Travel Guide to East Tokyo

Edogawa and Koto are two of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. They are located in the eastern part of the city, east of the Sumida River.

Edogawa is located on the northern shore of Tokyo Bay. It borders the wards of Koto, Sumida, Katsushika, and Arakawa. It is a residential and industrial district with a large number of parks and green spaces.

Koto is located on the southern shore of Tokyo Bay. It borders the Edogawa, Sumida, Chiyoda, and Chuo wards. It is a historic and tourist district, with a large number of temples, shrines, and historic gardens.

What to see in East Tokyo

Tokyo Big Sight

Tokyo Big Sight is a convention and exhibition center located in a quieter area than Odaiba, near Airake. This venue is known for hosting massive events such as Comiket, which is held twice a year. The center, also known as the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, is the largest of its kind in Japan and opened in 1996. Its architecture is very distinctive and striking. It was originally planned to be used as a venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but due to public funding cuts, it was ultimately used only as a communications and press center.

National Museum of Emerging Sciences and Innovation

Miraikan is an interactive museum that showcases the latest scientific and technological innovations. The museum has eight exhibition halls, each focusing on a different theme, such as space exploration, artificial life, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Unicorn Gundam Statue

The statue is 19.7 meters tall and weighs 49 tons. It is made of steel and fiberglass and is powered by hydraulics. The statue can transform between Unicorn mode and Destroy mode, and can also move its arms and legs. The Unicorn Gundam Statue is a popular tourist attraction and is also a popular spot for Gundam fans to take photographs. The statue is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. In addition to the transformation show, the Unicorn Gundam Statue also features a light show that takes place every 30 minutes from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The light show is synchronized to music and is a truly spectacular sight to behold. If you are a Gundam fan, or if you are simply looking for a unique and unforgettable experience in Tokyo, then the Unicorn Gundam Statue is a must-see.

Tokyo Sea Life Park

One of Japan’s most famous aquariums, where you can see cheerful penguins and plenty of tuna. Tokyo Sea Life Park was completed in 1989 as a project to commemorate the centennial of the Ueno Zoological Gardens in 1882. With its distinctive 30.7-meter-high glass dome, which appears to float over Tokyo Bay, it is a must-see for all aquatic life lovers. Visitors can enjoy and discover some 600 species of fish and seabirds, as well as a number of innovative attractions not usually found elsewhere. These include the tidal pool tank, where visitors can touch marine creatures, and one of the largest penguin habitats in Japan.

Tower Hall Funabori

It offers panoramic views of eastern Tokyo from its 115-meter-high observation deck. It offers a unique perspective of both traditional and modern aspects of Tokyo. The tower is located in an area without high-rise buildings, making it a suitable place to enjoy unobstructed views. Visitors can see not only Tokyo’s skyscrapers but also the Boso Peninsula, the Kanto Plain, and even Mount Fuji on clear days. Tower Hall Funabori is easily accessible, located in front of Funabori Station on the Toei Shinjuku Line.

Edogawa-ku Cultural Center

The Edogawa-ku Cultural Center offers a wide range of cultural events, including concerts, plays, exhibitions, and workshops. It also offers music, dance, and art classes. The Edogawa-ku Cultural Center is a popular place for residents of Edogawa and other parts of Tokyo to enjoy culture and entertainment.

