Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
173
Asakusa. Commentary on the 40-minute
trip is in both Japanese and English (be
sure to pick up the English-language leaf-
let, too). You'll get descriptions of the 12
bridges you pass along the way and views
of Tokyo you'd otherwise miss. Boats
depart Hama Rikyu Garden hourly or
more frequently between 10:35am and
4:15pm, with the fare to Asakusa costing
¥720 one-way. There are also other cruise
routes, including those between Hinode
Pier (closest station: Hinode, about a
1-min. walk) and Asakusa (fare: ¥760),
Asakusa and Odaiba (fare: ¥1,520), and
Hinode Pier and Odaiba (fare: ¥460). For
more information, contact the
Tokyo
Cruise Ship Co.
(
&
0120-977311;
www.
suijobus.co.jp).
Another boat company, offering trans-
portation along the Sumida and Arakawa
rivers, in the Odaiba area, and to Kasai
Rinkai Park, is the
Tokyo Mizube Cruis-
ing Line
(
&
03/5608-8869;
www.tokyo-
park.or.jp/English/business/route.html).
Finally, for personalized, one-on-one
tours of Tokyo, contact
Jun's Tokyo Dis-
covery Tours,
managed by Tokyoite Junko
Matsuda, which offers tailored sightseeing
trips to Tsukiji, Asakusa, Yanaka, Hara-
juku, Aoyama, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and
Kamakura, as well as shopping trips and
special trips designed to fit your interests.
Tours utilize public transportation and are
especially useful if you wish to communi-
cate with shopkeepers and the locals, want
to learn more about what you're seeing, or
are timid about finding your way on pub-
lic transportation (if you wish, you'll be
met at your hotel). The cost is ¥25,000 for
1 day (7 hr.) for up to four adults or a fam-
ily. Reserve tours at least 3 days in advance
(1 week preferred) by fax (
&
03/5477-
6022
) or e-mail (me2@gb3.so-net.ne.jp),
stating the desired tour date and what
you'd like to see; messages can also be left
at
&
090/7734-0079
(if you're calling
from abroad, drop the initial 0).
7
1
THE TOP ATTRACTIONS
Edo-Tokyo Museum (Edo-Tokyo Hakubutsukan)
The building
housing this impressive museum is said to resemble a rice granary when viewed from afar,
but to me it looks like a modern
torii,
the entrance gate to a shrine. This is the metro-
politan government's ambitious attempt to present the history, art, disasters, science,
culture, and architecture of Tokyo from its humble beginnings in 1590—when the first
shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, made Edo (old Tokyo) the seat of his domain—to 1964, when
Tokyo hosted the Olympics. All in all, the museum's great visual displays create a vivid
portrayal of Tokyo through the centuries. I wouldn't miss it. Plan on spending 2 hours
here.
After purchasing your ticket and taking a series of escalators to the sixth floor, you'll
enter the museum by walking over a replica of Nihombashi Bridge, the starting point for
all roads leading out of old Edo. Exhibits covering the Edo Period portray the lives of the
shoguns, merchants, craftsmen, and townspeople. The explanations are mostly in Japa-
nese only, but there's plenty to look at, including a replica of an old Kabuki theater, a
model of a
daimyo
's (feudal lord) mansion, portable floats used during festivals, maps and
photographs of old Edo, and—perhaps most interesting—a row-house tenement where
Edo commoners lived in cramped quarters measuring only 10 sq. m (108 sq. ft.). Other
displays cover the Meiji Restoration, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and the
bombing raids of World War II (Japan's own role as aggressor is disappointingly glossed
over), with plenty of old-style conveyances—from a palanquin to a rickshaw—for kids
to climb in and have parents take their picture.
