Sumida-ku
[Open 10am-4:30pm (enter by 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
A three-minute "Steam Locomotive Show," with spinning wheels and loud whistling, is held four times a day and is one of the main attractions at this local train museum. Another draw is the 13-minute "Panorama Show," held five times a day on a large...
[Open 10am-5pm. Closed weekends.]
This quirky little mini-museum is devoted to meishi and other paper products, and is run by a long-established meishi-printing company. If the exhibition area is closed (as it usually is), just pop your head into the second-floor office and ask to...
[Open 10am-noon, 1-3pm. Closed Mondays.]
Learn all about brakes at this highly specialized mini-museum, which covers everything from simple bicycle calipers to the sophisticated eddy-current and regenerative brakes used in Shinkansen trains. A timeline illustrates the history of brakes,...
Skytree (Oshiage)
[Open 11am-8:30pm (LO). Closed Tuesdays.]
This local neighborhood spot is more like a rescue-cat shelter than a cat cafe, and unlike in typical cafes, we definitely noticed the presence of litter boxes as soon as we entered the room. There are some charming cats here though, and if you're...
[Open 8am-10pm daily.]
The world's highest free-standing broadcast tower, Skytree stands 634 meters tall and has two observation decks, situated at 350 meters and 450 meters. A restaurant, cafe and souvenir shop are located on the lower deck. The tower is part of...
[Open 10am-9pm daily.]
A long-established food-model shop in Kappabashi, Ganso has opened a less professional-oriented, more souvenir-centered shop in Tokyo Skytree's attached shopping mall. They sell both regular samples and souvenir items like keychains and...
[Open 10am-9pm daily.]
A very tasteful Kobe-based stationery and design shop, Neue really stands out among its souvenir-shop neighbors here in Tokyo Skytree. In addition to pens, notebooks and other stationery items they also carry wallets, briefcases and messenger...
[Open 9am-8pm (last entry) daily.]
Penguins are the star performers at Sumida Aquarium, where they cavort in a 350-ton indoor tank at the center of a two-story atrium space. You can also get a glimpse of marine life of the Ogasawara Islands, which are officially part of Tokyo...
[Open 10:30am-6pm daily.]
Wondering what Japanese robots are up to these days? Find out at the Tokyo Skytree campus of Chiba Institute of Technology, which is actually just a couple of exhibition spaces located upstairs from the Skytree's shopping-mall complex. One area is...
[Open 10am-5:30pm (last entry 5pm) daily.]
Stamp collectors and stamp enthusiasts will be excited to explore the centerpiece of this specialty museum - an impressively huge collection of more than 330,000 postage stamps from around the world, carefully arranged in hundreds of vertical...
[Open 10am-6pm (enter by 5:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
Run by cigarette conglomerate Japan Tobacco, this oddly specialized museum focuses on the history of tobacco use around the world and the history of the Japanese salt industry. Graphic design historians can draw inspiration from a huge wall display...
Ryogoku
[Open 9am-4:30pm (-6pm June-August) daily.]
This lovely public park was once the grounds of a feudal lord's residence in the late seventeenth century, and it was restored in 1927 after being destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake. The pond at the center of the park was originally fed by the...
[Open 9:30am-5pm (last entry 4:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
This small museum will mostly be of interest to Japanese sword enthusiasts and collectors. The facility is run by the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords, and there are usually several dozen swords and other objects from their 190-piece...
[Open 10am-5pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays.]
It's an entire museum devoted to old cellphones! The history and culture of mobile communication is the theme here, and visitors with an interest in Japanese industrial design can trace the evolution of mobile-phone fashions through the years. ...
[Open 9:30am-5:30pm (enter by 5pm; Saturdays -7:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
[Update: The Tokyo-Edo Museum will reopen mid-2025] This excellent museum is devoted to the history of Tokyo, formerly known as Edo. Entering the museum via escalator from the third-floor plaza below is an inspiring experience - the massive...
[Open 11am-7pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays, holidays.]
Consisting of two large gallery spaces and a small library nook where you can look over artists' scrapbooks, MoMo puts on regular shows of their mostly Japanese contemporary artists. They also take part in international art fairs in Basel, Miami...
[Open 9:30am-5:30pm (enter by 5pm). Closed Mondays.]
This lovely museum is devoted to the work of Katsushika Hokusai, Japan's most famous ukiyoe artist, who lived and worked for most of his life here in this traditional neighborhood. The wide-ranging permanent collection provides a good overview of...
