Discover how reclaimed waterfront, Tsukiji Hongwanji, a foreign settlement, naval schools, the fish market and redevelopment shaped one of Tokyo’s most layered neighborhoods.
After the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, Tokyo rebuilt 117 burned public elementary schools and created 52 small parks—many beside schools—to combine education, community life and disaster preparedness.
Why did Edo burn so often? Trace the Great Fire of Meireki, firebreaks, town firefighters, the 1923 earthquake, wartime destruction and the urban traces still visible in Tokyo.
Why do most Tokyo addresses omit street names? Learn how chome, ban and go work, how they differ from land lot numbers, and how to find a building on foot.
How did Edo supply water without pumps? Discover the Kanda and Tamagawa aqueducts, wooden conduits, josui wells and traces still visible across Tokyo.
Is Tokyo’s Yumenoshima really made of garbage? Follow its unrealized airport, postwar beach, landfill years, 1965 fly disaster, Tokyo Garbage War, and transformation into a park.
Part of Tokyo’s lower Arakawa is a man-made floodway. Discover how the 1910 flood led to a 22-kilometer new river, Iwabuchi Sluice Gate, and a transformed urban landscape.
Old Japanese maps were not designed like modern navigation maps. This beginner-friendly guide explains their orientation, colors, labels and purpose, then shows how to use an Edo map on a walk from Nihonbashi to the former Edo Castle.