Each year six and a half million Japanese travel to the Shima Peninsula east of Osaka to visit what amounts to the Mecca of the native Shinto faith. The Isejingu, or Ise Shrine, is actually an enormous complex, including the Geku, or Outer Shrine, the Naiku, or Inner Shrine, and 123 smaller assoc...
Just west of the grounds of Asakusa’s Sensoji, visitors will come across Hanayashiki, a small and slightly run down amusement park. Don’t just shrug it off, though, especially if you have kids with you who might like a break from shrines and shopping.
If for no other reason, Hanayashiki deserves ...
In the year AD 628, two fishermen working on the Sumida River found a small golden statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, in their nets. The master of their little village recognized the importance of the find, and promptly enshrined the statue in his own home. Some years later, Senso-ji w...
The name Odaiba means fort, revealing the origins of what has become one of Tokyo’s most thriving tourist destinations. In 1853, shortly after Commodore Matthew Perry’s alarming expedition to Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate constructed a series of island batteries to guard the entrance to Tokyo Bay. I...
Not surprisingly, Tokyo Station is a main terminus for most (but not all) Shinkansen lines entering the city. It also handles a large number of local and regional Japan Rail lines and connects to the Tokyo Subway system. Like most large railway stations in Japan, it has an extensive underground netw...
Japanese love Tokyo Tower. For foreigners, on the other hand, it can be a bit of a puzzle. Although the Tower’s main purpose is to support a radio and television antenna, its deeper purpose was to make a statement about the rise of Japan and its economy during the post-war boom of the 1950’s. It is ...
Akihabara, world famous as one of the most concentrated shopping areas in the world for electronics goods of every possible type and description, has taken on a second role in the last 15 years as the center of Japan’s increasingly influential otaku, or geek culture. For both of these reasons, it ca...
Shibuya is the name of one of Japan’s wards, and as such includes Harajuku, Ebisu and a number of other neighborhoods. In common speech, however, Shibuya usually refers to the shopping and entertainment district just south of Harajuku, centered on Shibuya Station, one of Tokyo’s busiest.
Shibuya ...
The name Odaiba means fort, revealing the origins of what has become one of Tokyo’s most thriving tourist destinations. In 1853, shortly after Commodore Matthew Perry’s alarming expedition to Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate constructed a series of island batteries to guard the entrance to Tokyo Bay. I...
The name Odaiba means fort, revealing the origins of what has become one of Tokyo’s most thriving tourist destinations. In 1853, shortly after Commodore Matthew Perry’s alarming expedition to Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate constructed a series of island batteries to guard the entrance to Tokyo Bay. I...
Harajuku is a neighborhood between Shinjuku and Shibuya, home to Tokyo’s most important Shinto shrine, its largest park, and a focal point for Tokyo’s youth culture and fashion.
During the 1964 Olympics, Harajuku Station was the main transportation hub for the Olympic Village. After the Olympics,...
Akihabara is world-famous as the epicenter for Japan’s otaku, or geek, culture. In addition to its truly overwhelming collection of electronics shops, this neighborhood of Tokyo is also home to a growing number of stores devoted to manga and anime goods, the print and animated comics that have becom...
This large, pleasant park, just west of Ueno Station, was established with an Imperial land grant in 1924. Today, the park is enormously popular with Tokyoites, especially during the spring cherry blossom season. Like most urban parks, it has picnic spaces and walkways, and Shinobazu pond is an annu...
Japanese love Tokyo Tower. For foreigners, on the other hand, it can be a bit of a puzzle. Although the Tower’s main purpose is to support a radio and television antenna, its deeper purpose was to make a statement about the rise of Japan and its economy during the post-war boom of the 1950’s. It is ...
Akihabara, world famous as one of the most concentrated shopping areas in the world for electronics goods of every possible type and description, has taken on a second role in the last 15 years as the center of Japan’s increasingly influential otaku, or geek culture. For both of these reasons, it ca...
