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Roots Earth in Tokyo: audio stories about 57 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 57 places in Tokyo, Japan, in Asia. The Tokyo stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Tokyo, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 57 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: tokyo.md

The 57 places in Tokyo with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Tokyo Tower
  2. Tokyo Skytree
  3. Tokyo Imperial Palace
  4. Sensō-ji
  5. Meiji Shrine
  6. Shibuya Crossing
  7. Tokyo Station
  8. Zōjō-ji
  9. Yasukuni Shrine
  10. Ueno Park
  11. Tokyo National Museum
  12. National Museum of Nature and Science
  13. National Museum of Western Art
  14. Kanda Shrine
  15. Nezu Shrine
  16. Hie Shrine
  17. Sengaku-ji
  18. Tsukiji Hongan-ji
  19. National Diet Building
  20. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
  21. Ginza
  22. Nihonbashi
  23. Kabuki-za
  24. Roppongi Hills
  25. Mori Art Museum
  26. The National Art Center, Tokyo
  27. Nezu Museum
  28. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
  29. Edo-Tokyo Museum
  30. Rainbow Bridge
  31. Odaiba
  32. Shinjuku Gyo-en
  33. Hama-rikyū Gardens
  34. Koishikawa Kōrakuen Gardens
  35. Rikugi-en
  36. Tokyo Dome
  37. Ryōgoku Kokugikan
  38. Ueno Zoo
  39. Ameya-Yokochō Market
  40. Toyosu Market
  41. Kappabashi-dōri
  42. Yanaka
  43. Yanaka Cemetery
  44. Shinjuku Golden Gai
  45. Kagurazaka
  46. Jimbōchō
  47. Shimokitazawa
  48. Kōenji
  49. Nakano Broadway
  50. Kichijōji
  51. Inokashira Park
  52. Daikanyama
  53. Nakameguro
  54. Sugamo
  55. Tsukudajima
  56. Kiyosumi Gardens
  57. Yoyogi Park

Is there an audio guide for Tokyo Tower?

Yes. Tokyo Tower has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 57 Tokyo places in the app, at 35.6586, 139.7456. Every one of the other 56 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Tokyo

Open Roots Earth and choose Tokyo. The city has its own map of places with all 57 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 57 places in Tokyo, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 57 places in Tokyo, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Tokyo Tower

Coordinates
35.6586, 139.7456
In one line
A 333-metre red-and-white steel lattice tower completed in 1958, modelled on the Eiffel Tower. Built as a broadcasting mast and a proud symbol of Japan's recovery, it long ranked among the city's tallest landmarks.

2. Tokyo Skytree

Coordinates
35.7101, 139.8107
In one line
A 634-metre broadcasting and observation tower opened in 2012, the tallest tower in the world. Its neo-futurist form blends modern engineering with traditional Japanese aesthetics, and its height encodes Musashi, the region's old name.

3. Tokyo Imperial Palace

Coordinates
35.6824, 139.7527
In one line
The residence of Japan's emperor, set on the site of the old Edo Castle within wide moats and stone walls. The imperial family moved here in 1869, and the modern palace halls were rebuilt after wartime destruction.

4. Sensō-ji

Coordinates
35.7147, 139.7968
In one line
Tokyo's oldest temple, dedicated to the compassion bodhisattva Kannon and rooted in a legend from the seventh century. Its thunder gate, lantern-lit shopping street and five-storey pagoda draw vast crowds to the Asakusa district.

5. Meiji Shrine

Coordinates
35.6761, 139.6992
In one line
A Shinto shrine dedicated in 1920 to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, set within a vast forest planted from trees donated across Japan. Towering cypress gateways and gravel paths lead to halls hidden among the trees.

6. Shibuya Crossing

Coordinates
35.6595, 139.7006
In one line
A vast pedestrian scramble outside Shibuya Station, often called the world's busiest crossing. When the lights change, thousands surge across at once beneath giant screens, watched over by the famous statue of the loyal dog Hachikō.

7. Tokyo Station

Coordinates
35.6808, 139.7669
In one line
A grand red-brick railway terminal opened in 1914, designed by Tatsuno Kingo in a European style. Its long Marunouchi facade and twin domes, destroyed in wartime and restored in 2012, anchor Japan's busiest rail network.

8. Zōjō-ji

Coordinates
35.657479, 139.748376
In one line
Zōjō-ji is a historic Buddhist temple in Minato, the burial place of six Tokugawa shoguns. Founded in 1393 and relocated to its present site in 1598, it stands beside Tokyo Tower, its great wooden gate surviving wartime fire.

9. Yasukuni Shrine

Coordinates
35.694, 139.7427
In one line
Yasukuni is a Shinto shrine founded in 1869 to honor Japan's war dead, around 2. 5 million enshrined souls. Known for towering steel gates, spring cherry blossoms, and the Yūshūkan museum, it remains one of Tokyo's most debated landmarks.

