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【 Live Tour 】Tokyo/ Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum Tour

Art & Architecture Beautiful Scenery History Insta-worthy Trendy Places
2,750 JPY - / person
About 1 hours
Language: English

What we'll do

If you are curious about how Japanese people lived in the past, this tour is what you are looking for. Located about 20km West of central Tokyo, this extensive and fascinating museum takes you back to Tokyo in the past, beyond World War II. There are about 30 relocated/rebuilt buildings in the premise from various periods of Japanese modern history, the oldest one dating back to mid 17c. I'm going to introduce the most interesting ones in this tour. Most of them are equipped with goods/replicas of goods that were used there, so they look as if somebody was still living/doing business there! We can not only appreciate their appearance but also enter them. What's more, some of them are said to have served as models of the strange buildings in Studio Ghibli's animated film "Spirited Away".
Why don't you start a mini-time travel in this amazing open-air museum with numerous instagrammable spots?

Details

Price per person (tax included)
2,750 JPY - / person
Max participants
Up to 5 people
Languages
Hosted in English
Communication tools
Please download Zoom in advance.
Purpose
Best for learning Japan
Things you need to know before the tour

【Live Tour 】
- The live tours will be held using Zoom meeting.
- Personal computers and smartphones can be used to participate, but when using a smartphone, please be sure to download the Zoom application in advance.
- The URL for the live tour will be sent to the email address you used to register no later than one hour
before the start time.
- The webinar room will open to participants five minutes before the start of the tour.
- Participants may join the tour even if the start time has passed. However, please note that we will not be able to receive or respond to messages after the tour
begins.
- Depending on the internet connection on the day of the tour, there may be issues with the sound or video. We ask for your patience and understanding.
- Any internet or data fees incurred by participation in the live tours are the sole responsibility of the participant.
- In order to avoid any mishaps or trouble, the live tour may be recorded.
- The company and the WOW U mediators (guides) will not be responsible for any malfunctions of participants’ computers, smartphones, or tablets that may occur
during the live tours.
- Please note that the contents of the live tours may be changed in the case of bad weather.
- Reservations cannot be canceled after payments have been made. Please double check your reservation before finalizing your purchase.
- Edo Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum is a Tokyo Metropolitan park, and could be closed depending on the situation of COVID-19, etc. In such cases I will provide a teaser trip of the park instead.

Highlights

  1. 1
    Stationery Shop

    Upon entering it, you will be amazed by the numerous drawers that occupy one side of the shop. (It's said the boiler room of the bathhouse in the animated film "Spirited Away" was modeled after this shop. ) Built in 1927, this building was a stationary shop, and the drawers contained different kinds of brush for Japanese calligraphy. All the shelves also contain stationery for calligraphy. Until early 1930s, total of 15people including the family who ran the shop, staff, etc. lived in this building. They lived on the 2nd and 3rd floor and took turns to have meals in the small room behind the shop area.

  2. 2
    Japanese inn

    This 150 year-old building was a local inn. It has a kitchen, a reception area, guest rooms and a semi open-air bath!
    There are huge cooking pots, dishes and trays in the kitchen, a safe and a desk & a chair for the staff in the reception area, and tea pots & cups, etc. in the guest rooms. All these stuff make this inn look like it is still in use!

  3. 3
    Public Bathhouse

    The highlight of this tour, this bathhouse was built in 1929. Until 1960s most of the Japanese houses didn't have a bathroom, so ordinary people went to such bathhouses on a daily basis. Inside the building there is a large dressing space separated into two areas by a partition, one for men and the other for women. The bath areas are even more spacious with a high ceiling. Every details such as its temple-like facade, a latticed ceiling in the dressing room, large round baskets to put clothes in, advertisements in the old days, a large wall painting of Mt. Fuji behind the bathtubs and picture tiles of nursery tales & old legends, etc. are eye-catching and photogenic! (This bathhouse, too is said to be the model of the bathhouse in the film "Spirited Away".)

Reviews

Customer Reviews

Traveler

On a rainy day, the guide, Yumi, probably had a hard time operating the tour with an umbrella and a camera at once. But she was always smiling and showing the interesting part of the open-air museum. Thank you so much for your hard work. However, the camera image was constantly shaking and unstable. It might be an idea that she takes a video shot beforehand and use it for guiding, just in case of bad weather. Thanks!

YUMI

Fun-loving Tokyoite

Hi, I'm Yumi. I'm a government-certified tour guide, born and grew up in Tokyo. I am a sociable person and love to meet and talk with people with different cultural backgrounds. I think the greatest charm of Tokyo is that the old and the new coexist with each other. In my virtual tours I would like to take you to fascinating places such as the Lucky Cat Temple with countless beckoning cats, a park which boasts a wide variety of relocated and restored old Japanese buildings that make you feel as if you went back in time, or a fashionable shopping street lined with unique modern buildings designed by world-famous Japanese architects, etc. Now, let’s start your adventure with me and enjoy Tokyo to the fullest!

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Mobile App

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Please refer to the respective download pages for the operation system requirements.

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2,750 JPY - / person