Odaiba & Tokyo Bay
Officially known as Tokyo International Exhibition Hall, Tokyo Big Sight has striking architecture including four huge upside-down pyramids. Look outside…
Must-see attractions in Tokyo
Ueno & Yanesen
Tokyo University of the Arts, commonly known as Geidai, is Japan's top art school. Its collection dates back to 1887 and includes over 28,000 items, a…
Ueno & Yanesen
Early-20th-century artist Yokoyama Taikan was one of the masters of modern nihonga (Japanese-style painting). Inside his former residence, a traditional…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
Run by longtime Tokyo art-world figure Sueo Mizuma, Mizuma Art Gallery represents some of Japan's more successful contemporary artists, such as Aida…
Edo Shitamachi Traditional Crafts Museum
Asakusa & Sumida River
Asakusa has a long artisan tradition, and changing exhibitions of local crafts – such as Edo-kiriko (cut glass) – are on display at this museum in a…
Ueno & Yanesen
During the Tokugawa reign, Kanei-ji was a powerful temple – its grounds once covered all of what is now Ueno-kōen (its pagoda is inside Ueno Zoo). With…
Harajuku & Aoyama
Aoki Jun’s design for Louis Vuitton (2002) features offset panels of tinted glass behind sheets of metal mesh of varying patterns and is, fittingly, meant…
Tokyo
Within the north end of the original Tokyo Station brick building, this small museum mounts regularly changing exhibitions sometimes based around JR's own…
Tokyo
These 1960s ferro-concrete buildings, done in Japanese modernist style, are home to Japan's emperor and family. The central building contains the throne…
Ginza & Tsukiji
If you have a ticket to see a show at the Kabukiza theatre, you get a ¥100 discount on entry to this small gallery displaying stage props, scenery and…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery is at its best when it holds solo shows and retrospectives of major modern Japanese artists and movements (spanning diverse…
Ueno & Yanesen
The 'red gate' is the most famous of the several entrances to Tokyo University (commonly known as Tōdai). The attractive and leafy campus occupies what…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
This traditional Japanese-style garden centred on an ornamental pond was formerly attached to the Azabu villa residence for the Mori Family and dates back…
Ueno & Yanesen
Near the southern entrance to Ueno-kōen is this unconventional statue of a samurai walking his dog. Saigō Takamori started out supporting the Meiji…
Ueno & Yanesen
This Yanaka temple is known for its part in the story of the 47 ronin (masterless samurai). It was here that they plotted to avenge their master (the…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
Part of the public space surrounding the Tokyo Midtown development. Some 140 cherry, camphor and other trees that were on the former Self Defence Agency…
Odaiba & Tokyo Bay
Designed by the late, great Kenzō Tange, the Fuji TV headquarters building is easily recognisable by the 1200-tonne orb suspended from the scaffolding…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This is the Tokyo branch of Ise-jingū, Japan's mother shrine in Mie Prefecture. Credited with establishing the Shintō wedding ritual, Tokyo Dai-jingū is a…
Tokyo
Built in 1966 for the 60th birthday of Empress Kojun, this concert hall inside the Imperial Palace East Garden has a petal-shaped roof and outer scalloped…
Ginza & Tsukiji
Okamoto Tarō created this sculptural clock tower four years before his famed Tower of the Sun for the 1970 expo in Osaka. It stands in Sukiyabashi-kōen, a…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
This narrow, winding brick lane is a classic example of Tokyo-style bricolage with a mismatch of architectural styles, cutesy clothing stores and a…
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
Tucked away amid the Sola City development is this exhibition space occupying a relocated 1917 storehouse once used by the area's book distributors. Check…
National Shōwa Memorial Museum
Kōrakuen & Akihabara
This museum of WWII-era Tokyo gives a sense of everyday life for the common people: how they ate, slept, dressed, studied, prepared for war and endured…
Ginza & Tsukiji
This small shrine is dedicated to the protection of fishermen (look for the detailed wooden carvings of them on the building's beams). It was originally…
Ueno & Yanesen
Before the 1860s, only samurai lords could see these fascinating clocks, called wadokei, that tell time according to variable hours named after animals of…
Ueno & Yanesen
Literally the ‘Sunset Stairs’, these stone steps lead down to the classic mid-20th-century shopping street Yanaka Ginza. They are so called because you…
Tokyo
Near the north exit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, all that remains of the main keep (donjon) of Edo-jō is its sloping stone base, which you can…
Asakusa & Sumida River
This late-17th-century stroll garden offers beautiful views across its central tidal pond and is well worth a visit if you're in the area. It used to take…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
Meaning ‘culture village’, Bunkamura has a theatre, concert hall, cinema and museum. Offerings swing between commercial and artsy; the Tokyo Philharmonic…
Roppongi, Akasaka & Around
The most famous piece of public art scattered around Roppongi Hills is this 30ft-tall bronze spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. It's one of six…
Harajuku & Aoyama
Pritzker Prize–winner Itō Toyō designed the Tod's boutique (2004). The criss-crossing strips of concrete take their inspiration from the zelkova trees…
Tokyo
Nakano's vintage 1950s covered shopping arcade has a glass ceiling, which allows natural light to filter in; over 100 shops, ranging from family-run deli…
Harajuku & Aoyama
On the top floor of Aoki Jun's Louis Vuitton boutique, this light-filled gallery hosts contemporary exhibitions backed by the luxury brand's well-endowed…
Tokyo
Ōte-mon, meaning 'great hand gate', was the main entrance to Edo-jō and would have had a guard of 120 men. It is now the main gate to the Imperial Palace…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Run by four veteran artists (including pioneering street photographer Daido Moriyama), this gallery serves as a hub for the city's photography scene…
Ueno & Yanesen
One of Yanaka's many ambient temples, this is home to an ancient chinquapin tree that's been designated a national monument. Ask someone from the temple…
Ueno & Yanesen
This Nichiren-sect temple, on the edge of Yanaka-reien, is noteworthy for its minimalist, modern gate and its centuries-old big bronze Buddha statue.
Odaiba & Tokyo Bay
Best visited around sunset, the 99m-high viewing deck in this landmark arch-shaped building allows views of both the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower…
Ueno & Yanesen
Within the grounds of the Tokyo National Museum, this grand 1909 Western-style hall is only used for special exhibitions and events.
Asakusa & Sumida River
This large temple offers peace and quiet inside the main hall. The temple was founded in the 17th century; the current building is a reconstruction from…
