135 Best Sights in Tokyo, Japan

For some traditional Japanese relaxation, head to this smart hot-spring facility a couple of minutes south of Sanrio Puroland. Gokuraku Yu combines nine indoor and outdoor baths (gender-separated), as well as a sauna and a salon that offers body massages and facial treatments. There’s also a restaurant on-site serving soba noodles, simple teishoku sets, and sweet treats.

A tiny sanctuary of Japanese tradition and nature that's surrounded by towering glass buildings is a great place to relax or walk off a filling Tsukiji sushi breakfast. The land here was originally owned by the Owari branch of the Tokugawa family from Nagoya, and when a family member became shogun in 1709, his residence was turned into a palace—with pavilions, ornamental gardens, pine and cherry groves, and duck ponds. The garden became a public park in 1945, although a good portion of it is fenced off as a nature preserve. None of the original buildings have survived, but on the island in the large pond is a reproduction of the pavilion where former U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant and Mrs. Grant had an audience with Emperior Meiji in 1879. The building can now be rented for parties. The stone linings of the saltwater canal work and some of the bridges underwent a restoration project that was completed in 2009. The path to the left as you enter the garden leads to the "river bus" ferry landing, from which you can cruise up the Sumidagawa to Asakusa. Note that you must pay the admission to the garden even if you're just using the ferry.

Established in 1853, Tokyo's oldest amusement park has modernized but leans in to its retro atmosphere. Think Coney Island: a haunted house, Ferris wheel, and merry-go-round await the kids who will likely be a little tired of Asakusa's historic areas.

Originally constructed in the early Edo period, Hanazono is not among Tokyo's most imposing shrines, but it does have a long history. Prayers offered here are believed to bring prosperity in business. The shrine is a five-minute walk north on Meiji-dori from the Shinjuku-sanchome subway station. The shrine hosts festivals, but might be most interesting late at night. The back of the shrine is adjacent to the "Golden-Gai," a district of tiny, somewhat seedy nomiya (bars) that in the '60s and '70s commanded the fierce loyalty of fiction writers, artists, freelance journalists, and expat Japanophiles—all the city's hard-core outsiders.

The house of Hattori Hanzo (1541–96) once sat at the foot of this small wooden gate. Hanzo was a legendary leader of Ieyasu Tokugawa's private corps of spies and infiltrators—and assassins, if need be. They were the menacing, black-clad ninja—perennial material for historical adventure films and television dramas. The gate is a minute's walk from the subway.

This cramped warren of alleyways on the north side of Kichijoji Station started life as a flea market in the 1940s, but then was given a much-needed new lease of life in the 1990s when bars and restaurants began taken up residency. It makes a great, less-touristy alternative for bar hopping than the far more famous Golden Gai area in Shinjuku. It has just as much of a down-to-earth, old-Tokyo vibe, albeit on a smaller scale. Some places open as early as 11 am, and most are open until midnight.

Hibiya Park opened in 1901 as the first Western-style park in Japan. Its nearly 40 acres of land contains beautiful seasonal flowers, a 500-year-old ginkgo tree, two ponds, and two open-air concert halls. It is the place to go for live music, festivals, and a leisurely stroll.

Located northeast of Kawagoe’s central sightseeing area (you’ll want to get on the loop bus rather than walk), Hikawa is known as a shrine where people come to pray for love and marital happiness. To do that yourself, write a wish on an ema (small votive plaque) and then hang it in the extremely Instagrammable ema tunnel. 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 of eight pattern also bestows good fortune.

Designed by famed architect Fumihiko Maki, the Hillside Terrace helped shape Daikanyama as a chic neighborhood after it was opened in 1967 and as it was subsequently expanded over the next three decades. Spread over multiple low-rise buildings, it mixes cafés and restaurants with offices, design and fashion stores, and small galleries. It's been overtaken in the public consciousness by T-Site in recent years, but the contemporary art at Art Front Gallery, coffee at Hillside Cafe, and all its other outlets still make it worth a browse.

The approach to this gate crosses the only wooden bridge that spans the Imperial Palace moat. The gate and bridge are reconstructions, but Hirakawa-mon is especially beautiful, looking much as it must have when the shogun's wives and concubines used it on their rare excursions from the harem.

Need a break from the sensory overload? At the Humax Pavilion, you can shoot a few games of pool, recline in a sauna, relax in a karaoke box, or sharpen your skills at any number of video games. This multilevel entertainment center is in the middle of all of Kabuki-cho's chaos.

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 that today house all sorts of places to shop or stop for a snack. Souvenir-wise, you’ll find stores selling incense, jewelry, glass beads, and fashion accessories, while the street snacks vary from tofu donuts to traditional sweets designed to be taken with green tea. More than anything, Ichibangai is just a pleasant place to stroll and take in the old vibe.