10. Ueno Park

Coordinates
35.712222, 139.771111
In one line
Ueno Park, opened in 1873, is among Japan's first public parks. Built on a former temple battlefield, it holds Shinobazu Pond, around 800 cherry trees, and the city's great museums, drawing over ten million visitors each year.

11. Tokyo National Museum

Coordinates
35.7189, 139.7764
In one line
The Tokyo National Museum, founded in 1872, is Japan's oldest and largest museum. Set in Ueno Park, it holds about 120,000 cultural objects, including 89 National Treasures, within the distinctive Imperial Crown style of its 1938 main hall.

12. National Museum of Nature and Science

Coordinates
35.715939, 139.776527
In one line
Japan's leading science museum, founded in 1877, sits in Ueno Park. Its 1931 neo-Renaissance hall, shaped like an aircraft from above, houses dinosaurs, a steam locomotive, and a life-size blue whale, drawing millions of visitors every year.

13. National Museum of Western Art

Coordinates
35.71536, 139.77573
In one line
Opened in 1959, this Ueno Park museum is Le Corbusier's only building in Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built around the Matsukata collection of European art, it greets visitors with Rodin bronzes in its forecourt.

14. Kanda Shrine

Coordinates
35.701944, 139.767778
In one line
Kanda Myojin, founded in 730, is one of Tokyo's guardian shrines.

15. Nezu Shrine

Coordinates
35.720278, 139.760833
In one line
Nezu Shrine is one of Tokyo's oldest places of worship, its lacquered halls completed in 1706 by order of the shogun. A hillside tunnel of vermilion torii and a celebrated azalea garden draw spring crowds.

16. Hie Shrine

Coordinates
35.674722, 139.739583
In one line
Hie Shrine sits on a wooded rise in Nagatacho, near the heart of government. Moved here in 1659 under the Tokugawa, it guards the city's southwest and hosts the Sanno Matsuri, one of Edo's three great festivals. A covered torii stairway climbs the hill.

17. Sengaku-ji

Coordinates
35.63772, 139.7363
In one line
Sengaku-ji is a Zen temple in Takanawa, founded in 1612, best known as the resting place of the 47 Ronin. The loyal retainers and their lord, Asano Naganori, lie buried here after the famous 1703 vendetta, drawing visitors and incense smoke year-round.

18. Tsukiji Hongan-ji

Coordinates
35.6665, 139.7723
In one line
Tsukiji Hongan-ji is a Jodo Shinshu temple unlike any other in Tokyo. Rebuilt in 1934 by architect Ito Chuta in an ancient Indian Buddhist style, its carved stone facade, animal sculptures, and pipe organ make it one of the city's most unusual places of worship.

19. National Diet Building

Coordinates
35.67571, 139.74481
In one line
The National Diet Building is the home of Japan's parliament, completed in November 1936 after nearly 17 years of construction. Built almost entirely from Japanese materials, its central pyramidal tower rises over two wings housing the country's two legislative chambers in Nagatacho.

20. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Coordinates
35.689722, 139.692222
In one line
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is the city hall of Tokyo, completed in March 1991 to a design by Kenzo Tange. Its twin-towered No.

21. Ginza

Coordinates
35.671217, 139.765007
In one line
Ginza is Tokyo's most famous shopping district, named for a silver mint set here in 1612. Rebuilt in Western brick after an 1872 fire, it became a symbol of modernization. Today its avenues hold luxury stores, the landmark Wako clock tower, and weekend pedestrian streets.

22. Nihonbashi

Coordinates
35.683889, 139.774444
In one line
A grand stone bridge over the Nihonbashi River, rebuilt in 1911 and crowned with bronze creatures. From its center, all road distances in Japan are measured, marking the symbolic heart of the nation.

23. Kabuki-za

Coordinates
35.6697, 139.7681
In one line
Tokyo's principal kabuki theatre, founded in 1889 in Ginza. Its castle-like baroque revival facade, rebuilt several times after fire and war, now fronts a glass tower. Performances run almost daily, with tickets sold by the single act.

24. Roppongi Hills

Coordinates
35.66, 139.73
In one line
A vast vertical city that opened in 2003, centered on the 238 metre Mori Tower. Developer Minoru Mori assembled hundreds of land parcels to create a district of offices, homes, shops, gardens, art and sweeping observation views.

25. Mori Art Museum

Coordinates
35.6605, 139.7291
In one line
A contemporary art museum perched on the top floors of the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. Opened in 2003, it stages large international exhibitions, keeps unusually late hours, and ranks among the highest art galleries in the world.

