The Tokyo Edo Museum Afternoon Trip

Activity > Tokyo > Sightseeing > Tokyo Station

A few days prior I did a walk-a-bout around the city of Ryogoku, you can read about that trip here: "Sumo Town Ryogoku (Ryougoku)".  Ryogoku is the city where the Sumo Stadium and the Tokyo-Edo Museum are located. However, on that day (Monday) the museum was closed and I wasn't able to enter so I decided to try again.

It was an extremely hot and humid day... so I slowly... very slowly meandered to the museum which is about a 10 min. walk from Ryogoku Station.  I am originally from Colorado so my body is not used to the humidity and I tend to sweat really bad!  But, I managed to make it to the entrance of the museum with barley a drip off my forehead.  After purchasing a ticket you ride up a long escalator the brings you into the museum which is in a building up in the air (held up by massive pillars).  Aahh... feels so good to hit air-conditioning after the sauna outside!  Being a weekday (Thursday) and not seeing many people outside I didn't think there were going to be many people in the museum but is was quite full with people!  They were all probably just hanging out in the museum to get away from the heat.

The museum is very "Open"... when you first enter you cross a replica of the Edo Gawa (Edo River) bridge and you can look out over the whole museum. The museum is split up into "sections" of "eras" of Tokyo.  They have many "Dioramas" (miniature to scale model scenes) and artifacts from the past.  If you don't know it by now, "Tokyo" used to be called "Edo".  In 1868 when the Shogunate came to an end, the city was renamed to "Tokyo" (which means Eastern Capital) and the Emperor moved his residence to Tokyo.

The city of "Edo" had tons of culture, history and... unfortunately disasters (earthquakes and fires), but it prevailed and has become the great city it is today.  The Edo-Tyoko Museum is a great value for what you get to see and experience.  Tickets run around... 700 yen (if I remember correctly) which is only 7 bucks for a great museum.  Take some time and don't rush it... relax and take a seat for a while before moving on and enjoy what the museum has to offer.  They also sell some "traditional" Edo items in the gift shops which are worth taking a look at.  I would definitely recommend this museum to any tourist visiting Tokyo.  Its close to Tokyo station, easy to get to and a great value.