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Nuno
Innovative textiles at Axis, one of the most respected design showcases in Tokyo, a multi-storey, multi-genre gallery and retail building.
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Ō-Edo Onsen Monogatari
Ō-edo Onsen Monogatari does bill itself as an old Edo 'theme park', so come here for kitsch rather than authenticity. It's a good place to socialise in mixed groups, as there's an outdoor footbath area for relaxing in your yukata (light cotton robe). You wouldn't come here for a simple scrub, but if you'd like to make a day of it in Odaiba with some chums, this is a good place for an evening soak.
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Ō-Edo Onsen Monogatari (Ō-Edo Onsen Story)
Public bathing in onsen (hot springs) is a Japanese obsession, and believe it or not they've managed to find an actual hot spring 1400m below Tokyo Bay. Of course, Ō-edo Onsen is so much more than just a mere hot springs complex. Something of Disneyland meets health spa, this bathing theme park re-creates an old Japanese downtown indoors, selling old-timey foods, toys and souvenirs. Wander around in your colourful yukata and you'll fit right in. Sure it's kitschy, but what the hey…
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Ōi Keibajō
Each year from April to October, Ōi Keibajō offers night-time 'Twinkle Races'. The races are lit by mercury lamps, whose diffused light draws young couples out on hot dates. Though the popularity of horse racing has declined over the past decade, some lucky record-breaker won over around ¥13 million from a mere around ¥100 bet here in May 2005.
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Ōkura Shūkokan
Surrounded by a small but well-populated sculpture garden, this museum has an impressive collection of lacquer writing boxes, scrolls, ancient sculptures and several national treasures. The two-storey museum, whose collection is rotated seasonally, is definitely worth a look if you're on this side of town.
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Ōta Memorial Art Museum
Leave your shoes in the foyer and pad in slippers through this museum to view its stellar collection of ukiyo-e (wood-block prints), which includes works by masters like Hiroshige and Hokusai. There's an extra charge for special exhibits. The museum is up the hill on a narrow road behind Laforet; there's a clear map on the museum's website.
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Parco Museum
This progressive gallery exhibits works by leading international artists and high-profile locals. Photography, installation and graphic design figure prominently, and if the current exhibition does nothing for you, you can check out the edgier Wall Gallery on the same floor.
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Pentax Forum
Even non-photography buffs will appreciate the photo exhibits at the Pentax Forum, on the 1st floor of the Shinjuku Mitsui building. For true camera buffs however, the best part is the vast array of Pentax cameras, lenses and other optical equipment on display. It's completely hands-on - you can snap away with the cameras and spy into neighbouring buildings through the huge 1000mm lenses.
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Prada Aoyama
Of course you could shop here, but you can also ogle the gorgeous, convex glass bubbles of the exterior. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, this is one of Aoyama's sexier organic-looking structures.
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Prada Aoyama Building
Designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. The resulting building is a weirdly organic, bubble-surfaced crystal of a venue in which the goods almost play a secondary role. The exterior itself is stunning, with its panels of convex glass, but the design of the interior's six floors almost deceives the senses into seeing the space as a seamless whole.
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Rikugi-En (Rikugi Garden)
This fine garden has landscaped views unfolding at every turn of the pathways that crisscross the grounds. The garden is rich in literary associations: its name is taken from the six principles of waka poetry (31-syllable poems), and the landscaping invokes famous scenes from Chinese and Japanese literature.
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Rokuryu Kōsen
It may feel like a good neighbourhood sentō, but it's actually an onsen where the water is pleasantly hot, as opposed to scalding hot as it is at some other city hot springs. The bubbling amber water contains minerals that the many old timers who come here in the afternoon claim can cure a number of ailments.
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Roppongi Hills
Opened in 2003 to an incredible amount of fanfare, Roppongi Hills was the dream of real-estate developer Mori Minoru, who long envisioned a transformation of Roppongi. Since then, an incredible amount of lofty praise has been vaulted at the complex, which is arguably the most architecturally arresting sight in Tokyo.