26. The National Art Center, Tokyo

Coordinates
35.6653, 139.7263
In one line
A vast exhibition hall in Roppongi, opened in 2007 and designed by Kisho Kurokawa with an undulating glass facade. Holding no permanent collection, it hosts changing shows across one of Japan's largest art spaces.

27. Nezu Museum

Coordinates
35.6622, 139.717
In one line
A museum of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art in Aoyama, founded on the collection of industrialist Nezu Kaichiro. Reopened in 2009 in a building by Kengo Kuma, it pairs national treasures with a celebrated Japanese garden.

28. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

Coordinates
35.7172, 139.7728
In one line
Japan's first public art museum, opened in 1926 in Ueno Park. Its brick-clad modernist building, designed by Kunio Maekawa in 1975, hosts public art association shows and major blockbuster exhibitions rather than a permanent collection.

29. Edo-Tokyo Museum

Coordinates
35.6964, 139.7961
In one line
A striking elevated museum in Ryogoku tracing the life of Edo and modern Tokyo. Opened in 1993 to architect Kiyonori Kikutake's design, it raises history on four great columns above an open plaza.

30. Rainbow Bridge

Coordinates
35.636389, 139.763611
In one line
A double-deck suspension bridge spanning northern Tokyo Bay, opened in 1993. Carrying expressway, transit, and walkways between Shibaura and Odaiba, its white towers glow in colored light by night, giving it its rainbow name.

31. Odaiba

Coordinates
35.63, 139.775
In one line
A man-made entertainment island in Tokyo Bay, built on Edo-era gun batteries raised against foreign warships. Reborn in the 1990s as a futuristic leisure district of malls, museums, beaches, and bold architecture.

32. Shinjuku Gyo-en

Coordinates
35.685, 139.71
In one line
A vast garden near Shinjuku blending French formal, English landscape, and Japanese traditional styles. Once a feudal lord's estate, it opened as an imperial garden in 1906 and became a public park in 1949.

33. Hama-rikyū Gardens

Coordinates
35.66, 139.762
In one line
A shogun's bayside garden at the mouth of the Sumida River, built from reclaimed land in 1654. Its tidal pond rises and falls with the sea, and a teahouse on an island serves matcha amid the towers.

34. Koishikawa Kōrakuen Gardens

Coordinates
35.715, 139.745556
In one line
One of Tokyo's oldest gardens, begun in 1629 by the Mito branch of the Tokugawa. Shaped with Chinese scholarly influence, it miniaturizes famous landscapes around its central pond beside the Tokyo Dome.

35. Rikugi-en

Coordinates
35.733056, 139.746667
In one line
An elegant Edo strolling garden built between 1695 and 1702, recreating scenes from classical poetry around a central pond. Restored by Mitsubishi's founder and donated to Tokyo, it glows with autumn maples and weeping cherry.

36. Tokyo Dome

Coordinates
35.705658, 139.751914
In one line
Tokyo Dome is Japan's first all-weather domed stadium, opened in 1988 with an air-supported fiberglass roof. Home of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, the arena seats around 45,600 and hosts concerts and major events.

37. Ryōgoku Kokugikan

Coordinates
35.696667, 139.793333
In one line
Ryogoku Kokugikan is Tokyo's national sumo arena, opened in 1985 in Sumida ward. Seating around 11,000, it hosts three of Japan's six annual grand sumo tournaments and houses the Sumo Museum and the Japan Sumo Association.

38. Ueno Zoo

Coordinates
35.7175, 139.771389
In one line
Ueno Zoo, opened in 1882, is Japan's oldest zoo, set within Ueno Park. Spanning about 14 hectares with thousands of animals, it became nationally beloved for its giant pandas and once ran Japan's first monorail between its two halves.

39. Ameya-Yokochō Market

Coordinates
35.7085, 139.7745
In one line
Ameya-Yokocho is a bustling open-air market beside Ueno Station, born from a post-war black market. Crammed under and beside the railway tracks, its 250-plus stalls sell fresh seafood, dried goods, spices, sweets, and clothing amid loud, friendly haggling.

40. Toyosu Market

Coordinates
35.644167, 139.783611
In one line
Toyosu Market, opened in 2018 on reclaimed land in Koto ward, is among the world's largest wholesale seafood markets. Successor to the famous Tsukiji, it stages dawn tuna auctions watched from public viewing decks above the trading floor.

41. Kappabashi-dōri

Coordinates
35.714444, 139.788889
In one line
Kappabashi-dori, Tokyo's Kitchen Town, runs between Ueno and Asakusa. Its specialist shops supply restaurants with knives, crockery, signage, and the lifelike plastic food samples that fill Japanese restaurant windows. A giant chef's head marks its southern end.

