Must-see attractions in Tokyo

  • Top Choice
    Tokyo National Museum

    If you visit only one museum in Tokyo, make it the Tokyo National Museum. Here you'll find the world's largest collection of Japanese art, including…

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    Ghibli Museum

    This museum is the heart of the Studio Ghibli world, a beloved (even 'adored') film studio responsible for classic, critically-acclaimed animated titles…

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    Golden Gai

    Golden Gai – a Shinjuku institution for over half a century – is a collection of tiny bars, often literally no bigger than a closet and seating maybe a…

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    teamLab Borderless

    Digital-art collective teamLab has created 60 artworks for this museum, open in 2018, that tests the border between art and the viewer: many are…

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    Shibuya Crossing

    Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world (and definitely in Japan), Shibuya Crossing is like a giant beating heart, sending people in all…

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    Imperial Palace

    The Imperial Palace occupies the site of the original Edo-jō, the Tokugawa shogunate's castle. In its heyday this was the largest fortress in the world,…

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    Sensō-ji

    Tokyo’s most visited temple enshrines a golden image of Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy), which, according to legend, was miraculously pulled out of…

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    Meiji-jingū

    Tokyo’s grandest Shintō shrine is dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, whose reign (1868–1912) coincided with Japan's transformation from…

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    Edo-Tokyo Museum

    Tokyo's history museum documents the city's transformation from tidal flatlands to feudal capital to modern metropolis via detailed scale re-creations of…

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    Rikugi-en

    Considered by many to be Tokyo's most elegant garden, Rikugi-en was originally completed in 1702, at the behest of a feudal lord. It is definitely the…

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    Hama-rikyū Onshi-teien

    This beautiful garden, one of Tokyo’s finest, is all that remains of a shogunate summer villa next to Tokyo Bay. There's a large pond with an island,…

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    Koishikawa Kōrakuen

    Established in the mid-17th century as the property of the Tokugawa clan, this formal strolling garden incorporates elements of Chinese and Japanese…

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    Tsukiji Market

    Tokyo's main wholesale market may have moved to Toyosu, but there are many reasons to visit its old home. The tightly packed rows of vendors (which once…

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    Yoyogi-kōen

    If it’s a sunny and warm weekend afternoon, you can count on there being a crowd lazing around the large grassy expanse that is Yoyogi-kōen. You'll…

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    Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

    Tokyo's city hall – a landmark building designed by Tange Kenzō – has observatories (202m) atop both the south and north towers of Building 1 (the views…

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    Omote-sandō

    This broad, tree-lined boulevard is lined with boutiques from the top European fashion houses. More interesting are the buildings themselves, designed by…

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    Intermediatheque

    Dedicated to interdisciplinary experimentation, Intermediatheque cherry-picks from the vast collection of the University of Tokyo to craft a fascinating,…

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    Fukagawa Fudō-dō

    Belonging to the esoteric Shingon sect, at this active temple you can attend one of the city's most spectacular religious rituals. Goma (fire rituals)…

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    Ukiyo-e Ōta Memorial Museum of Art

    This small museum (where you swap your shoes for slippers) is the best place in Tokyo to see ukiyo-e. Each month it presents a seasonal, thematic…

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    Asakura Museum of Sculpture, Taitō

    Sculptor Asakura Fumio (artist name Chōso; 1883–1964) built his home studio in the early 20th century and it's very much representative of architecture of…