When the office buildings of the Meiji government were moved from this area in 1899, the whole expanse along the east side of the palace was turned into a public promenade and planted with 2,800 pine trees. The Outer Garden affords the best view of the castle walls and their Tokugawa-period fortifications: Ni-ju-bashi and the Sei-mon, the 17th-century Fujimi Yagura watchtower, and the Sakurada-mon gate. From 10 to 4 on Sunday, the road between the Outer Garden and Palace is closed to all vehicles except bicycles.

South of Kichijoji Station, with one foot in Mitaka and another in Musashino, this park is a large and laidback green space with all sorts to keep you busy for a day. Not only is the Ghibli Museum in the southernmost part of the almost 400,000-square meter (95-acre) park, there’s a small zoo with a guinea pig petting area and a boating pond with swan-shaped paddle boats and row boats. On weekends, expect to see buskers and other street performers, while in spring, when the park is repainted by pink cherry blossoms, you’ll find crowds of picnickers. It’s a lovely spot to take a bento, but there are also small cafés and restaurants scattered around the park. If you are traveling with small kids who need to burn off some energy, the playground equipment here can help with that.

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.

These large gardens are located a few minutes’ walk from Jindai-ji Temple and are well worth an extra hour in Chofu. Across the grounds are roughly 100,000 plants, divided into sections covering varieties such as roses, azaleas, plum blossoms, cherry blossoms, begonias, and more. From spring to autumn there is always something beautiful in bloom. There’s also a greenhouse with tropical and aquatic plants.

Frank Lloyd Wright fans will enjoy a glimpse into this off-the-beaten-path school building featuring his distinctive Prairie style. When Wright was in Tokyo designing the Imperial Hotel in the 1920s, he was commissioned to build this schoolhouse, which is now open to the public. Its use of local stone keeps it in harmony with its location, but that is a bit difficult to find, so your journey to find the building will take you through a small neighborhood. The brick street the building occupies is a helpful marker. Call ahead to be sure they are not closed for an event.

Soon after the Meiji Restoration and its enforced exile in Asakusa, Kabuki began to reestablish itself in this part of the city. The first Kabuki-za was built in 1889, with a European facade. In 1912 the Kabuki-za was taken over by the Shochiku theatrical management company, which replaced the old theater building in 1925; it was damaged during World War II but restored soon thereafter. The most recent iteration of the building retains its classic architecture—until one notices the looming office building coming out of the middle. The interior has been vastly improved, though. Tickets are sold only at the theater's ticket booth. Reservations by phone are recommended. If you want to see what all of the hype is about, this is the place to see a Kabuki show. For a short 15- to 30-minute sampling, get a single-act ticket; the final act usually provides the best spectacle. English Earphone Guides are available for a small fee and provide explanations and comments in English about the performance.

The main entryway to Senso-ji's grounds towers above the ever-present throng of tourists and passing rickshaw drivers. With its huge red-paper lantern hanging in the center, this landmark of Asakusa is picture-perfect. The original gate was destroyed by fire in 1865; the replica you see today was built after World War II. Traditionally, two fearsome guardian gods are installed in the alcoves of Buddhist temple gates to ward off evil spirits. The Thunder God (Kaminari-no-Kami) is on the left with the Wind God (Kaze-no-Kami) on the right. For souvenirs, stop at Tokiwa-do, the shop on the west side of the gate for kaminari okoshi (thunder crackers), made of rice, millet, sugar, and beans.

Kaminari-mon marks the southern extent of Nakamise-dori, the Street of Inside Shops. The area from Kaminari-mon to the inner gate of the temple was once composed of stalls leased to the townspeople who cleaned and swept the temple grounds. This is now kitsch-souvenir central, with key chains, dolls, and snacks.

This shrine is said to have been founded in AD 730 in a village called Shibasaki, where the Otemachi financial district stands today. The shrine itself was destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and the present buildings reproduce in concrete the style of 1616. Next door is the Edo Culture Complex, where you check in for your visit and can see cultural displays on the era when Samurai flourished.

You will never be able to see every shrine in the city, and the ones in Akihabara are of minor interest unless you are around for the Kanda Festival—one of Tokyo's three great blowouts—in mid-May. (The other two are the Sanno Festival of Hie Jinja in Nagata-cho and the Sanja Festival of Asakusa Shrine.) Some of the smaller buildings you see as you come up the steps and walk around the Main Hall contain the mikoshi—the portable shrines that are featured during the festival.

Around 1625, the second Tokugawa Shogun, Hidetada, commissioned the priest Tenkai to build a temple on the hill known as Shinobuga-oka in Ueno to defend his city from evil spirits. The original complex encompassed much of what is Ueno Park and while the remaining grounds are beautiful, the most remarkable structure here is the ornately carved vermilion gate to what was the mausoleum of Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun. Tsunayoshi is famous for his disastrous fiscal mismanagement and his Shorui Awaremi no Rei (Edicts on Compassion for Living Things), which, among other things, made it a capital offense for a human being to kill a dog.