Koto-ku
[Open 9:30am-5pm (enter by 4:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
The pre-industrial history of Koto-ku in eastern Tokyo is intimately tied to its rivers and canals, and the top half of this small, rather specialized museum focuses on the theme of water transportation. The other half looks at daily life in this...
[Open 9:30am-5pm (enter by 4:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
Located on the banks of the Sumida River, this tiny museum is dedicated to the life and works of the poet Matsuo Basho, who elevated the haiku form to a major literary genre. Basho lived in a thatched cottage somewhere in the nearby area from 1680...
Kiyosumi-Shirakawa
[Open 9am-5pm (enter by 4:30) daily.]
The garden area here is laid out around a large pond inhabited by turtles, carp and ducks and other birds. Kiyoumi Gardens is best known for its collection of exotic landscape stones gathered from around Japan, many of which are used to create...
[Open noon-7pm. Closed Monday-Thursday.]
Representing mostly young Japanese contemporary artists, Harmas runs this small gallery space and also participates in a number of international art shows around the world. The gallery is open only on weekends (Friday through Sunday), but they have...
[Open 9:30am-5pm (enter by 4:30pm). Closed 2nd and 4th Mondays.]
Looking almost like a film set for a historical drama, the main exhibit here is a life-size reconstruction of an early nineteenth-century neighorhood on the banks of the Sumida River, filled with shops, warehouses, private houses, and even a canal...
[Open noon-7pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays, holidays.]
This small gallery hosts a few shows a year to showcase the artists they represent, and it's generally worth stopping by if something is on. Represented artists include Ikezaki Takuya, Mitsuhiro Ikeda, Tadasuke Iwanaga, Shinichiro Kano, Makiko...
[Open 11am-7pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays, holidays.]
This small one-room gallery puts on some interesting shows and installations from their roster of Japanese and international artists. It's worth checking out for a few minutes if you're making a coffee pilgrimage to the Allpress Espresso Roastery...
[Open 10am-6pm (enter by 5:30). Closed Mondays.]
After a three-year hiatus for renovation work, Tokyo's premier contemporary-art museum finally reopened in March 2019, incidentally giving a boost to the handful of small independent galleries that have gathered in the neighborhood. The museum's...
[Open 10am-6pm. Closed Mondays.]
The museum shop of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) is one of the biggest branches of the NADiff chain of art bookstores. You'll find a wide selection of art books and postcards as well as artsy gift-shop goods such as tote bags,...
Toyosu
[Open 10am-9pm (restaurants -11pm) daily.]
A massive shopping and restaurant complex with more than 185 retail stores, "Urban Dock Lalaport Toyosu" is located right on the Tokyo Bay waterfront, offering lovely nighttime views of central Tokyo. The complex is especially friendly to dog...
[2 sessions per day: 10am-3pm and 4-9pm; open every day.]
In this rather unusual amusement park, children ages 3-15 can "work" at more than eighty grown-up jobs - pilot, firefighter, chef - and earn Kidzania currency while they do so. Some of the activities are geared toward older or younger kids, and...
Boats to Asakusa on the Asakusa Odaiba Direct Line. 40 minutes travel time. Boats run three times a day from 12:40-4:40pm. Boats to Hinode Pier via Odaiba Seaside Park. Boats run seven times a day from 11:00am-4:25pm.
Edogawa-ku
[Open 10am-5pm. Closed Mondays.]
Recently refurbished, the Metro Museum focuses on the Tokyo subway system, with several hands-on driving simulators, a big model train layout (with shows four times a day), and exhibits of subway cars through the ages, tunneling equipment and...
Edogawa-ku Sportsland - Sports facility: Edogawa-ku
Facilities at this Edogawa-ku-run center include an indoor skating rink, swimming pool, training gym, and rooftop tennis and futsal courts.
[Open 7am-7pm (Oct-Mar: 8am-6pm) daily.]
Filled with lush greenery, this traditional Japanese garden is known for its seasonal flower displays. According to their garden calendar, over the course of the year you can look forward to seeing cherry blossoms (March-April), azaleas...
[Open 10am-4:30pm (Sat, Sun from 9:30). Closed Mondays.]
Small animals like red pandas, prairie dogs, squirrels, wallabies, Humboldt penguins and tropical birds make up most of the residents of this compact city-run zoo, with around thirty animal species in all. Although admission is free, the somewhat...
Shin-Kiba
[Open 9:30am-5pm (enter by 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
More than 1000 varieties of tropical and subtropical plants grow inside this 1500-square-meter dome-shaped greenhouse located in a park next to Tokyo Bay. Some highlights include giant water lilies, jade vines, Chinese banyan trees, flowering...