Nakano
[Open 10am-1am (Fri, Sat -5am) daily.]
Located in the basement of Nakano Sun Plaza hotel, this late-night bowling alley has 28 lanes on two floors. Party plans are available, and you can sign up for bowling lessons if you wish - check the website for details.
[Open noon-8pm daily.]
The ground floor of Nakano Broadway looks like a typical neighborhood arcade - dozens of shops selling handbags, sneakers, pet supplies and so on. But step onto the escalator and prepare to enter a different world - a warren of tiny,...
[Open 10am-8:30pm daily.]
Simply one of the best camera shops in town, this 70-year-old shop sells used and new equipment at very competitive prices, with knowledgeable, unpressured service. Nikons are upstairs, Canons are on the ground floor, and there's a "junk" branch...
Nishi-Ogikubo
Aketa no Mise - Jazz club: Nishi-Ogikubo
[Open 7-11pm daily.]
Shows 7:30-11pm; admission is Y2500 with one drink.
[Open 10am-6pm (enter by 5:30). Closed Mondays.]
Cartoon fans can learn about the history of Japanese animation, try their hand at using animation software and browse through a massive library of DVDs and comics at this free museum. The museum's attached theater boasts a 150-inch screen and...
Kichijoji
[Open 10am-7:30pm. Closed last Wednesday of the month.]
The three small galleries here focus mainly on established 20th-century Japanese artists working in various media. It's one of the few art museums in town that are open past 5pm, and its location on the top floor of a department store makes it a...
[Open 10am-9pm daily.]
A sister shop of the popular Temari no Ouchi cat cafe (located just around the corner), this second branch sports a similarly fanciful Ghibli-esque decor, and is a relaxing spot to spend some time with cats. Unlike most cat cafes there's no time...
[Open 10am-10pm daily.]
Located inside a small hotel, the bowling alley offers midday party plans that include a buffet lunch, priced from Y3200.
[Open 10am-9pm (last entry 8:30) daily.]
Typical of Tokyo's second wave of cat cafes, Temari no Ouchi strives to create a destination "relaxation space" rather than just a place to play with cats for thirty minutes. It bills itself as a "forest of wondrous cats" and the fairtytale decor...
[Open 10am-9pm daily.]
This branch of JR's Atre shopping complex offers a sprawling, rather impressive food hall, on a par with Shinjuku department-store food floors.
[Open 11am-10pm (LO) daily.]
One of the early pioneers in Tokyo's cat-cafe world, Calico roughly doubled in size when they moved to larger quarters in 2016, providing a more comfortable setting for both cats and visitors. There are now two rather large playrooms - one of them...
[Open 1-7pm. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays.]
Located just down the block from the Ghibli Museum, this cafe features a large, tile-lined aviary space where you can observe the owner's flock of falcons, hawks and owls. The shop attracts a community of Tokyo bird-lovers, with some customers...
[Open 10:30am-6pm. Closed 3rd Tuesday.]
Some two dozen finches, parakeets and other small birds are on display at this second, smaller branch of Omotesando's Kotori Cafe, located right across the street from the Ghibli Museum. The birds occupy a couple of glassed-in areas looking out...
You live in Tokyo and so you know all you ever need to know about life in the fast lane. But to savor the city at its most engagingly indolent, you take the trip out to Inokashira Park. This spot in Kichijoji is a place to unwind, sip a few beers...
[Open 9:30am-5pm (entrance until 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
This low-key zoo specializes in animals that are native to Japan, so don't expect to see lions and giraffes, although they do have an Asiatic elephant and many tropical birds. Some of the other animals on display include tanuki, fennecs, masked...
Mitaka, Nishi Tokyo, Kodaira
Yuzo Yamamoto Memorial Museum - Museum: Mitaka
[Open 9:30am-5pm. Closed Mondays.]
This museum is devoted to the life and works of writer and playwright Yuzo Yamamoto (1887-1974), and is located in the large European-style house where he once lived and worked.
