H O M E ------- T R A V E L ------- J A P A N ------- T O K Y O


JR Tokyo Station
It is a key station for sight seeing.
JR Tokyo Station has two differrent entrance, Marunouchi entrance(west) and Yaesu entrance(east). Marunouchi entrance is old, red-brick building, said to be a copy of Amsterdam station, facing the Imperial Palace, whreas Yaesu entrance is modern building facing Nihonbashi and Ginza, and placing a huge underground shopping mall.
Almost every traveler to or from Tokyo area will pass through this station.
Train network info from or to JR Tokyo station
Yamanote line Around central Tokyo by about 1 hour.
Body color is green or silver with green line.
Keihin-tohoku line From Yokohama area to Omiya, via Tokyo.
Body color is blue or silver with blue line.
Chuou-honsen line To Takao or Matsumoto, via Shinjuku, Tachikawa, Hachiouji.
Body color is red. Only fast and special fast train.
Keiyo line * To Chiba area, via Maihama (Tokyo Desney Land).
Body color is light blue or silver with red line.
Musashino line * To Fuchu-honmachi, via Funabashi-hoten, Minami-urawa.
Body color is red. Another name is a "gamble train (train for gamble)."
Sobu-honsen line/
Yokosuka line **
From Chiba to Kurihama, via Tokyo, Yokohama.
Sobu-honsen line/
Narita line **
To Narita airport, via Chiba and Sakura.
Sotobo line *** To Boso penisula, via Chiba, Ohara, Katsuura.
Uchibo line *** To Boso penisula, via Chiba, Kisaradzu, Tateyama.
Tokaidou-honsen line To west of Japan, Yokohama, Shizuoka, Izu, and etc.
Other service is a night express to Kansai and Kyushu.
Tokaidou Shinkansen line To Shin-osaka and Hakata, via Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima, etc.
Available survice is Nozomi(super express), Hikari(express), Kodama(stop at every station).
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Tracks are underground Keiyo platform #1 to #4.
Tracks are underground Sobu platform #1 to #4.
Tracks are underground Keiyo platform #1 to #4 or Sobu platform #1 to #4.


Asakusa Sensoji Temple(Asakusa Kannon Temple)
From JR Tokyo to Ueno by JR Yamanote-line, and change to Subway Ginza-line.
Asakusa has prospered as a temple town for everybody who lives in or visits Tokyo. Sensoji Temple is the most popular temple in Asakusa, founded by legend in A.D.628 to enshrine a golden image of Kannon miraculously fished out of the Sumidagawa (Sumida river). The temple is therefore popularly called Asakusa Kannon Temple.
Kaminarimon Gate is the entrance to the Temple. Gods of Wind and Thunder stand on both sides of the Gate, and a big red lantern is hung from the center.
At both sides of the main approach, called Nakamise-dori Street, souvenir shops decorated with small lanterns stand in line. You can buy fabrics, trinkets, Japanese crackers, fans, Japanese dolls, and traditional Japanese accessories.
Ahead of Nakamise-dori,there is the second gate, Hozo-mon, and it opens onto the main court square of the temple with worshippers, flapping pigeons, and coils of insense smoke from the large censer, where worshippers "wash" themselves to ward off illness.










Tokyo Tower
From Subway Otemachi to Onarimon by Toei Mita line, and walk at 10 minutes.
Tokyo Tower is 333 m tall with two observatries at 150 m and 250 m. the Special Observatory at an altitude of 250 m is the highest view point in Tokyo and commands the whole city.
There are other attractive facilities at 1st to 3rd floor, 60 souvenior shops, aquarium, wax figure gallery, trick art gallery, and etc.
Note: open throughout the year.
Fare to the Big Observatory: 800 yen
Additional fare to the Special Observatory: 600 yen
Open: 9:00-20:00
(21:00 from Jul 20 to Aug 31, 19:00 from Nov 16 to Mar 15)




The Imperial Palace
15 minutes walk from JR Tokyo station or the subway stations around it
the Imperial Palace is home of Emperor Akihito, and it was built on the grounds where Edo Castle stood in the days of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The site of the Tokugawa shogun's palace is now the Imperial Palace East Garden, Otemon Gate is the main entrance to the garden, and most visitors use this gate to visit the East Garden. Admission to the garden is free and it's open every day except Mondays and Fridays from 9am to 4pm. Though most of the castle buildings were lost to repeated fires, the garden grounds still contain the stone foundation of the keep, a few towers, huge stone walls, and beatiful plants.
the present Imperial Palace where the Emperor's family lives, is in the western enclosure, and is open only January 2 and the Emperor's birthday ; this compound is entered by Nijubashi Bridge(double-arched stone bridge.)
The northern enclosure, Kitanomaru, is now a public park. In this site, there is Nippon Budokan Hall, National Gallery of Modern Art, and Science & Technology Museum.
Imperial Palace Outer Garden, often called the Imperial Plaza, is a specious park with numerous pine trees and pebble-covered pedestrian paths. You can see the Nijubashi Bridge, moats and the Palace's walls.




Tokyo Bay Area
Coastal area along the Tokyo Waterfront New Transit Line, Yurikamome, from Shimbashi to Ariake.
Rainbow Bridge is a new symbol of Tokyo bay Area, the total length 798 meters between Shibaura and Daiba, Ariake. The bridge has the twofold structure: the upper layer is expressway, the lower is national road and new traffic system.
Yurikamome, Tokyo Waterfront New Transit Line is a driverless tram under automatic control, and run by 23 minutes between Shimbashi and Ariake.
Fuji Television's new building which has been completed last March, is a hot site of O-Daiba, and its globular object has a restaurant and a observation deck for the public free.

<<Other Facilities>>
Tokyo Joypolis : amusement theme park by Sega Enterprise (O-daiba kaihin koen station)
Tokyo Big Sight : Internatinal exhibition site (Kokusai tenjijo main gate station)
Museum of Marine Science : theme park of marine and ship (Fune no Kagakukan mae station)


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©RangaShyam, 2003

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