Explore Tokyo

Hanayashiki is an amusement park in Asakusa, a short walk from Sensō-ji, that opened in 1853 as a flower garden and is regarded as the oldest in Japan. Its small site packs in rides such as a roller coaster running since 1953, the oldest still operating in Japan, and the Bee Tower; a subsidiary of Bandai Namco runs it.

Sensō-ji is the oldest-established Buddhist temple in Tokyo, dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon; tradition dates it to 628, when two fishermen found a Kannon statue in the Sumida River. Visitors pass the Kaminarimon gate and the Nakamise shopping street to the Hōzōmon gate, the five-storey pagoda and the main hall, rebuilt in 1958 after the 1945 air raids.

teamLab Planets Tokyo is a digital art museum in Toyosu created by the art collective teamLab with DMM.com and opened in 2018. Visitors walk barefoot through large immersive installations, some of them in water, and through garden and forest areas; the venue is scheduled to run until the end of 2027.

Tokyo Joypolis is an indoor amusement park inside the DECKS Tokyo Beach shopping centre in Odaiba, on the Tokyo Bay waterfront. Opened by Sega in 1996, it is the only Joypolis amusement park still operating in Japan, with rides, simulators and game attractions based on Sega titles and licensed franchises.

A museum of miniature models in the Ariake district of Kōtō, opened in June 2020 inside a logistics centre building and covering about 7,000 square metres. Its rooms hold detailed dioramas such as a space centre with rocket launches, Kansai International Airport with moving aircraft, a global village, a Shibuya street scene and sets from the anime Evangelion.

A public aquarium on the fifth and sixth floors of Tokyo Solamachi at the foot of Tokyo Skytree in Sumida, opened in 2012 together with the tower. All tanks use artificial seawater. Exhibits include an open indoor pool with Magellanic penguins, fur seals, a tank modelled on the sea around the Ogasawara Islands, jellyfish and spotted garden eels.

The Ghibli Museum, in Inokashira Park in Mitaka on the western edge of Tokyo, is devoted to the work of the animation studio Studio Ghibli. Designed by Hayao Miyazaki and opened in 2001, it has rooms on how animated films are made, a small cinema showing short films made only for the museum, a rooftop garden and a café. Entry is by advance reservation only.

Tokyo Skytree is a 634-metre broadcasting and observation tower in Sumida, opened in 2012 and the tallest tower in Japan. Lifts carry visitors to the Tembo Deck at 350 metres and on to the Tembo Galleria, a sloping glass corridor that rises to 450 metres; the Tokyo Solamachi complex with Sumida Aquarium stands at its base.