11 Best Sights in Beyond Central Tokyo, Tokyo

Northeast of Kawagoe’s central sightseeing area, this shrine, purportedly founded more than 1,500 years ago, is where people come to pray for love and marital success. If you would like to do so, write a wish on an ema (small wooden votive plaque), and hang it in the outdoor tunnel nearly completely covered in ema. There are also two 600-year-old zelkova trees on the grounds, wedded together by an ornately wound rope. It’s said that walking around these giant trees in a figure-eight pattern grants good fortune.

Designed by famed architect Fumihiko Maki, the Hillside Terrace helped shape Daikanyama as a fashionable neighborhood after it was opened in 1967; since then, it had been expanded through the 1990s. Spread over multiple low-rise buildings, it mixes cafés and restaurants with offices, design (both international and Japanese) and fashion stores, and small galleries. The contemporary art at Art Front Gallery, coffee at Hillside Cafe, and all its other outlets help add to its appeal.

The most famous of Kawagoe’s old streetscapes, Ichibangai (First Street) is lined with historic, black-and-white-plastered warehouses and dark wooden merchant residences with all sorts of places to shop or stop for a snack. Souvenir options include incense, jewelry, glass beads, and fashion accessories, and street snack choices range from sweet potato brûlée and honey-infused drinks to wagashi (traditional sweets meant to be enjoyed with green tea). The street can be crowded, and the shops don't stay open late, but the atmosphere is convivial.

The star attraction here is the Diamonds and Flowers Ferris wheel, the second-tallest in Japan. The ride takes you on a 17-minute trip to the apex, 384 feet above the ground, for a spectacular view of the Tokyo bay area. On a clear day you can see all the way to Mt. Fuji; at night, if you're lucky, you reach the top just in time for a bird's-eye view of the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom, across the Kyuedo River. As a bonus, all Ferris wheel gondolas are private. The park also has an observatory looking out over Tokyo Bay, in addition to the Tokyo Sea Life Park aquarium, a bird-watching center, and some so-so beaches.

Another of Kawagoe’s historic enclaves, this cobblestone side street, which translates as “candy store alley,” had upwards of 70 different confectioners during the Showa era (1912–26). Although the number of shops has dwindled to about 20, it's still a great place to find colorful hard candies and honeycomb toffee, as well as dango (rice dumplings), karintou (fried, sugar-covered cookies), senbei (savory rice crackers), and other traditional treats.

Part of a private research facility specializing in the study of parasites, this small but free museum is decidedly not for the squeamish. Some of the specimens preserved in glass jars look like something out of an H.R. Geiger sketchbook. However, if you’ve ever dreamed of owning a T-shirt with the image of a giant tapeworm on the front, the museum shop has you covered.

Encircled by highways, this unabashedly urban park offers a pleasant stroll and superb Tokyo views. In addition to bamboo groves and Japanese maples, depending on the time of year you might see plum and peach blossoms, Chinese redbuds, banana shrubs, or Taiwanese camellias. Meguro Sky Garden is strictly no-smoking.

One of the Kanto region's oldest temples was founded in the AD 900s to hold a statue of the Buddhist deity Fudo Myoo that was, according to legend, carved by Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. That statue alone—still visible in the vast main hall—marks Naritasan out as special to many Japanese, but it also has two impressive pagodas and a spacious wooded park to explore. The oldest extant building was constructed in 1655; other structures have been rebuilt numerous times since then. From JR Narita or Keisei Narita train station, you can reach the temple via Naritasan Omotesando, an 800-meter-long (½-mile) avenue lined with souvenir stores and an eclectic mix of restaurants, some of which serve unagi (freshwater eel), a local specialty.

This retro shopping street between Shibamata Station and Taishakuten Temple has retained an old-Tokyo vibe, its wooden buildings having avoided both the heavy bombing that flattened much of Tokyo at the end of World War II and the subsequent redevelopment. Although the street developed as the approach to Taishakuten, Shibamata's renowned Buddhist temple, its connection to the eponymous site takes a back seat the items on sale here.

Taishakuten Sando is lined with small, family-run stores selling traditional snacks, such as savory senbei (rice crackers), dorayaki (sweet pancakes), and the Shibamata classic kusa-dango (sticky rice dumplings on skewers colored dark green because they include kudzu, or mugwort, in the mix). For the latter, stop by Monzen Toraya, a rice-dumpling specialist that has been around since 1887. Note that stores and restaurants here generally close sometime between 4 pm and 6 pm.

The symbol of old Kawagoe is a 17.5-mete (57-foot) bell tower that's the perfect photo-op. Originally built in the 1600s, the current structure dates to 1893, when it was rebuilt following a fire that destroyed much of the city. It’s just north of the Ichibangai shopping street. Although the bell is now automated, it does still ring four times a day.

This shrine in the heart of Monzen-Nakacho has been a core part of Fukagawa since the 1600s. It’s said that some of the earliest sumo tournaments were held here in the 1700s, which explains the sumo-related monuments you'll see. Today, the grounds hold small dawn-to-dusk antiques markets on the first, second, third, and fifth Sundays of each month, while lively flea markets take place on the 15th and 28th of each month. In odd-numbered years, during the month of August, the shrine is also the starting point of Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri, a festival that sees more than 50 portable shrines paraded energetically through the streets while onlookers pour buckets of water over the carriers (and each other). One more quirk here is that you can bring your car to be blessed.