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Ryōgoku Kokugikan
Just north of Ryōgoku Station is this sumō stadium with its adjoining Sumō Museum (03 3622 0366). Fifteen-day tournaments ( basho ) take place here three times a year (January, May and September) while three other tournaments are held in other cities in March, July and November. Together, these basho decide who will be the yokozuna or grand champion.
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Sensō-Ji
With its pagoda and shrines nearby, Sensōji is one of Tokyo's most popular sights. It lies in the heart of Asakusa and serves as a community temple. As you reach Hōzōmon, the second gate leading into the temple itself, have a look at the Five-Storeyed Pagoda to the left, the second-tallest in Japan.
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Sensō-Ji (Senso Temple)
Asakusa's raison d'-être, Sensō-ji enshrines a golden statue of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, which was miraculously fished out of the nearby Sumida-gawa (Sumida River) by two fishermen in AD 628. In time, a structure was built to house the image, which has remained on the spot through successive reconstructions of the temple, including a complete postwar reconstruction following the aerial bombings at the end of WWII.
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Shibuya Crossing
Across from Hacikō plaza is arguably one of the coolest intersections you will ever see in your life. Made famous in the West following Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, Shibuya Crossing is remarkable for its throngs of people, blazing neon lights and enormous video screens, which sometimes display live videos of the street scene below. The sheer energy of the place is enough to stop you dead in your tracks while you loudly proclaim to yourself, 'Wow - I'm in Tokyo!'
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Shinjuku-Gyōen
Dating back to 1906, this downtown park provides the perfect escape from winter cold, as it boasts a hothouse full of exotic tropical plants, allegedly even including peyote! There's also a French garden and a pond full of giant carp. Keep this park in mind when you're exhausted by all that busy Shinjuku has to offer.
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Shinjuku-Gyōen (Shinjuku Park)
Though Shinjuku-gyōen was designed as an imperial retreat (completed 1906), it's now definitively a park for everyone. The wide lawns and diverse design (the garden applies French, English and Japanese horticultural principles) make it a favourite for urbanites in need of a quick escape. To make an afternoon of it, head for the east side where the glassed-in greenhouse displays subtropical waterlilies the size of party platters.
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Shiseido Art House
Underwritten by the cosmetics giant Shiseido, this space is also a classic Ginza concoction: soft-sell corporate promo. Most will be drawn by the alluring, wonderfully displayed themed exhibitions (past ones have included speciality handbags and cosmetics for men), and along the way you might find yourself distracted by advertising icons of the history of Shiseido.
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Shiseido Gallery
This gallery in the basement of Shiseido's Ginza boutique is more experimental than the house thereof. The result is an ever-changing selection, particularly of installation pieces, which lend themselves well to the high-ceilinged space. With a history dating back to 1919, it's also one of the oldest galleries in the area.
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Shizen Kyōiku-En (Institute For Nature Study)
Although the 200,000 sq metres of this land was the estate of a daimyō some six centuries ago and was the site of gunpowder warehouses in the early Meiji period, you'd scarcely know it now. Since 1949, this garden has been part of the Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsukan, and aims to preserve the local flora in undisciplined profusion. Bonus: admission is limited to 300 people at a time.
Read more about Shizen Kyōiku-En (Institute For Nature Study)
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Sōgetsu Kaikan
Sōgetsu is one of Japan's leading schools of avant-garde ikebana offering classes in English . Even if you have no interest in flower arranging, it's worth a peek in for the building (1977) designed by Tange Kenzō, and the giant, climbable piece of installation art that occupies the lobby, by the revered Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
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Sompo Japan Museum Of Art
The private museum of the Sompo Japan insurance company concentrates most heavily on the lithography, sculpture and painting of Tōgō Seiji (1897-1980), whose subjects, most often women, resemble luminescent anime figures set off against backdrops that hover between cubist and Art Deco. Tōgō was closely associated with the Sompo Japan's forerunner, Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Company, and donated many of his works for the museum.