42. Yanaka

Coordinates
35.723789, 139.768422
In one line
Yanaka is an old downtown district in Taito ward, north of Ueno, where the traditional Shitamachi atmosphere endures.

43. Yanaka Cemetery

Coordinates
35.725278, 139.770556
In one line
Opened in 1872 on former temple land in Taito ward, this leafy cemetery holds approximately 7,000 graves, including the last Tokugawa shogun. Its cherry-lined central avenue runs through one of Tokyo's last old-town districts.

44. Shinjuku Golden Gai

Coordinates
35.693889, 139.704722
In one line
A warren of six narrow alleys in Shinjuku packed with more than 200 tiny bars in two-story wooden buildings. Once a postwar black market and red-light quarter, it survives today as a haven for artists, writers, and night owls.

45. Kagurazaka

Coordinates
35.701389, 139.740278
In one line
A sloping street and warren of cobbled lanes in Shinjuku, once a thriving geisha quarter at the edge of Edo Castle. Today it blends surviving ryotei restaurants and shrines with Tokyo's densest cluster of French bakeries and bistros.

46. Jimbōchō

Coordinates
35.6957, 139.7575
In one line
Tokyo's used-book quarter in Chiyoda ward, where shelves of secondhand volumes spill onto the sidewalks. Surrounded by universities and publishers, it grew after a 1913 fire and gave rise to the Iwanami Shoten publishing house.

47. Shimokitazawa

Coordinates
35.661606, 139.666561
In one line
A magnet for students and youth subcultures, it stayed small-scale even as its station moved underground in 2013.

48. Kōenji

Coordinates
35.705278, 139.651111
In one line
A bohemian district in Suginami ward named for its old temple, known for live-music venues, punk and folk roots, and vintage clothing. Its August Awa Odori dance festival draws roughly 12,000 dancers and over a million spectators.

49. Nakano Broadway

Coordinates
35.709167, 139.665556
In one line
A 1966 shopping complex in Nakano ward, now a mecca for otaku culture. Its upper floors brim with roughly 300 stores, including 27 Mandarake shops selling vintage manga, anime figures, and collectibles, all reached through the Sun Mall arcade.

50. Kichijōji

Coordinates
35.703056, 139.579722
In one line
Kichijoji is a beloved neighborhood in Musashino, west of central Tokyo, repeatedly voted the city's most desirable place to live. It pairs covered shopping arcades and tiny alley bars with the green calm of Inokashira Park nearby.

51. Inokashira Park

Coordinates
35.700833, 139.574167
In one line
Inokashira Park, opened in 1917 as a gift from the emperor to the public, spreads across roughly 38 hectares between Musashino and Mitaka. Its long central pond, once a water source for old Edo, draws boaters, street performers, and cherry-blossom crowds.

52. Daikanyama

Coordinates
35.651667, 139.705556
In one line
Daikanyama is an upscale, low-rise district in Shibuya, often called the Brooklyn of Tokyo. Anchored by architect Fumihiko Maki's Hillside Terrace, built in phases from 1967 to 1992, it gathers boutiques, cafes, and the landmark Daikanyama T-Site bookstore.

53. Nakameguro

Coordinates
35.6447, 139.6987
In one line
Nakameguro is a fashionable Tokyo neighborhood strung along the Meguro River, where more than eight hundred cherry trees arch over the water. Its canalside lanes brim with boutiques, cafes, and bars, and spring brings famous lantern-lit blossom nights.

54. Sugamo

Coordinates
35.738889, 139.731111
In one line
Sugamo, in Toshima ward, is fondly nicknamed Granny's Harajuku. Its Jizo-dori shopping street caters to older Tokyoites, drawing crowds to Kogan-ji temple's healing Togenuki Jizo, lucky red underwear shops, and lively market days on dates ending in four.

55. Tsukudajima

Coordinates
35.66757, 139.782672
In one line
Tsukudajima is a small former island in Chuo ward, settled around 1612 by fishermen brought from near Osaka by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Birthplace of the preserved food tsukudani, it keeps narrow lanes, old wooden houses, and Sumiyoshi Shrine beneath nearby high-rise towers.

56. Kiyosumi Gardens

Coordinates
35.68, 139.797778
In one line
Kiyosumi Gardens is a classic strolling pond garden in Koto ward, redeveloped from 1878 by Mitsubishi founder Iwasaki Yataro. Famed for stepping stones across the water and rare rocks gathered nationwide, it opened to the public in 1932.

57. Yoyogi Park

Coordinates
35.67167, 139.695
In one line
One of central Tokyo's largest green spaces, Yoyogi Park sprawls across roughly 54 hectares in Shibuya beside Meiji Shrine. Once a parade ground and Olympic Village, it now draws picnickers, cyclists, cherry-blossom crowds and Sunday subcultures.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

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