# Roots Earth in Tokyo: audio stories about 57 places Canonical: https://rootsearth.com/cities/tokyo Published: 16 September 2026 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. ## 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 Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app). ## More from Roots Earth - [Asia in the Roots Earth catalogue](https://rootsearth.com/cities#asia): every city in Asia with its number of places and its languages. - [What Roots Earth is](https://rootsearth.com/app): the app in one page, how it works and what is in it. - [Questions travellers ask](https://rootsearth.com/faq): the cities, the languages, the account, listening without a connection. - [The 7 languages](https://rootsearth.com/languages): the seven languages with their codes and how many cities each one covers. - [Hiroshima](https://rootsearth.com/cities/hiroshima): 44 places in Japan with audio stories. - [Kanazawa](https://rootsearth.com/cities/kanazawa): 42 places in Japan with audio stories. - [Kyoto](https://rootsearth.com/cities/kyoto): 55 places in Japan with audio stories. - [Nara](https://rootsearth.com/cities/nara): 44 places in Japan with audio stories. 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