Harajuku Miniature

Must Visit Attraction

There are hundreds of cities in Japan that are endowed with many beautiful and famous tourist attractions. Top cities include Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nara, Nagasaki, Kamakura, Sapporo, Kawasaki, Chiba and Fukuoka among many others. Tokyo is one of the most developed cities and is also the primary capital of Japan.

Here are some attractions categorized by area that tourists should never miss to visit while in Tokyo:

Outlying Areas of Tokyo

TokyoDisneyland

A theme park based on the films produced by Walt Disney. It was opened in 1983 as the first Disney theme park outside of the United States. Modeled after Disneyland in California and the Magic Kingdom in Florida, Tokyo Disneyland is made up of seven themed lands and features seasonal decorations and parades.

Tokyo DisneySea

A fantasy theme park in Tokyo Disney Resort that is unique to Japan. Inspired by the myths and legends of the sea, Tokyo DisneySea is made up of seven themed ports of call: Mediterranean Harbor, Mystery Island, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery and American Waterfront.

GhibliMuseum

Animation and art museum of Miyazaki Hayao’s Studio Ghibli, one of Japan’s most famous animation studios. Located in Mitaka, just outside of central Tokyo, the museum is a must-see for fans of the films. The museum itself is whimsically designed in the distinct style of the studio’s films, and many of their famous characters are there, including a life-sized robot from Castle in the Sky on the rooftop garden.

Central Tokyo (Chiyoda, Chuo)

ImperialPalace

A large park area surrounded by moats and massive stone walls in the center of Tokyo currently located on the former site of Edo Castle. It is the residence of Japan’s Imperial Family situated just a short walk from Tokyo Station.

Koishikawa Korakuen

Built by close relatives of the Tokugawa Shogun in the early Edo Period, Koishikawa Korakuen is one of Tokyo’s oldest and most beautiful Japanese landscape gardens. Like most traditional Japanese gardens, Koishikawa Korakuen attempts to reproduce famous landscapes from China and Japan in miniature, using a pond, stones, plants and a man made hill.

Hama Rikyu

Garden of a feudal lord’s residence during the Edo Period, is one of Tokyo’s most attractive landscape gardens. It is located alongside Tokyo Bay, next to the futuristic Shiodome district. Seawater ponds, which change water level with the tides, former duck hunting grounds, forested areas and a teahouse are some of the park’s attractions. Furthermore, the contrast between the traditional gardens with Shiodome’s skyscrapers in the background is spectacular.

Western Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya)

Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu)

A shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Located just beside JR Yamanote Line‘s busy Harajuku Station, Meiji Shrine and the adjacent Yoyogi Park make up a large forested area within the densely built-up city. Spacious shrine grounds offer walking paths that are great for a relaxing stroll. The shrine was destroyed during Second World War but was rebuilt shortly thereafter.

Yoyogi Koen (YoyogiPark)

One of Tokyo’s largest city parks that features wide lawns, ponds and forested areas. It is a great place for jogging, picnicking and other outdoor activities. Although Yoyogi Park has relatively few cherry trees compared to other sites in Tokyo, it makes a nice cherry blossom viewing spot in spring. Furthermore, it is known for its ginko tree forest, which turns intensely golden in autumn.

Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku Gyoen is home to a large number of cherry trees of more than a dozen different species, making the park one of Tokyo’s most popular and pleasant hanami spots during late March and most of April. Shinjuku Gyoen features three garden types: an English landscape garden with wide lawns, a traditional Japanese garden with teahouses and a symmetrically arranged, formal French garden. Furthermore, there are some forested areas and a greenhouse (the greenhouse is being reconstructed until 2011).

Northern Tokyo (Ueno, Asakusa, Ikebukuro)

SensojiTemple

Also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Asakusa, the center of the shitamachi (lit. “low town”). Legend says that in the year 628, two brothers fished a statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, out of the Sumida River, and even though they put the statue back into the river, it always returned to them. Consequently, Sensoji was built there for the goddess of Kannon. The temple was completed in 645, making it Tokyo’s oldest temple.

UenoPark

Park grounds were originally part of Kaneiji Temple, which used to be one of the largest and wealthiest temples in the city and a family temple of the ruling Tokugawa clan during the Edo Period. Kaneiji stood in the northeast of the capital to protect the city from evil, much like Enryakuji Temple in Kyoto.

Rikugien

One of Tokyo’s most beautiful, Japanese style landscape gardens was built around 1700 by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, Rikugien literally means “six poems garden” and reproduces in miniature 88 scenes from famous poems. Rikugien is quite a spacious garden with central pond, islands, forested areas, man made hills and several teahouses. It takes about an hour to cover the garden’s whole network of walking paths at a leisurely speed.

Southern Tokyo (Shinagawa, Minato)

Odaiba (or Daiba)

A popular shopping and entertainment district on a man made island in Tokyo Bay originated as a set of small man made fort islands (daiba literally means “fort”). These were built towards the end of Edo Period (1603-1868) to protect Tokyo against possible attacks from the sea and specifically in response to the gunboat diplomacy of Commodore Perry.

Institute for Nature Study

Sights and sounds of the city are left behind when you enter the park, a nature reserve in the heart of Tokyo near Meguro Station. It is a wild, natural and quiet world even though the grounds are located near the Yamanote train line and bordered by part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway.

 

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