the occasional hot-tempered plenary session.
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National Museum Of Modern Art
The National Museum of Modern Art has a magnificent collection of Japanese art from the Meiji period onwards. Your ticket (hold on to the stub) gives you free admission to the nearby Crafts Gallery, which houses ceramics, lacquerware and dolls.
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National Science Museum
Renovations in recent years have made this museum more user-friendly for foreigners, with interpretive English signage throughout. The interactive exhibits are great fun for kids, especially those that allow clambering. Between the dinosaur displays here and the animals at Ueno Zoo, this is an excellent outing for children.
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National Stadium
J-League soccer is booming in Japan, though naysayers had predicted its rapid decline with the departure of the 2002 World Cup (awarded to Japan, jointly with Korea). The increased interest in the game has remained, and the Japanese have embraced it almost as enthusiastically as baseball.
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Nekobukuro
For Tokyoites who may not have the time nor space to keep their own pets, Nekobukuro provides a venue for short-term cuddling with surrogate cats. Creep up to the 8th floor of the Ikebukuro branch of Tōkyū Hands to get in on the kitten action.
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New Ōtani Art Museum
Displays a decent collection of modern Japanese and French paintings as well as wood-block prints.
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New Otani Japanese Garden
This stunning 400-year-old Japanese garden on the grounds of the New Otani Hotel is worth a stop if traditional landscapes are your thing. Though the garden is open to the public, the hotel doesn't go out of its way to make it accessible. The easiest way to find it is via the first floor of the hotel's Garden Court shopping complex.
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Nicholai Cathedral
This Russian Orthodox cathedral is named for St Nicholai of Japan (1836-1912), who first arrived as chaplain of the Russian consulate in the port city of Hakodate (Hokkaidō), and through missionary work soon amassed about 30,000 faithful. The Tokyo building, complete with a distinctive onion dome, was first constructed in 1891.
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Nihombashi
Even with the bronze lions guarding it, you could be forgiven for walking right past this granite bridge under an expressway, where Chūō-dōri meets Nihombashi-gawa. Still, it bears mention for its historic significance. Nihombashi ('Japan bridge') was the point from which all distances were measured during the Edo period, the beginning of the great trunk roads (the Tōkaidō, the Nikkō Kaidō etc) that took daimyō (feudal lords) between Edo and their home provinces.
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Nihon Budōkan
Westerners know the 14,000-plus-seat Budōkan as Tokyo's legendary concert hall for big acts from the Beatles to Beck, but it was originally built as the site of martial arts championships (judō, karate, kendō, aikidō) for the 1964 Olympics ( budō means 'martial arts'). These arts are still practised and exhibited here today.
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NTT Intercommunication Centre
Has an excellent collection of cutting-edge works and installations that address the myriad intersections of art and technology. Its superlative video library includes works by Idemitsu Mako, Bill Viola and Nam June Paik, while installations include dreamy pieces such as works by Laurie Anderson, or Mikami Seiko's World, Membrane and the Dismembered Body, designed for the museum's eerie, echo-free chamber.
