Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BEST OF AKASAKA AND ROPPONGI
Hie-jinja
Explore one of the city's finest Shinto shrines (see below)
Tokyo Midtown and Roppongi Hills
Take the pulse of modern Tokyo at these huge
developments (see p.93 & p.96)
Gonpachi
Get your
Kill Bill
fix (see p.152)
Hobgoblin
Hobnob at this rowdy bar (see p.170)
Mori Art Museum
View top-notch art and take in one of the best views of Tokyo (see p.96)
Art & Design Store
Buy products from some of Japan's most famous designers (see p.188)
Kurosawa
Satisfy your
Yojimbo
cravings (see p.152)
Akasaka
ࡔ
Southwest of the Imperial Palace, beside the government areas of Kasumigaseki and
Nagatachō, is
Akasaka
. This was once an agricultural area where plants that produce
a red dye were farmed - hence the locality's name, which means “red slope”. Akasaka
developed as an entertainment district in the late nineteenth century, when
ryōtei
restaurants, staffed with performing geisha, began to cater for the modern breed of
politicians and bureaucrats. The area still has its fair share of exclusive establishments,
shielded from the hoi polloi by high walls and even higher prices. Their presence,
along with the TBS Broadcasting Centre and some of Tokyo's top hotels, lends
Akasaka a certain cachet, though prices at most restaurants and bars are no worse
than elsewhere in the city.
8
Hie-jinja
ࢬਆࣾ
• 2-10-15 Nagatachō, Chiyoda-ku • 24hr • Free • Akasaka, Akasaka-mitsuke or Tameike-sannō stations
At the southern end of Akasaka's main thoroughfare, Sotobori-dōri, stands a huge stone
torii
gate, beyond which is a picturesque avenue of red
torii
leading up the hill to the
Hie-jinja
, a Shinto shrine dedicated to the god Ōyamakui-no-kami, who is believed to
protect against evil. Hie-jinja's history stretches back to 830 AD, when it was first
established on the outskirts of what would become Edo. The shrine's location shifted
a couple more times before Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna placed it here in the seventeenth
century as a source of protection for his castle (now the site of the Imperial Palace);
the current buildings date from the 1950s.
From the main entrance through the large stone
torii
on the east side of the hill,
51 steps lead up to a spacious enclosed courtyard, in which roosters roam freely. To the
left of the main shrine, look for the carving of a female monkey cradling her baby, a
symbol that has come to signify protection for pregnant women. In June, Hie-jinja
hosts one of Tokyo's most important festivals, the
Sannō Matsuri
(see p.26).
National Diet Building
ࠃձٞࣄಊ
, Kokkai Gijidō • 1-7-1 Nagatachō, Chiyoda-ku • Tours of House of Councillors Mon-Fri 9am-4pm unless in session; free •
T
03 5521 7445,
W
www.sangiin.go.jp • Kokkaigijido-mae station
he squat, three-storey
National Diet Building
is dominated by a central tower
block decorated with pillars and a pyramid-shaped roof. On the left stands the
House of Representatives, the main body of government; on the right is the
House of Councillors, which is similar to Britain's House of Lords and open for
hour-long
tours
.
There's an Edwardian-style grandeur to the Diet's interior, especially in the carved-
wood debating chamber and the central reception hall, which is decorated with
paintings reflecting the seasons, and bronze statues of significant statesmen. The room
the emperor uses when he visits the Diet is predictably ornate, with detailing picked
out in real gold. The tour finishes at the Diet's front garden, planted with native trees
and plants from all of Japan's 47 prefectures.
