Oji

Oji Review

Want to take a trip back in time? Take the JR Yamanote Line to Otsuka, cross the street in front of the station, and change to the Toden Arakawa Line—Tokyo's last surviving trolley. Heading east, for ¥160 one way, the trolley takes you through the back gardens of old neighborhoods on its way to Oji—once the site of Japan's first Western-style paper mill, built in 1875 by Oji Paper Company, the nation's oldest joint-stock company. The mill is long gone, but the memory lingers on at the Asuka-yama Oji Paper Museum (1-1-3 Oji, Kita-ku. 03/3916-2320. www.papermuseum.jp. ¥300. Tues.-Sun. 10-5). Some exhibits here show the process of milling paper from pulp. Others illustrate the astonishing variety of products that can be made from paper. The museum is a minute's walk from the trolley stop at Asuka-yama Koen; you can also get here from the JR Oji Station (Minami-guchi/South Exit) on the Keihin-Tohoku Line, or the Nishigahara Station (Asuka-yama Exit) on the Namboku subway line.