The city of Tokyo is more famous for its technology and fashion. There is a lot more to this city including its history. If you are planning to visit the country there are a few place you might want to visit if you are interested in knowing about the city's history.
The first destination is the Edo-Tokyo Museum. You will get the complete history of the city from the time it began to the city as it is now. To enter the exhibition hall of the museum you will have to cross the Nihonbashi Bridge replica. The elderly guides here are one of the delights, sharing tear jerking stories of the past they experienced. The Kabuki-style stage boasting several cultural pieces and you should make sure to get a glimpse of the very detailed model of Edo.
Little Edo is located approximately half an hour outside the center of Tokyo. This town is the best place to get the authentic Japanese culture outside the city. The town if in Saitama Prefecture. Some of the place to visit in the town are places such as Penny Candy Alley along Kashiya Yokosho that has a nineteenth century feel and design. The alley intersects with Kurazuki Street that still has some buildings that date all the way back to the seventeenth century. Most of these buildings are today used as locations for restaurants with the Toki ni Kane bell tower chiming every hour on the hour. Fifteen minutes outside this district sits the Honmaru Goten, the residence of the Lord. This is the only remaining remanence of the Kawagoe Castle. Used today as a museum, this building was the last addition to the fourteenth century castle in the eighteenth century. This location provides the atmosphere and ambiance of a traditional castle.
The once Falconry site of the families of the shogun, the Hama Rikyu Garden is now completely surrounded by high rise buildings and has the feel of the old Japan mix perfectly with the new. This place is best visited in the spring time when the cherry blossoms are in bloom as well as the fields of the yellow rapeseed. Riding the traditional water buses of the Sumida River is still the best and most fun way of getting to the garden. The water vehicles float from Asakusa to Obaiba to Central Tokyo.
The Imperial Palace East Garden is located at the base of a hill in the Imperial Palace. The palace is where the emperor of Japan resides and the only public area of the castle. The garden has a Japanese style design with micro bridges, trees and ponds similar to those of authentic castles. The location offers free bicycles on Sundays between the hours between ten and three pm. This first ones to get to a bicycle is the one to get it. There is also a free walking English speaking tour between the hours of one and three pm.
The Rikugi-en Garden is a eighteenth century style strolling garden that reproduces eighty eight scenes of Japan's history. The garden was built for the comfort of the fifth Tokugawa Shogun. The best time to visit the garden is in the fall season. From November to the early days of December when the maples are changing color from gold to red. The beautiful landscape that circles the moss green ponds that are stocked with white and orange carp. The artificial hill provides an exceptional view of the forested areas and the islets on the pond that accentuates the visuals of the garden. You will be able to make a rest stop at one of the many teahouses that sits on the banks of the northwestern shore on the pond.