Japan’s Edo-Tokyo Museum is split into two separate branches. The museum’s modern headquarters is located in north-east Sumida, while the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum lies many miles away at the peaceful city of Koganei. In an attempt to preserve the city’s rich history, a number of buildings from the Meiji era and before have been picked up and placed to rest here, many of which were the former residences of famous figures.

Banner outside.

Overview

Over the years, Tokyo has experienced no shortage of disasters of both the natural and man made varieties. Many historic buildings had been lost to a combination of floods, earthquakes, fires and wars. In 1993, to preserve some of these buildings for the future generation, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government established this branch of the Edo-Tokyo Museum.

Today, more than 30 structures are maintained at this retirement home for famous buildings and more houses are also brought in periodically.

Visiting the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

The museum is located inside Koganei Park at Koganei City about 20 kilometers West of the Shinjuku ward.

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Getting There
Koganei Park is located near the center of the town and is surrounded by the city’s 3 train stations, all of which are about equal distance to the park.

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The Hana-Koganei station in the North is barely the nearest but is served by the Seibu-Shinjuku line. Unless you are staying at Shinjuku, it would be cheaper to take the JR Chuo line to Musashi-Koganei station from Shinjuku. From there leave through the North exit and follow the main road to reach Koganei Park.

At Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

Entry to the museum costs only 400 yen for adults. Senior citizens above 65 and those below 18 pay half price. University students enter for 320 yen.

A number of old residences and shop houses now call the park home. We previously posted our photo tours over here and here. But more previously unreleased photos and a run through of some of the highlights below.

Map of the area.

Studio Ghibli founder, Miyazaki Hayao is known for being a fan of the place. The animation company’s office is also located in Koganei City. A number of buildings from the museum and Koganei appear in Ghibli’s animations, such as the previously posted Sento.

Picture of Miyazaki messing around the park.

Another photo at the reception area.

Inside.

Midday Gun.

Jisho-in Mausoleum.

Apart from residences, there are also a number of other structures and outdoor exhibits spread around the park, such as this nearly 400 year old Tokugawa temple.

Closeup of the details.

Yoshino House.

Most of the houses here actually pre-dated the Meiji era with many coming from Edo (1603-1867) times. One of the oldest building here is the farmhouse belonging to the Yoshino family, a family that controlled the area during the time. The old buildings are maintained daily with the help of elderly volunteers.

Inside.

Kitchen area.

Furnace.

Woodchipper for building fireplace.

Inside another more modern house.

Living area.

On the East side of the museum are about a dozen shop houses and their contents. More of these buildings were from the 19th century Meiji era.

1856 Bar.

Left to Right: Udon House, Stationery Store, Flower Shop, General Goods.

First shop.

General goods.

Old fashioned stationery.

Inside.

Bottles.

Canned fish.

Suntory.

Classic ad.

Confusing.

Umbrella shop.

Stockpile.

One in a series of clay figures depicting the umbrella making process.

Police box from late 1800s.

Really old train. Looked like a bus.

Inside.

You will probably be able to find other old buildings over in Kyoto and Kiso that are still in service. But the only lone building inside the museum that is still being used is a rest house serving Udon.

The rest house.

Udon.

Traditional bathhouses are referred to as Sento in Japan, probably one of the few cultures where communal bathing is still common. This post is for those who ever wondered what these public bathhouses looked like from the inside.

Pictures here were taken from Kodakara-yu, a 1929 retired bathhouse preserved at the Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei. Many of the other buildings in the quaint town of Koganei appear in Studio Ghibli animations and Kodakara-yu is no exception, it was featured in the movie Spirited Away as the show principal attraction, the bathhouse of the gods.

Kodakara-yu.

Most other bathhouses follow a similar layout but Kodakara-yu was one of the most luxurious structures of its time. The design is reminiscent of a temple, as the act of bathing had deeply religious roots and up until the 14th century, baths were only found in Buddhist temples. This inspiration can be seem clearly on the building’s gabled roof.

Entrance to the different changing areas.

Stepping inside.

Open concept.

Looking out.

Mixed baths were the norm until the Americans invaded Japan with their black ships in 1854. As a more modern example, this bathhouse is split into two sections. Peeping toms could still sneak a peek if they wanted, so sometimes a female staff would sit on the divider to police behavior.

Men's side.

Restored mural of Fuji more recently painted on the wall.

The large wall here with the mural of Mt. Fuji hides the boiler room that heats the large tiled tubs.

