Tokyo
The 14,000-plus-seat Budōkan was originally built for the judo competition of the 1964 Olympics (budō means 'martial arts') and will be pressed into service again for the 2020 event. Martial-arts practice and contests are still held here, but the Budōkan is better known as a concert hall: lots of big names, from the Beatles to Beck, have played here.
The building's unusual architecture was inspired by the eight-sided Yumedono (Hall of Dreams) at Nara's Hōryū-ji.
2.31 MILES
If you visit only one museum in Tokyo, make it the Tokyo National Museum. Here you'll find the world's largest collection of Japanese art, including…
10.08 MILES
This museum is the heart of the Studio Ghibli world, a beloved (even 'adored') film studio responsible for classic, critically-acclaimed animated titles…
2.52 MILES
Golden Gai – a Shinjuku institution for over half a century – is a collection of tiny bars, often literally no bigger than a closet and seating maybe a…
3.62 MILES
Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world (and definitely in Japan), Shibuya Crossing is like a giant beating heart, sending people in all…
17.55 MILES
This impressively slick attraction is dedicated to, you guessed it, cup noodles. But in reality, its focus is more broad, with numerous exhibitions…
2.22 MILES
Digital-art collective teamLab has created 60 artworks for this museum, open in 2018, that tests the border between art and the viewer: many are…
0.77 MILES
The Imperial Palace occupies the site of the original Edo-jō, the Tokugawa shogunate's castle. In its heyday this was the largest fortress in the world,…
3.02 MILES
Tokyo’s most visited temple enshrines a golden image of Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy), which, according to legend, was miraculously pulled out of…
0.08 MILES
Dating from 1635, the northern gate to Kitanomaru-kōen was once part of Edo-jō and is designated as a national important cultural asset.
2. National Shōwa Memorial Museum
0.14 MILES
This museum of WWII-era Tokyo gives a sense of everyday life for the common people: how they ate, slept, dressed, studied, prepared for war and endured…
0.15 MILES
This large park north of the Imperial Palace is home to noteworthy museums as well as the Nippon Budōkan concert hall. The gate at the park’s northern end…
0.2 MILES
This section of the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace is one of the city's most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots. There's a 700m-long…
0.23 MILES
Featuring a wide selection of exhibits aimed primarily at children and teenagers, the Science Museum has little in the way of English explanations, but…
0.26 MILES
This red-brick building, an annex of MOMAT, stages excellent changing exhibitions of mingei (folk crafts): ceramics, lacquerware, bamboo, textiles, dolls…
7. National Museum of Modern Art (MOMAT)
0.34 MILES
Regularly changing displays from the museum's superb collection of more than 12,000 works are shown over floors 2 to 4; special exhibitions are mounted on…
0.36 MILES
Literally ‘For the Peace of the Country Shrine’, Yasukuni is the memorial shrine to Japan’s war dead, around 2.5 million souls. First built in 1869, it is…