Photo Post: Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

Hello reader, long time no blog. Today I’m posting a series of photos I took this spring. I visited the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in West Tokyo. As the name suggests, the museum is an outdoor experience where visitors can check out a series of different structures. Admission is cheap (400 yen for adults, free for children), and it’s a great day trip from central Tokyo. I had the good fortune of visiting on the anniversary of the museum’s opening, which meant a free bus from the station was available and admission was also waived. The museum is roughly a 20 minute ride on the Chuo line from Shinjuku. After that is a short bus trip from Musashi-Koganei station.

When I arrived, I initially thought I’d be wandering between buildings, admiring them from the outside. I was pleasantly surprised to find that visitors are meant to enter structures and poke around. Note: visitors must remove shoes if they wish to enter a building. If you’re planning on visiting the museum, I highly recommend wearing shoes that are easy to slip on and off. Most visitors chose to leave their shoes in the entryway of each building, but if you’re worried about someone stealing them, the museum also provides a plastic bag (at the entrance of the museum building) so that you can carry them with you as you wander around inside the homes.

The museum has some signage available in English, but the volunteers and activities throughout the museum seem to be Japanese only. At certain times of day, there are viewer participation events, such as story telling, volunteer lectures, old-style photo shoots, etc. The pace of the museum is very relaxed. On the day I visited, it seemed most visitors were either retired folks or families with young children. A handful of tourists were also there as well. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the explaining for me. All images were edited in Adobe Lightroom. Hope you enjoy!