Communal tubs.

Another view.

Squatting taps for rinsing.

Traditionally, some of the taps would provide hot water and others would provide cold so patrons could mix their own desired temperate in the wooden buckets provided.

Curious paintings.

Wooden buckets and stools for use at the squatting taps.

Women's side.

The origin of headcrabs.

The other half of the mural.

Classic billboards. There were different advertisements targeted toward male or female clients.

Back outside, cold drinks are served to help cool off. This is a tradition still practiced today, most often cold milk is served but sometimes also Yakult or Ice Cream.

A more twisted artist depiction.

hough not nearly as popular as the more luxurious Onsen, still active Sento can still be found in various places throughout Japan. Within Tokyo, a standardized fee of 450 yen is charged per visit. Slightly pricey considering that entering Edo Tokyo cost us only 400 yen.

We woke up at 8 am today on what was our first morning in Tokyo. Fresh from last night’s sleep and bursting full of touristy enthusiasm, it was to be (what I feel) was one of our more fruitful days. This morning, we were to take a step back in time to feudal days at Edo Tokyo.

Breakfast ran from 6 to 10 am. It was a self selection of different baked buns, croissants, toast and boiled eggs. Butter and packet spreads of Strawberry, Blueberry and Marmalade jams were provided. Milk, juice, coffee, green and Chinese teas were provided to wash down the breakfast. Not nearly as luxurious as what I had at the Olympic Inn but with hotel charges at nearly 70 dollars less, it certainly ain’t anything to complain about. It’s still better than what I have each morning at work.

Breakfast.

Despite chances of rain this week, the skies were clear this morning. We made our way to the JR Suidobashi station for our first destination

Walking to the station.

Crossing at the station.

More people were coming to than leaving Suidobashi for work.

Suidobashi literally translates to Water Road Bridge. The river flows through Akihabara and past Suidobashi. The JR Sobu train line we would use most often, rides alongside this river. Suidobashi is part of the Bunkyo ward, the culture capital of Tokyo. We’re located just north of the Imperial Palace and near Todai, Tokyo University. This town had a nice feel to it and whats more, we are equally near all the city spots in Tokyo.

The river from Akihabara.

The Sobu line is identifiable by its yellow color.

We boarded the station in time to see the last rush hour train pass by. With people being shoved into the train, we decided to wait for the next train. We were to head to Yotsuya to switch trains for Koganei but MJ insisted that we could switch at Ichigaya instead. Got off at Ichigaya, no lines to switch to so we had to get back on the next train to Yotsuya.

Some sort of Fishing spot at the station.

Guy emoing on train. Probably late for work.

MJ emoing over his lack of navigational ability.

After about 20 minutes, we eventually ended up at Musashi-Koganei, the nearer of two Koganei stations from Suidobashi. Koganei is a small suburban town in the Tama region outside of Tokyo. Despite the two train stations being located at either end of the town, it takes only 2 minutes to travel between the stations.

Musashi-Koganei.

Outside the station.

Only low buildings here.

KFC.

Dainty street lamps.

Koganei is home to the Studio Ghibli studios. The quaint little town was the inspiration for many areas in their animations. Some of the buildings in their movies and actually exist here in this town. MJ was probably tired of hearing me repeated about how I would love to live here.

Long road of just small buildings.

Bicycle graveyard.

I used to eat at Denny's a lot when I was little.

Small shrine at a crossing.

Mailbox.

This innocent mailbox would soon fall victim to MJ’s cam-whoring tendencies. Video will be posted soon enough. We kept stopping at random streets to take self portraits of us walking down the street.

Long street.

We exited the East exit of the station and were to head north, so common sense told me to turn left and keep walking straight. MJ didn’t trust common sense though so after walking straight for 10 minute we headed into a combini for directions.

Family Mart.

The friendly middle aged woman brought us outside the store back to the road to give us directions. She just told us to continue walking where we were headed for another 10 minutes.

Nice manhole cover. Reads "Koganei Sakura".

Stream.

At the next traffic light was a small stream passing through the town. The path along the stream stretched as far as we could see so MJ took the opportunity to take more self shots for his Facebook account.

Why so emo.

Every 5th fence had one of this.

Other side of the stream.

Even the dump trucks are tiny. There was no smell at all.

Metal birds.

Just across the road was the entrance to where we were headed, Koganei park. The tiny metal birds mark the entrance to government protected nature reserves.

Koganei park.

An old locomotive was parked in the park.

Remnants of winter.