Edo Museum

The Edo-Tokyo Museum is an enormously fascinating museum dedicated to the history of Tokyo, from its beginnings in the Edo period (1600-1868) through the industrial revolution of the Meiji period (1868-1912) and up to the present day. Inside the impressive Brutalist-style building, designed by architect Kiyonori Kikutake, you’ll find replicas of buildings and objects that were part of the city’s history, as well as numerous original artifacts and artifacts. Interactive exhibits, open to the public, allow you to touch objects, enter certain buildings, and, in a sense, travel back in time through the city’s history. The Edo-Tokyo Museum opened on March 28, 1993, in the Ryogoku district, known as Japan’s sumo district. We recommend a pleasant walk that includes a visit to this museum. You’ll love it! The museum is organized chronologically, like a “chronological path.” Crossing the replica of Nihonbashi Bridge, you enter the city of Edo and journey through its history. The first part of the museum is dedicated to the creation and expansion of the city of Edo, as well as its social structure and shogunate. The museum focuses on the daily lives of ordinary Edo residents, showcasing festivals, the passion for theater, clothing, and more. You will then delve into the modernization of the Meiji period, when Edo changed its name to Tokyo, through the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, city life during World War II and the postwar period, and up to the present day. Among the exhibits you can’t miss during your visit are: Nihonbashi Bridge, models of old Edo, models of Edo Castle, the Edo shogunate, the city of Edo, the Kanda Myojin shrine float, the Higaki-Kaisen boat, the Nakamura-za kabuki theater, the Choya Shinbun newspaper headquarters, Ryounkaku Tower, a 20th-century house, an early 20th-century Western-style house, a wartime house, and the Hibarigaoka housing complex. Keep in mind that the museum is full of all kinds of objects, some authentic and others replicas, which in many cases you can touch and even experiment with. Plus, there are plenty of explanations in English and Japanese, so you can spend many hours there. Therefore, it’s an ideal visit for children, although adults also enjoy it very much. It’s undoubtedly a unique opportunity to understand what life was like in Edo and Tokyo.

Kasai Rinkai Park

Unlike the crowded parks of Ueno and Yoyogi, this park offers a peaceful setting and a variety of family attractions. Here you can enjoy birdwatching, have a barbecue, or take a ride on the park’s Ferris wheel or train. Kasai Rinkai Park is located next to Tokyo Bay, making it one of the few places in the city where you can freely explore the coastline. Thanks to conservation measures, marine life in this area has begun to recover. Work on this park began in 1985 with the Kasai Coastal Development Project, which focused on preserving Tokyo’s natural environment with the motto “Plantation, Water, and People.” Since its opening in 1989, the park has been very popular with both residents and tourists. You’ll also find numerous attractions in the surrounding area, such as the famous Tokyo Disney Resort. We recommend taking a ride on the Ferris wheel, the second largest in Japan, which will give you a panoramic view of the park from above. A ride on the Ferris wheel lasts over 15 minutes, and on clear days, you can even see the majestic Mount Fuji. The wheel, known as the Diamond and Flower Ferris Wheel, offers a stunning light show at dusk. From there, you can take the park train, which will take you to the area’s main attractions. A significant portion of the park is reserved for seabirds, covering approximately one-third of its total area. Visitors can observe local birds and learn about the species that inhabit this area. Access to some areas is restricted to allow birds habitats free from human presence. However, the western beach is open to the public and is a popular spot for summer activities. At the park’s information center, you can learn more about initiatives to preserve and attract native birds to the area. The park is home to a wide variety of trees and shrubs, including Japanese apricot trees, daffodils, cosmos, silk trees, wax myrtle, black pines, and cherry trees. Cherry trees in particular are very popular during the hanami season, when the landscape is temporarily awash in delicate pink blossoms. Spring is the perfect time for a picnic and relaxing in the sun by the sea. Throughout the year, the park hosts various special events, including the spring bird-watching festival to see sandpipers and plovers, wild bird photography exhibitions, the poppy-picking festival, New Year’s Eve Ferris wheel rides, the summer Tanabata Wish Festival, the daffodil festival, and the sake festival. Stay informed about these exciting celebrations during your visit to the park. Enjoy a day filled with nature, fun, and beautiful views at Kasai Rinkai Park!

