These two wards are located east from central Tokyo across the Sumida river (Koto) and further east across the Arakwa river (Edogawa). Although these wards are relatively remote and were not of much interest for me while i stayed abroad, i feel that it is still necessary to write about these two wards, especially since the well known Toyosu fish market and the digital museum Teamlab Planets are located in one of those wards.
Koto
Koto is the ward area which lies between the rivers Sumida and Arakawa.
Koto Vibes
Kiyosumi Gardens
This garden is located in the northern part of the Koto ward. It basically consists of a big pond taking around 80% of the garden’s area. One of the features i especially liked was the fact that there were more stones used as paths across the pond than in other gardens. Going along this path you can discover a lot of turtles but be careful because they might bite. It’s easy to spend 30 to 60 minutes here. Ticket fee: 150 Yen
Toyosu Fish Market
In the past the main fish market was at the Tsukiji fish market located in the Chuo ward. If you want to see a street fish market with food stands and culinary seafood offerings then this will be probably enough for your needs. However the main inner fish market has been relocated to the Toyosu area which can be reached conviniently by train at the Shijo-Mae station. There are 3 market buildings which offer different products. The highlight is the real Tuna auction which starts at 05:30 am and is located at the Fish intermediate wholesale market. As long as you don’t want to have an on the spot tour which you have to sign in for in advance, there is a platform provided to have an overview of the auction. The rooftop offers a huge green area with astonishing view over all this high and tall structure. It might be one of the bestpicknick places in late spring or early autumn, if not for it being so remotely located
Teamlab Planets
Teamlab is a digital arts museum project which utilizes interdisciplinary knowledge of arts, computer science, engineering and more to provide a unique experience. There already exists a lot of Projects mainly across North East asia the most well known being the Teamlab borderless. This project however is only limited until Fall 2020. You can just enjoy the beautifulness of the room as well as the complexity of the setup. There was one room filled with water on which fish were projected on. To cross the rooom you had to wade through the kneedeep water. When the fish projection collide with people it would turn into flowers and scatter. To top that of the trajectory of the fish are actually determined by the presence of the people. This is just an example on how highly dynamic and interactive the exhibitions are designed
Edogawa
Edogawa Vibes
Kasairinkai Park
This park is huge and freely accessible. It does not offer too many sceneric spots however the paths are well maintained enough to have a nice bicycle ride. Since it is on the east coast of the Edogawa Ward you can see into the wide ocean and also seems to be a popular place for bird watching.
Gyosen Park
This is a really small public park, however what makes it ineresting is the attached small zoo which is freely accessible for the public. Unfortunately when i came by it was closed due maintenance, however i could get a glimpse of the penguins playing around in their basin.
Tower Hall Funabori
You can get to the observation deck of this tower hall at 115m for free! It offers a 360° view. Especially if you look towards the west you can see the whole beautiful skyline of Tokyo from the skytree up to a tiny barely visible Tokyo Tower. More pictures are provided in Compilation: Viewpoints of Tokyo.