Plum blossoms.

Still surviving.

This will eventually evolve into Choya.

We entered from the left most corner.

Koganei park was pretty big. We only manage to explore less than half the park. The sight was beautiful though partially due to our depravity in Singapore.

What. You mean flowers don't come from buckets?

Thirsty after the long walk.

It was only morning but I got Afternoon Tea. Only 0.1% lemon...

Afternoon Tea hot milk tea. Not sure how many percent actual milk tea.

No crows in sight though.

The pigeons there were 4 times the size of Singaporean pigeons.

Our reason for visiting Koganei.

More interesting than it sounds.

400 yen to enter.

Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum occupies the north west quarter of Koganei park. Historical buildings from around Japan are picked up and laid to rest here.

First view upon entering the museum. Doesn't look any different from outside.

Intricate Mausoleum.

Colonial building.

Along with the building. Stuff from inside each building was preserved as well.

Random old stuff.

Random old buildings.

Looking out.

Active stove.

Straw roof.

Better than any balcony.

Manual water pump.

Mini-shrine.

No where to drop your coins. Just leave it there.

The oldest building.

Inside.

Making paper pinwheels.

Closeup.

Another stove.

Friendly volunteer.

An old man by a ground stove in one of the buildings was puzzled as to why we were interesting in the buildings. He asked if old buildings was our hobby. We told him we were from Singapore and that we came here because there weren’t such nice buildings in Singapore. Upon hearing we were from Singapore, he conversed with us in English. He told us he visited Singapore some 10 years ago. He said it was a beautiful country despite all the concrete buildings.

He was really kind and friendly. He introduced that he was a volunteer to keep the stoves burning in the park to protect the house’s roof and support. He explained that by burning the fire, insects could be chased away and the soot helped to coat the roof. In this way, by keeping the fire burning, the buildings could survive another 25 years more. I was really touched by his selflessness.

The building we were in was one of the two oldest buildings in the park. Both belonged to the Edo era from some 200-300 years ago. Most of the houses were the former residences of former Samurai status families and politicians.

The roof.

Pond next to the house.

It turned out that Edo Tokyo ran almost entirely with the help of a few volunteers. It was really empty and apart from us, there were only a few other groups of people in the park. There was a group of guys from a university club, a group of elderly folk from outside town, two young girls, a local couple and a couple from China. The woman from China had a Leica.

Lone old folk sitting around drawing and painting the scenery were also scattered throughout the park. It must be really nice to be able to do this leisurely in their retirement.

Sketching.

Another artist.

Thus far, we had only explored western part of the park. We walked over to the eastern side where the relatively more modern buildings from the Meiji era resided.

Preparing a plot to welcome another building.

An old bus.

The driver's area.

Inside the bus.

Some things stay the same.

It had already hit noon.

Woman painting in watercolors.

Grand building. You'd never guess what it was.

A bathhouse.

The woman's wing.

MJ didn't enter any buildings because he didn't want to take off his shoes.

Garden next to the bathhouse.

Bonsai garden.

I used to have a couple of bonsai at home too.

Camwhoring again.

One of the old buildings housed an active Udon store, the Kura noodle shop. It was the only source of food in the park. Since it was already lunchtime, we decided to have our lunch here.

I had the kitsune udon. The ticketing machine was in Japanese so MJ’s solution was to press the first button on the top left so if not for me he would had ordered hot coffee.

Ticket machine.

My order.

MJ order.

The bowl, cup and laddle were handmade.

The handmade Udon was delicious. The best udon I’ve had yet. The warm clear soup was exactly what we needed in the cold weather. What’s more, it was incredibly cheap at only 600-700 yen a bowl. We had no regrets eating here.

On our way out, we looked a the few remaining buildings that we missed.

Bonnetto Bus.

Really old so it had to be sheltered from the elements.

Stream.

Filled with dried leaves.

MJ wanted a picture with any volunteer.

Time to leave.

The long road back to the station.

Japanese take recycling seriously.

Back to the main road.

Back at the station.

The Koganei shopping district.

We walked all the way back to the Musash-Koganei station. This time we took a side road instead. I looked in envy at all the nice houses to live in. Back at station, there was a small adjacent shopping district. Koganei’s largest departmental store was only 4 floors high. Without time to spare, we decided to pass on the street. Instead, we hurried to our next destination.

Koganei's biggest building. There was a Saizeriya there.

Topping up our Suica

Shibuya Mark City.

