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From the crush of the morning commute to the evening crowds flowing into shops, restaurants, and bars, Tokyo’s image is that of a city that never stops and rarely slows down. It is all too often portrayed as a strange carousel of lights, sounds, and people set on fast-forward, but these days there is a greater focus on cultural development and quality of life.
For a time it seemed that Tokyo was becoming the city of the future—compact urban life, surrounded by high-tech skyscrapers, the world’s densest rail system, and a 3-D network of highways overlapping and twisting above the city. Twenty years of gradual economic stagnation have cooled that vision, but if Tokyo no longer sees itself as the city of the future, it seems to have settled comfortably into being a city of the present.
While parts of the city such as Shibuya or Shinjuku’s Kabuki-cho continue to overwhelm with a 24-hour cacophony of light, sound, and energy, other neighborhoods are surprisingly relaxed. In Ometesando and Aoyama, people are more likely to be sipping wine or coffee with friends at an outdoor café than downing beer and sake with coworkers in an izakaya (a bar that serves food). The people are as varied as their city. Residents of Aoyama may wear European fashion and drive fancy imports, but those residing in Asakusa prefer to be decidedly less flashy.
Even the landscape is varied. The city hosts some of the most unsightly sprawls of concrete housing—extending for miles in all directions—in the world, but offsetting all the concrete and glass is a wealth of green space in the form of parks, temple grounds, and traditional gardens.
Whether you're gazing at the glow of Tokyo's evening lights or the green expanse of its parks, this is a city of astonishing and intriguing beauty. If you're a foodie, artist, design lover, or cultural adventurer, then Tokyo, a city of inspiration and ideas, is for you.
The Japanese gift for graphic and commercial design comes into historical perspective in these exhibits featuring everything from 18th-century wood-block prints to contemporary fashion photographs and videos. The museum is maintained by a foundation established in honor of Hideo Yoshida, fourth president of the mammoth Dentsu Advertising Company, and includes a digital library of some 130,000 entries and articles on everything you ever wanted to know about hype.
The older part of the Bank of Japan complex is the work of Tatsuno Kingo, who also designed Tokyo Station. Completed in 1896, on the site of what had been the Edo-period gold mint, the bank is one of the few surviving Meiji-era Western-style buildings in the city. The annex building houses the Currency Museum, a historical collection of rare gold and silver coins from Japan and other East Asian countries. There's little English-language information here, but the setting of muted lighting and plush red carpets evokes the days when the only kind of money around was heavy, shiny, and made of precious metals.
Become a taiko (drum) master for a day as you pound away on the exhibits at this fourth-floor museum dedicated to traditional Japanese and foreign drums. More than 200 instruments can be played, making it a great place for kids. Just make sure their hands remain off the antique instruments, which are carefully marked. Should you feel inspired, there is a shop on the ground floor of the same building that sells various Japanese drums and festival accessories, which make great souvenirs.
With classics like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, Studio Ghibli has created many of the most loved animated movies in history: Japanese or other. At this museum-slash-theme park in suburban Mitaka—inside Inokashira Park—you can see exhibits that the trace the creative processes that take concepts to screen, while being surrounded by interiors inspired by Ghibli films. A real bonus for Studio Ghibli fans is the on-site cinema that shows short animations exclusive to the museum. It's open until 7 on weekends and holidays (otherwise until 5); admission is by reservation only (booked online).
It's said that in the late 16th century, before Japan closed its doors to the West, the Spanish tried to establish a trade here in weapons made from famous Toledo steel. The Japanese were politely uninterested; they had been making blades of incomparably better quality for more than 600 years. At one time there were some 200 schools of sword making in Japan; swords were prized not only for their effectiveness in battle but for the beauty of the blades and fittings and as symbols of the higher spirituality of the warrior caste. There are few inheritors of this art today and the Sword Museum's mission is to maintain the knowledge and appreciation of sword making. Although the collection has swords made by famous craftsmen such as Nobufusa (a Living National Treasure) and Sanekage (a famous 14th-century sword maker), the focus here is on the swords as objects of beauty. The swords are individually displayed as works of art, giving visitors a chance to appreciate the detail, creativity, and skill involved in crafting each one. In 2018 the museum moved to a larger location in Ryogoku near the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
Suginami is home to more than 100 animation studios, making it by far the animation creation center of Tokyo. Although you can’t visit those studios, you can learn about animation at this compact, free museum, which has exhibits on anime history and how anime is made, plus interactive exhibits that include digital screens on which you can try drawing (or trace using templates) your own anime.
Kite flying is an old tradition in Japan. The collection here includes examples of every shape and variety from all over the country, hand-painted in brilliant colors with figures of birds, geometric patterns, and motifs from Chinese and Japanese mythology. You can call ahead to arrange a kite-making workshop (in Japanese) for groups of children.
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