Page 97 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Tokyo

Roppongi and Akasaka ❮❮ 95

Nogi Shrine
2 carvings to the left of the main shrine,
depicting a monkey pro tectively hold ing
MAP C5 • 8-11-27 Akasaka,
Minato-ku • 3478-3001 a baby. Pregnant women still come
This modest but significant shrine here to pray for safe deliveries, and the
honors General Maresuke Nogi, who, biannual festival Sanno Matsuri – a
along with his wife, committed ritual procession celebrating the imperial
suicide on September 13, 1912 in an family – begins and ends at the shrine.
act of loyalty when Emperor Meiji
died. The event divided the country
into those who admired the act as
a heroic gesture, and those who
con demned it as an archaic practice.
The general’s house stands beside
the shrine and is open on the eve and
anniversary of the couple’s death.
Tokyo Midtown
3
MAP D5 • 9-7-1 Akasaka,
Minato-ku • 3475-3100 • www.tokyo-
midtown.com
Unveiled in 2007, the Tokyo Midtown
development set aside 40 percent of
the complex for the landscaped
Hinokicho Park and Midtown Garden.
Midtown Tower and its core of
buildings contain offices, apartments, National Art Center’s grand interior
shops, restaurants, bars, and the
National Art Center,
Ritz-Carlton Tokyo hotel. The area’s 5
cultural credentials are enhanced by Tokyo
the fascinating Suntory Museum of MAP C6 • 7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku
Art and 21_21 Design Sight, a design • 5777-8600 • Open 10am–6pm Wed–
gallery conceived by architect Tadao Mon (to 8pm Fri) • Adm • www.nact.jp
Ando and fashion guru Issey Miyake. Japan’s largest exhibition space,
the National Art Center, Tokyo
Hie Shrine
4 hosts tem porary exhibitions,
such as Nitten, an annual event
MAP J4 • 2-10-5 Nagatacho,
Chiyoda-ku • 3581-2471 • www. highlighting Japanese and Western
hiejinja.net/en painting, sculpture, craftwork, and
Burned down in the air raids of 1945 calligraphy. Built in 2007, the space
and rebuilt in 1958, Hie Shrine was features an undulating glass façade,
originally erected as a protective slated walls, and a wood floor.
shrine. Its role of deflecting evil spirits
from Edo Castle is seen in wood Atmospheric Hie Shrine

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