We alighted at Shibuya Mark City. I remembered Yan telling me about a great sushi place here called Midori so I took a mental note to return here for dinner if the queue permitted. Exiting Mark City, there was a Freshness Burger across the street. Despite just having our lunch not too long ago, we decided to stop here for tea.

Freshness Burger.

Not cheap.

Freshness Burger is a burger joint that prides itself in serving healthy burgers. There was a general artsy wannabe aura to the cafe. It was basically the burger equivalent of Starbucks.

We both ordered the shop’s signature dish, the Freshness Burger. Those looking for fast food had better look elsewhere. The burgers were made upon order. The patties were done just right and the toasted buns were hot to the touch. The burgers didn’t come cheap though. A single patty burger cost 460 yen.

The burger.

It was well worth the price though. The patties oozed with juiciness. While there was no dressing within the burger (they provided sauces separately) the huge slab of onion inside the burger provided more than enough flavor.

MJ commented it was the best burger he had ever ate and I would have to agree. Though just a week earlier I brought him to Carl’s Junior and he said the same thing about the Sante Fe burger there.

Awful.

What wasn’t worth the price though were the drinks at Freshness Burger. The drinks there cost as much as another burger. I ordered a cola, but unknowingly they gave me a Pepsi Nex instead. MJ didn’t make the same mistake, he got his drink at the next vending machine in sight after leaving the cafe.

Namie Amuro for Coke Zero.

The Shibuya crossing.

We headed for Shibuya 109-2 for some shopping ahead. Home to many boutiques selling host club styled clothing. It was where I got Yan his Jackrose bag previously.

MJ didn’t come with a jacket, so we went shopping for one. He found one. Out of peer pressure, I ended up purchasing one as well. I would regret this decision later on in the evening. The jacket set me back about 13000 yen ($200).

When we were done shopping, we went to the basement of the building. MJ had to check out the Hello Project shop there. I looked around the adjacent stores. There we two closed fortune telling shops. One of them belong to an old Caucasian swami. He must be pretty famous based on his photographs with various celebrities, politicians and the fact that he could afford a shop at such a prime spot in Shibuya.

Fortune teller.

It was dinner time and we returned to Mark City to check out Midori. Through some good timing, we arrived earlier than the crowd. There was still a queue but we didn’t have to wait more than 20 minutes.

Midori.

Inside.

Chawanmushi.

I ordered the middle end set. It came with a Chawanmushi appetizer. Despite not being a fan of Chawanmushi, it was pretty decent. The big chunk of scallop inside helped make it more palatable.

Inside.

My set.

MJ's set.

MJ ordered the cheaper set which was about 400 yen less. Apart from the lack of an appetizer. The main differences between our orders was that instead of sea urchin and sweet prawn, his came with shrimp and salmon. The sushi was our freshest yet an incredible bargain too. My set cost only about 2000 yen (SGD$30).

A Chinese woman and her mother identifiably from South East Asia were in the table next to us. They didn’t seem to be enjoying their meal though. It was almost as if they were disgusted to have to eat fish raw. They should had known better to enter a Sushi restaurant.

Salmon and roe.

MJ ended up ordering another serving of salmon rolls. I passed due to my general gag reflex towards salmon. I was full enough from just one set too.

I finally understood why people were willing to queue hours for Midori. They served great sushi at discount prices. Our combined bill was only about $70. A single set with fish not nearly as fresh would set us back the same price in Singapore. After dinner, we were to head back to our hotel. MJ and I vowed to return here again.

Tsutaya and Shibuya 109-2.

Food stall.

In the evenings, three food carts selling ramen, oden and imagawayakii were set up outside Suidobashi station. The aroma of imagawayaki filled the entire station. If we weren’t so full today, we would have definitely grabbed some.

Suidobashi at night.

This building is full of...

We decided to walk through Tokyo Dome this night since it was on the way to our hotel anyways. Most of the stores had already closed though except for an amusement center.

Giant Tetris.

Towards Tokyo Dome.

Closed for the day.

Apart from the convenience store. Everything else was closed.

Back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel, an envelop was sent to me. Inside were the front row tickets for the AKB48 concert at Yokohama on the 24th! I didn’t know that there was going to be a concert while we were here till last week and by then all tickets had sold out. Instead I had to buy this pair from Yahoo Auctions Japan on Monday. Sweet dreams ahead as we await the next day to come. Tomorrow we head for the Morning Musume concert at Shinjuku.

Morning Musume and AKB48 tickets.