Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
Every evening, Akita dog Hachikō would go to Shibuya Station to greet his companion. It's a practice he kept up everyday for 10 years after the professor…
Must-see attractions in Tokyo
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
Tokyo's principal photography museum usually holds three different exhibitions at once, drawing on both its extensive collection of Japanese artists and…
Hotel New Ōtani Japanese Garden
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Nonguests are welcome to visit Hotel New Ōtani's beautiful 400-year-old Japanese garden, which once belonged to a Tokugawa regent. Including vermilion…
Ueno & Yanesen
Japan’s oldest zoo, established in 1882, is home to animals from around the globe, but the biggest attractions are the giant pandas from China, Rī Rī and…
State Guest House, Akasaka Palace
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Check online for the opening schedule and somewhat complex admission details for this imperial palace and garden. Outside it's a dead ringer for London's…
Harajuku & Aoyama
This is Tokyo’s famous fashion bazaar. It's an odd mixed bag: newer shops selling trendy, youthful styles alongside stores still invested in the trappings…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Shinjuku-gyoen was designed as an imperial retreat (completed 1906); since opening to the public in 1951, it has become a favourite destination for…
Tokyo
Guarded by bronze lions and dragons, this handsome 1911-vintage granite bridge over the Nihombashi-gawa is partly obscured by the overhead expressway…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Designed by Kurokawa Kishō, this architectural beauty has no permanent collection, but boasts the country’s largest exhibition space for visiting shows,…
Ginza & Tsukiji
When Tsukiji's shrine was first built in the mid-1600s it was on the edge of the water – that's how much land reclamation has happened since. The name,…
Ueno & Yanesen
One of Tokyo's few remaining open-air markets, Ameya-yokochō got its start as a black market, post-WWII, when American goods (which included ameya – candy…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
Photos, vintage bottles and posters document the rise of Yebisu, and beer in general, in Japan at this small museum located where the actual Yebisu…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
Okamoto Tarō's mural, Myth of Tomorrow (1967), was commissioned by a Mexican luxury hotel but went missing two years later. It finally turned up in 2003…
Tokyo
This covered market, with low ceilings and lots of aka-chōchin (red lanterns), began as a black market in the post-war days. these days the tenants are…
Odaiba & Tokyo Bay
This is truly an only-in-Tokyo sight: a 19.7m-tall model of an RX-0 Unicorn Gundam from the wildly popular Mobile Suit Gundam anime franchise. It…
Ueno & Yanesen
Yanaka Ginza is pure, vintage mid-20th-century Tokyo, a pedestrian street lined with butcher shops, vegetable vendors and the like. Most Tokyo…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
An exhibition and discussion space dedicated to all forms of design, the 21_21 Design Sight is a beacon for local art enthusiasts, whether they be…
Ueno & Yanesen
One of Tokyo’s largest graveyards, Yanaka-reien is the final resting place of more than 7000 souls, many of whom were quite well known in their day. It’s…
Tokyo
Tokyo Station celebrated its centenary in 2014 with a major renovation and expansion. Kingo Tatsuno's original elegant brick building on the Marunouchi…
Tokyo
Designed by husband and wife Arakawa Shūsaku (1936–2010) and Madeleine Gins (1941–2014) and completed in 2005, this housing complex certainly strikes…
Harajuku & Aoyama
Had enough of the Harajuku crowds? Exit, stage right, for Cat Street, a meandering car-free road with a mishmash of boutiques and a little more breathing…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
From below, Shibuya Sky, the rooftop observatory atop Shibuya's newest tower, Shibuya Scramble Square, looks like one of those harrowing infinity pools –…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
The cherry-tree-lined paths of Japan’s first public cemetery are used by locals as shortcuts through the neighbourhood and as a place for picnics during…
Odaiba & Tokyo Bay
Part of the re-fashioning of the Tennōzu Isle warehouse district, this charcoal-grey warehouse contains six contemporary galleries: Kodama Gallery (www…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Enshrining the deity of sacred Mt Hiei, northeast of Kyoto, this hilltop shrine has been the protector shrine of Edo-jō (Edo Castle), now the Imperial…
Asakusa & Sumida River
Founded in 1627, this shrine is famous as the birthplace of the sumo tournament. Around the back of the main building is the yokozuna (sumo grand…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Bring photo ID, sign in and take the escalator up to the entrance of the Canadian embassy, which is fronted by this stark and brilliant stone sculpture…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
The mingei (folk crafts) movement was launched in the early 20th century to promote the works of artisans over cheaper, mass-produced goods. Central to…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
This shrine honours General Nogi Maresuke, a famed commander in the Russo-Japanese War. Hours after Emperor Meiji's funerary procession in 1912, Nogi and…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
The story of the 47 rōnin (masterless samurai) who (cleverly, murderously) avenged their master, Lord Asano – put to death after being tricked into…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Lucky are the girls who attended the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed 'School of the Free Spirit' (Jiyū Gakuen; 自由学園). Built in 1921, Myōnichikan functioned as…
Ueno & Yanesen
This grand residence offers a Western-style mansion designed by Josiah Conder in 1896, connected to a Japanese house built by Ōkawa Kijuro at the same…
Harajuku & Aoyama
This boulevard inside Jingū-gaien (the public outer gardens of Meiji-jingū) is lined with gingko trees. For a couple of weeks around late November and…
Tokyo
This section of the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace is one of the city's most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots. There's a 700m-long…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
The narrow streets of ‘Shimokita’, barely passable by cars, create a streetscape like a dollhouse version of Tokyo. It’s been a favourite haunt of…
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
Although the Teien museum often hosts excellent exhibitions – usually of decorative arts – its chief appeal lies in the building itself: it's an art deco…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This exhibition centre and workshop is dedicated to the quintessential Japanese art of origami, which you can learn to do yourself in classes here. There…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Since its original 1961 opening, the Suntory Museum of Art has subscribed to an underlying philosophy of lifestyle art. Rotating exhibitions focus on the…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
This mixed-use development, on the site of the old Akasaka Prince Hotel and opened in 2016, is best visited for its pleasant surrounding gardens and…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Kusama Yayoi (b 1929) is one of Japan's most internationally famous contemporary artists, particularly known for her obsession with dots and pumpkins. She…