TeamLab Planets

This museum was born from a successful digital art exhibition of the same name that took place in the summer of 2016. In this 10,000-square-meter space, the goal is to immerse oneself in artworks and eliminate the barriers between the body and art. The museum opened in July 2018 and was originally planned to close after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. However, due to the pandemic, the closing date has yet to be announced. The central concept of teamLab Planets is bodily immersion. The museum consists of four major exhibitions and seven different artworks that we explore barefoot to feel closer to the art. Here, the focus is on sensations and experiencing art installations with our own bodies. For example, one of the featured exhibitions is Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity. In this work, we submerge ourselves knee-deep in a room covered in water where koi carp swim and turn into flowers when they come into contact with visitors. At teamLab Planets, we are literally immersed in art. Unlike teamLab Borderless, this museum features signs and a more or less strict itinerary to follow. While this helps ensure you don’t miss any artwork, it can limit the sense of freedom experienced at Borderless. Here, we are given instructions to enjoy the works as they were conceived by the artistic team. At teamLab Planets, we’ll also find installations such as The Infinite Crystal Universe, where visitors can interact with light sculptures and LEDs using their mobile phones. Each interaction creates a change in the work, making it unique at every moment. Another highlight is Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers, where we sit on the floor and contemplate how the flowers bloom and change over time, demonstrating the expansion of life into the universe. It is an experience of ephemeral and impermanent beauty, typical of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. At the end of the visit, we will return to the ticket office and will no longer be able to enjoy the installations. Unlike teamLab Borderless, the visit to teamLab Planets is shorter, but equally impressive. Enjoy your visit to the teamLab Planets Museum, where digital art merges with bodily experience to create a unique immersion in the world of art!

TeamLab Borderless Digital Art Museum

MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless, also known as teamLab Borderless, was the pioneer of digital art museums in Tokyo. It quickly became one of the top tourist attractions on Odaiba Island and one of the most popular photo destinations in the entire city. In fact, in 2018, it became the most visited museum dedicated to a single artist in the world, surpassing even the Van Gogh Museum. The teamLab Borderless museum is housed in an impressive 10,000 square meter space, where visitors can explore five different worlds. Inside, around 60 digital artworks are on display, created with the help of 520 computers and 470 digital projectors. These animated artworks are constantly changing and evolving, moving across the walls, floor, ceiling… The goal is for the art to encompass everything, even the visitor themselves. Visitors can interact with the digital installations, observing how they move and respond to their movements, and how they integrate with themselves. Each visit is unique and exciting; no two experiences are the same! The name Borderless clearly reflects the museum’s main goal: to create a world without borders, a museum where works change location, move, and interact with each other. It’s a museum that transcends the physical boundaries between rooms, artworks, and visitors. It also challenges temporal boundaries, causing one to lose track of time and space. It’s important to mention that the museum has several distinct areas, such as Borderless World, Athletics Forest, Future Park, Forest of Resonating Lamps, and the EN Tea House. This was Elena’s experience, one of the experiences we had during our trip to Japan and one we recommend if you’re looking for a different cultural experience. It’s important to know that this digital art museum doesn’t follow a map with a set route. You must discover each space room by room, being curious and going through doors and areas. In this way, every corner becomes a discovery. I remember that when we entered, we headed directly to the first space: The Forest of Flowers and People, where projections transported us to a world of colorful plants and animals in the adjacent room called Animals of Flowers Born. Here, we also found one of the first rooms with long lines. Since we didn’t know exactly what was inside, we waited around 30 minutes to enter The Nest. This space is located on the second floor, above the Forest Flower, where you access a kind of net suspended under a vault onto which 360-degree images are projected. We had to lie in a group on the net to observe them. The experience was curious, but the wait wasted quite a bit of time, and we decided not to wait in line anymore. One of the most impressive and spacious rooms is Universe of Water Particles on a Rock Where People Gather. It has a central elevation in a setting where we can see colorful leaves falling all around us. The children have a great time here. If your time in Tokyo is limited, you might prefer other tech experiences, such as visiting the electronics or video game stores in Akihabara. If you decide to visit the museum, you’ll enjoy it, although it’s not a place you can see in an hour and isn’t very centrally located. Plan your days carefully and prioritize. TeamLab Borderless doesn’t disappoint!

Kiyosumi Garden

Kiyosumi Garden is a typical example of a Japanese promenade garden, with a central pond surrounded by hills, trees, and paths. The garden also features a tea house, a pavilion, and a monument dedicated to the haiku poet Matsuo Bash?. Kiyosumi Garden is a popular place to stroll, relax, and enjoy nature. The garden is especially beautiful in spring, when the cherry and plum trees are in bloom.

East Tokyo Travel Guide