Mitaka City Gallery of Art - Art museum: Mitaka
[Open 10am-8pm (last entry 7:30pm). Closed Mondays and intervals between exhibitions.]
Although it's primarily a rental gallery space, this small city-run museum curates a couple of exhibitions a year, focusing mostly on interesting, lesser-known contemporary artists.
[Open 10am-6pm. Closed Tuesdays.]
When Hayao Miyazaki's spellbinding Spirited Away won the Oscar for best animated feature in 2003, it only confirmed to the world what Japan has known for decades: that the work of Miyazaki and his fellow artists at Studio Ghibli ranks alongside that...
Tamarokuto Science Center - Museum: Nishi-Tokyo
[Open 9am-5pm (last entry 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
This modern science museum has a fairly sophisticated planetarium setup, and English-language audio commentary is provided. Other sections of the museum are devoted to geoscience (rocks and fossils); human senses; insects, fish and other animals;...
Kodaira Hirakushi Denchu Art Museum - Art museum: Kodaira-shi
[Open 10am-4pm (last entry 3:30pm). Closed Tuesdays.]
Dozens of works by renowned wood sculptor Hirakushi Denchu (1872-1979) are on display at this dedicated museum. The museum has preserved his former residence and atelier, and most of the works are shown in a newly built annex.
[Open 1-9pm (last entry 8:30; Sat, Sun 10am-8pm) daily.]
Yahoneko is one of the liveliest cat cafes we've seen in Tokyo, with a spacious playroom that's well designed to keep the 28 resident cats entertained and happy. Besides the usual cat shelves, climbing equipment and cat tunnels there's also a giant...
Koganei, Tachikawa, Fussa
[Open April-Sept 9:30am-5:30pm; Oct-March 9:30am-4:30pm (last entry 30 min earlier). Closed Mondays (or Tues if Mon is natl holiday).]
This massive open-air museum features preserved and reconstructed examples of Tokyo's Edo-era architecture. Besides merchants' mansions and crowded shops, there's also a mausoleum and a bathhouse. The visitor's center was once a pavilion of the...
Showa Memorial Park - Park/garden: Tachikawa
[Open 9:30am-5pm daily.]
This vast, 160-hectare park is a good place to see flowers in bloom all year round. Also located on the park grounds are a gigantic summertime pool area, a Japanese garden, and a popular dog park. Rental bikes and an in-park shuttle service are...
[Open 10am-9pm (Sat, Sun 9am-) daily.]
The first Tokyo branch of Swedish housewares shop Ikea is convenient to JR Tachikawa station - about a twelve-minute walk, or just five minutes from Takamatsu station on the Tachikawa monorail line. The restaurant is more popular than average for...
[Open 9am-4pm. Closed Sat, Sun, hol.]
If you're in Tokyo and you feel the urge to take an English-language tour of a real-life sake brewery, Ishikawa Brewery in Fussa is the place to go. The picturesque brewery, in operation since 1863, is located in the mountains around fifty minutes...
Chofu, Fuchu, Hino, Hachioji
[Open 9:30am-5pm (last entry 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
Tokyo's largest botanical garden, Jindai is planted with 120,000 trees and bushes representing 4,500 different species. The 750 cherry trees in the cherry grove turn this into a major destination during hanami season, and the plum and rose gardens...
Mushakoji Saneatsu Memorial Museum - Museum: Chofu-shi
[Open 9am-5pm. Closed Mondays.]
This small museum is dedicated to the life and work of Mushakoji Saneatsu, a novelist, playwright and artist active in the early twentieth century. The memorial park next to the museum is planted with numerous blossoming trees and flowers,...
Kyodo no Mori Museum - Park/garden: Fuchu-shi
[Open 9am-5pm (last entry 4pm). Closed Mondays.]
An open-air folk-history museum, Kyodo no Mori houses a number of historical buildings including farmhouses, stores and a townhouse. The main building has exhibition rooms focusing on local history and a large planetarium. The park is also...
