Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Meguro
ࠇ
Within walking distance of Nakameguro or Ebisu,
Meguro
is decidedly less appealing
than its neighbouring areas - the atmosphere here is rather more city than village.
Nevertheless, there are a few interesting things to see, even if they're frustratingly
spread out.
9
Meguro Gajoen
ࠇխঀԂ
• 1-8-1 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku •
Site
Daily 7am-9.30pm • Free •
Hyakudan kaidan
Check website for viewing dates •
¥1500, ¥1200 if booked in advance •
T
03 5434 3920,
W
megurogajoen.co.jp • Meguro station
A mammoth wedding hall, hotel and restaurant complex,
Meguro Gajoen
's current
building replaced the original wedding hall, built in 1931 and known as Ryūgū-jō
(Fairytale Dragon Palace). All that remains of that is the
hyakudan kaidan
which,
despite its name (“one-hundred-step stairway”), has 99 steps, leading to a series of
spectacularly ornate rooms. This part of the complex is not always open - check the
wedding hall's website.
You can still get a taste of the old wedding hall's fantastic nature in the rest of the
complex, where painted wooden carvings (huge
ukiyo-e
-style panoramas of kimonoed
ladies and samurai warriors) and lacquer and mother of pearl-inlaid scenes of flowers
and birds, culled from the old building, decorate the enormous interior - big enough
to host some twenty-odd weddings simultaneously.
Meguro Parasitological Museum
ࠇدੜؗ
, Meguro Kiseichūkan • 4-1-1 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku • Tues-Sun 10am-5pm • Free •
T
03 3716 1264,
W
kiseichu.org •
Meguro station
Tokyo's most curious date destination must surely be the
Meguro Parasitological
Museum
, which prides itself on being the world's only museum dedicated to parasites.
Two floors of creepy exhibits emphasize the dangers of having them in uncooked food.
Specimens include record-breaking tapeworms (one is 8.8m long), pickled in jars,
along with some gruesome photographs of past victims, including one poor fellow
whose swollen testicles scrape the ground. Most bizarre is that the museum has
developed a reputation as a place to visit for courting couples.
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
౦ژఉԂඒज़ؗ
, Tōkyō-to Teien Bijutsukan • 5-21-9 Shirokanedai, Meguro-ku •
T
03 3443 0201,
W
www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp •
Meguro or Shirokanedai stations
Approachable from either Meguro or Shirokanedai stations is the elegant
To k yo
Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
. This Art Deco building is the former home of Prince
Asaka Yasuhiko, Emperor Hirohito's uncle, who lived in Paris for three years during the
1920s, where he developed a taste for the European style. It's worth popping in to
admire the gorgeous interior decoration and tranquil surrounding Japanese gardens,
including a tea-ceremony house. Note that the museum was closed for renovations at
the time of writing, and is expected to reopen in late 2014.
National Park for Nature Study
ࣗવڭҭԂ
, Shizen Kyōiku-en • 5-21-5 Shirokanedai, Meguro-ku • Tues-Sun 9am-4.30pm, May-Aug until 5pm • ¥300 •
W
www.ins
.kahaku.go.jp • Meguro or Shirokanedai stations
The spacious
National Park for Nature Study
is a worthy attempt to preserve the original
natural features of the countryside before Edo was settled and developed into Tokyo.
Among the eight thousand trees in the park are some that have been growing for five
hundred years, while frogs can be heard croaking amid the grass beside the marshy
ponds. The whole place is a bird-spotter's paradise, and it's also one of the few areas in
Tokyo where you can really escape the crowds.
