Page 76 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Tokyo

74  T OK Y O AREA B Y AREA

roadside statues cast between
1708 and 1720. Sugamo’s best-
known temple, Kogan-ji, is
dedicated to the thorn-removing
deity Togenuki Jizo, believed to
have curative powers. Street
markets outside the temple
selling traditional souvenirs and
Chinese cures add char acter to
this old quarter.

3 Komagome

 Komagome stn, Namboku line.
The striking exterior of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Ikebukuro £ Komagome stn, Yamanote line.
Rikugi-en Garden: Tel (03) 3941-2222.
1 Ikebukuro City’s high-culture component Open 9am–5pm daily (to 9pm
District featuring pre-Islamic art from during cherry blossom season). &
the Middle East and Silk Road. Kyu Furukawa Teien: Tel (03) 3910-
Also located on Sunshine 0394. Open 9am–5pm daily.
 Ikebukuro stn, Marunouchi, 60-dori, Toyota Amlux, a five-
Yurakucho & Fukutoshin lines. floor car showroom with a The celebrated Rikugi-en Garden
£ Ikebukuro stn, Yamanote & many designer studio and a virtual was constructed by Yanagisawa
other lines. Ancient Orient Museum: driving simulator, is worth a Yoshiyasu, grand chamberlain of
Tel (03) 3989-3491. Open 10am– look. Over on the west side, the fifth shogun, in seven years,
5pm daily. & Tokyo Metropolitan visitors can watch crafts men starting in 1695. Yataro Iwasaki,
Theatre: Tel (03) 5391-2111. & for create ceramic objects, paper, Mitsubishi’s founder, oversaw
some concerts. lacquer, knives, and kimonos its Meiji-era renova tion. The
at the Japan Traditional Craft design recreates 88 landscapes
With the third-busiest train Center (see p140). Besides in miniature from famous waka
station in Japan its free art exhi bi tions on (31-syllable poems), so the
(after Shinjuku the fifth floor, the nearby view changes every few steps.
and Shibuya), Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome’s other garden of
Ikebukuro is Theatre is famous note is the Kyu Furukawa Teien.
a designated for its unusually Its main building, a charcoal-grey
fukutoshin (sub- long glass stone residence designed by
center) of Tokyo. escalator and its pipe British architect Josiah Conder,
Devoid of the organ, which is one of the resembles a small Scottish manor
pretensions of other biggest in the world. house. The mansion and its
entertainment districts Built in 1921, Jiyu English-style rose garden sit on a
such as Shinjuku and Gakuen Myonichikan ridge above steps leading down
Shibuya, it is a relaxed (School of Freedom) is to a land scaped area, replete
place, even when a private school build- with a tea ceremony pavilion
seeth ing with people A statue in front of ing designed by the and a heart-shaped pond.
who are drawn by Ikebukuro Station famous architect Frank
the area’s moder ately Lloyd Wright in his
priced restaurants and bars. characteristic geometric style.
A short walk east of the station
lies Ikebukuro’s main attraction, 2 Sugamo
Sunshine City, a four-block Sugamo
complex whose core building is
the iconic Sunshine 60, one of  Sugamo stn, Mita line. £ Sugamo
Asia’s tallest buildings. It is built on stn, Yamanote line. Shinsho-ji Temple:
top of what was Sugamo Prison, Tel (03) 3918-4068. Open daily.
where seven World War II war Kogan -ji Temple: Tel (03) 3917-8221.
criminals, includ ing Prime Minister Open daily.
Hideki Tojo, were imprisoned
and then hanged. There is a Sugamo has two temples of
planetarium, aquarium, and interest. Shinsho-ji temple’s
60th-floor observatory here. The courtyard is dominated by a
often-overlooked Ancient Orient large bronze figure. Worship ped
Museum, on the 7th floor of the as a protector of children and Manicured shrubs in the landscaped
Bunka Kaikan Center, is Sunshine travelers, it is one of the six Rikugi-en garden

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