Fuchu Art Museum - Art museum: Fuchu-shi
[Open 10am-5pm (last entry 4:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
This local west-Tokyo museum organizes an eclectic series of temporary exhibitions. Themes of past shows have included glass painting, illustrations for children's books, Finnish design, ukiyoe prints by Kuniyoshi Utagawa, a group show of local...
[Open 9:30am-5:30pm (last entry 5pm). Closed Wednesdays.]
This inexpensive mini-theme park is an entertaining destination for young train fans who still have leftover energy after a visit to Tama Zoo, located just across the road. It's a very hands-on attraction, with several different train simulators...
[Open 9:30am-5pm (enter by 4pm). Closed Wednesdays.]
The goal of Tama Zoo is to display animals from various parts of the world in naturalistic habitats. Spread out over the vast 129-acre grounds are three distinct ecological areas - the Asiatic Garden, African Garden, and Australian Garden. There's...
[Open 10am-8pm (enter by 7pm) daily.]
This multi-species pet cafe promises to be fun for the whole family, and indeed the visitors here range from young kids to senior citizens. The staff seem to enjoy their jobs, and they go out of their way to introduce the various resident animals...
[Open 10am-8pm daily.]
Over one hundred outlet shops are collected in this two-story outdoor mall. National and global brands include Adidas, Nike, Levi's, Lacoste, Zoff, Franc Franc and many more. There's also a supermarket, shops specializing in gardening and pet...
Located less than an hour from Shinjuku station, Mount Takao is a popular hiking destination, drawing some 2.5 million visitors every year. There are several different trails to choose from, and the climb from base to summit, standing 599 meters...
Hachioji Yume Art Museum - Art museum: Hachioji
[Open 10am-7pm (last entry 6:30pm). Closed Mondays.]
The permanent collection here focuses mostly on contemporary and modern art by 20th-century Japanese artists, and the museum puts on temporary exhibitions covering a wide range of themes. Past shows have been about cats in ukiyoe prints, British...
Tama, Machida
[Open 11am-8:30pm (last entry 7:30pm). Closed Thursdays.]
Located just behind Sanrio Puroland theme park, this spacious cat cafe is popular with families with small children, especially on weekends. As with most suburban cafes, the resident cats tend to be more outgoing and less jaded here, so don't be...
Sanrio Puroland - Amusement park: Tama-shi
[Open 10am-6pm (Fri -8pm). Closed some Wednesdays and Thursdays.]
This indoor theme park is devoted to Hello Kitty and a multitude of other beloved Sanrio characters, including Bad Badtz-Maru, Little Twin Stars, Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, Pochacco and of course Dear Daniel. There are parades, musical shows, a...
[Open noon-10pm daily.]
Run by a cat-welfare organization, Neko no Mise is a pleasant and reasonably priced place to drop by for a short coffee break or a relaxing afternoon. There are plenty of comfortable seats in the spacious playroom, and the cover charge is...
[Open 10am-4:30pm (last entry; Sat, Sun -5pm). Closed Mondays.]
One of the few museums in the world dedicated exclusively to printmaking, this spacious and well-curated museum has amassed a collection of some 30,000 prints from around the world, some dating back to the eighth century. After you've toured the...
[Open 10am-4pm. Closed Tuesdays.]
Hundreds of adventurous squirrels live in colorfully decorated houses in Machida Squirrel Garden's spacious outdoor enclosure, sharing their habitat with a couple of friendly giant tortoises. These squirrels are very acclimated to human visitors,...
[Open 10am-8pm daily.]
The American-based big box store is set up warehouse-style, with towering stacks of consumer goods stretching off to the horizon. You'll find everything from frozen pizzas and disposable contact lenses to gasoline-powered lawn mowers. Exercise...
[Open 10am-8pm daily.]
With more than 230 shops and restaurants, this is one of the biggest and fanciest outlet malls in the Tokyo area. The "park" portion of the name comes from Tsuruma Park, a newly developed facility right next to the mall. The park is laid out with...