Museums, Tokyo

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A good chance to see tarditional japanese craft in a "off-the-beaten-path" museum.
Ten-minute walk from the YAESU central exit of the TOKYO station (Japan Railways), or one-minute walk from the exit "C5" of the NIHONBASHI subway station.

John Lennon once said "It's not a waste of time if you had fun." While he may have been refering to some of his heroine trips, he could have equally been describing a couple of hours spent at the John Lennon Museum, adjacent to the Saitama Super Arena in suburban Omiya that opened in 2000. A little hagiographic, the museum is still an good way to pass an hour or two before a concert (Green Day in our case) and also comes wit the interesting twist of being curated by John's controversial wife, Yoko Ono. Since she was reviled in her time as the woman who broke up the Beatles, this museum is as much a forum to present her side of the discussion (John felt trapped by the fame of the Beatles even before he met Yoko) and answer her critics as it is to memorializ John. For the most part, this adds to the museum rather than detracts, though I did resent the one room devoted entirely to Yoko's artwork and the complete lack of acknoldgement for John's first son, Julian. on the whole, it wasn't a wasye of time.

When one thinks of Tokyo, one thinks of cutting-edge, high-tech hypermodernity -- in fact, there's no other city oin the world that seems so advanced. Walking in Tokyo is like walking in the future. So, it seems to reason, that a goodway to get in touch with that future is to visit Miraikan, the Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Located in the newly developed Odaiba section of Tokyo, even getting there is an experience, as yo take the elevated train over Rainbow Bridge. Once you're there, you can see robot demonstrations, walk through the space station, learn how the internet works and so much more. We spent hours there and only touched on the potential of the museum.

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If you get tired of Tokyo's hustle and bustle and you want a sip of a fresh air, hop on a train and head in to a Koganei Park where you can spend delightful day in the open air Architectural Museum.
To get there you can take Seibu Shinjuku line from Takadanobaba (T03) station to Hanakoganei station. From there you can walk as we did or you can take a bus bound for Musashikoganei. Get off at KOganei Park and walk 3-5 min to Museum.
We really enjoyed strolling through that park and enjoying Japanese architecture from different periods and parts of Japan.