Eastern Tokyo - Sumida and Koto Wards


If you visit Tokyo, you'll likely spend most of your time in the western and central parts of the city--there's not a whole lot on the east side. I guess Akihabara and Ueno Park are technically east/northeast of the Imperial Palace grounds, although they are still quite central. East of the Sumida River, the only ward that draws many visitors is the aptly named Sumida City. The ward boasts the Tokyo Skytree, just across the river from Asakusa, and Ryogoku, home to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and the most famous sumo stadium in Tokyo.

Since I've had a lot of time on the weekends, with coronavirus largely shutting down my social life, I took the chance to see more of East Tokyo. Back in March I spent a half day exploring Sumida and Koto wards. I walked past the Edo Tokyo Museum, continuing on to neighborhoods around Kinshicho, Mozen-Nakacho, and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa stations, including Sarue, Kiba, and Kiyosumi Parks. These areas are still close to central Tokyo, so maybe I'll take another day and go to Edogawa Ward. Since then, I also went to a few spots in Chiba prefecture, further east, so I'll do separate posts for those. Below are a few photos from my walking trip:

The 23 wards of Tokyo. The Imperial Palace grounds are in Chiyoda. Along
with Chuo and Minato, it forms the heart of the business and government
districts. Sometimes, Shinjuku and Shibuya wards are also included, since
they include many shopping, nightlife, and tourist attractions.

At the Yokoami-cho park near the Edo-Tokyo Museum


The Edo-Tokyo Museum, which was closed due to Covid-19

View of Tokyo Skytree from the Oyokokawa Shinsui Park

Kiba Park, with the Skytree in the background

Another view of the Skytree from the Sumida River

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Training in DC and Prep for Georgia

Image
As mentioned a few posts ago, I took a new job back in the US starting in mid-January. I flew back from Japan to my hometown in Ohio at the end of December, arriving just in time for New Year's. My initial contract in Japan ended along with 2020, so it didn't make sense to start a new one for a week or two in January. This way I was also able to spend time with my parents and my sister and her husband (who live nearby) before moving to Washington, DC. In addition to family time, I had a lot of administrative tasks to take care of before the move; my new job is with the government, which involves a long, at times frustrating onboarding process. I had to fill out several HR packets, arrange temporary housing for my training in DC, decide on consequential things such as life insurance and thrift savings plan contributions, and choose my healthcare plan. By the way, why is healthcare so complicated here?! The electronic form listed over 200 healthcare options to chose from! After e...
Read more

Finishing Osaka, on to Tokyo

Image
I've covered some of the great food Andrew and I had in Japan, so now let me move on to whatever else it was that we were doing between meals.  Two posts ago I touched on Osaka, the second largest city in Japan and our fist stop in the country. Osaka is in the Kansai region of Japan, which also includes Kobe and Kyoto Osaka city proper has about 2.7 million people, but that is only a fraction of the true number.  Citing population based on city limits can be quite misleading.  Take my hometown of Columbus, and Cleveland, another city in Ohio, as examples.  The population of the city of Columbus is over 800,000, while Cleveland's is less than half that.  Take a look at the metro area, or the urban core plus surrounding suburbs and commuter towns, and the comparison is flipped: Cleveland is substantially larger than Columbus. Back to Osaka - while the city itself only has a couple million inhabitants, add in the urban sprawl and surrounding ...
Read more

My Dad and Uncle Visit Korea, Part 1

Image
Even before I left for Korea last November, my dad had mentioned that he might try and visit me.  In the past he has suggested trips only to say that it was just a hypothetical later on.  So when he finally booked a flight for a visit in the summer I was quite surprised.  Both he and my uncle flew in to Seoul on the 31 st of July and then also went to Japan together for four nights.  Here is a recap of their visit: My uncle (far right) and dad (second from right) were headed to Seoul! Korean public schools get over a month off for summer break in late June and August.  On the other hand, the private institutes (like the one I work for) often have much shorter breaks.  During the summer break from public school parents sign their kids up for extra classes at our school, so we actually are busier!  What a great vacation for the students – a full day of English classes!  My break was four days long (well six if you coun...
Read more