Lined with over 200 shops selling kitchenware and supplies, Kappabashi is shopping heaven for home chefs. The street is worth a visit just to see the vast selection of wares on display—from knives to industrial restaurant supplies to the strikingly realistic plastic food models seen in restaurants.

In the 19th century, according to local legend, a river ran through the present-day Kappabashi district. The surrounding area was poorly drained and was often flooded. A local shopkeeper began a project to improve the drainage, investing all his own money, but met with little success until a troupe of kappa—mischievous green water sprites—emerged from the river to help him. A more prosaic explanation for the name of the district points out that the lower-ranking retainers of the local lord used to earn extra money by making straw raincoats, also called kappa, that they spread to dry on the bridge.

The star attraction here is the Diamonds and Flowers Ferris wheel (Daia to Hana no Dai-kanransha), which takes passengers on a 17-minute ride to the apex, 384 feet above the ground, for a spectacular view of the 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 river. The park also has an observatory looking out over Tokyo Bay as well as the Tokyo Sea Life Park aquarium. There's also a bird-watching center.

Another of Kawagoe’s historic enclaves, this cobblestone side street translates as “candy store alley.” It’s a great stop for anyone with a sweet tooth, thanks to its roughly 30 confectionery shops that sell colorful hard candies, honeycomb toffee, and more traditional Japanese treats such as dango (rice dumplings) and senbei (savory rice crackers).

Established around AD 830, Kita-in has long been an important temple in what was once known as the Kawagoe Domain. Not only is its graveyard the resting place of feudal lords, but over the temple’s long tenure it has accumulated several notable features. Several buildings were moved here from Edo Castle in the 1600s, as well as a famous collection of 500 Rakan Statues carved between the 1780s and 1820s. Each is a unique representation of the disciples of Buddha, with various pained and pleasured facial expressions. There’s a 17th-century shrine on the grounds too, as well as several gardens planted with azaleas, hydrangeas, and plum, cherry, and maple trees that combine to repaint the gardens seasonally.

This National Treasure was a part of Abbot Tenkai's attempt to build a copy of Kyoto's magnificent Kiyomizu-dera in Ueno. His attempt was honorable, but failed to be as impressive as the original. The principal Buddhist image of worship here is the Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Goddess of Mercy). Another figure, however, receives greater homage. This is the Kosodate Kannon, who is believed to answer the prayers of women having difficulty conceiving children. If their prayers are answered, they return to Kiyomizu and leave a doll, as both an offering of thanks and a prayer for the child's health. In a ceremony held every September 25, the dolls that have accumulated during the year are burned in a bonfire.

Defined by its island-accented pond, around which pathways take visitors to a succession of carefully landscaped viewpoints that blend features like manicured trees and ornamental rocks, this traditional garden is one of eastern Tokyo’s undervisited gems. Originally part of a feudal lord’s residence in the early 1700s, the garden was later owned by the founder of Mitsubishi, who used it to entertain important guests and give staff a place to unwind. Sitting by the pond, watching herons perch on rocks and carp gliding through the water, it’s an incredibly relaxing spot.

Built in the 1600s as part of a feudal lord’s residence, Koishikawa Korakuen is one of Tokyo’s oldest gardens. Design wise, this stroll garden attempts to reproduce famous Japanese and Chinese landscapes in miniature, using rocks, water features, carefully tended trees, and manmade hills. Like other classic Japanese gardens, it also changes its appearance seasonally, with highlights including pink cherry blossoms in spring and the reds, oranges, and yellows of maple and gingko trees in fall.

If walking around 13 floors of geeky goods at Nakano Broadway tires you out, stop by Kotobuki (just to the north) for a muscle-soothing bath. Tokyo’s neighborhood baths have been in steady decline in recent decades as only the oldest of homes now comes without a bath or shower. Some, however, like Kotobuki, are clinging on as places to socialize and unwind, and though it’s a modest facility, a soak here is a very immersive (pardon the pun) local experience. Just note that it opens late: from 4 pm 'til 12:30 am, so it's definitely something to do after your shopping spree.

Once you’ve located Kotobuki Yu’s orange building and have found your way to the gender-separated baths, the key thing with any public bath is to follow the basic etiquette. First, you need to be completely naked in the baths and make sure your wash towel doesn’t go in the communal bathtub. You also need to wash and rinse well in the seated shower area, before getting into the baths. After that, just enjoy a piping-hot soak and then try the on-site sauna.

This is a curiosity in a neighborhood of curiosities: a temple on the second floor of a supermarket. Two deities are worshipped here. One is the bodhisattva (a being that has deferred its own ascendance into Buddhahood to guide the souls of others to salvation) Jizo, and the act of washing this statue is believed to safeguard your health. The other is of the Indian goddess Marici, a daughter of Brahma; she is believed to help worshippers overcome difficulties and succeed in business.