Across the Sumida River from Nihonbashi, Fukagawa is one of Tokyo's original fifteen wards. We spent a day wandering around its uncrowded streets, allowing the district to surprise us with an excellent museum, a tranquil garden and, for lunch, a delicious bowl of the neighborhood specialty, Fukugawa Meshi.
An hour to the northwest of Tokyo, Kawagoe is one of the more popular excursions from the capital. It's known as "Little Edo" because it retains the distinctive kura-zukuri buildings which once lined the streets of the capital. We spent a day seeing the city's sights.
After noticing the white hulk of the Edo-Tokyo Museum from atop the SkyTree, we wondered how even the world's biggest city could justify such a monstrous history museum. But when exhibits include full-scale reconstructions of theaters, houses and even a publishing house, the extra room comes in handy.
Unlike many of the places we've visited, Tokyo doesn't have a history which stretches far into the past. In fact, before the close of the nineteenth century, Tokyo didn't even exist; it was known instead as Edo. But the rapid ascension from village to "World's Biggest City" has been as catastrophic as it has been meteoric. Growing pains are always the hardest for those who mature too quickly.
