Tokyo: Five freebies from shrine to ‘cool’ Japan
TOKYO (AP) — Finding free things in one of the world’s most expensive cities may sound impossible. Surprisingly, Tokyo offers a wide range of museums, parks, historical sites and cultural activities for free — good news for budget travelers who want to see a lot and still enjoy expensive sushi. in 1936, the building with a landmark pyramid-shaped dome houses the two chambers — the more powerful House of Representatives (Lower House) and the House of Councilors (Upper House) — under the Japanese parliamentary system.
The Upper House provides a free hour-long tour when the house is not in session. The tour, which starts on the hour between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., includes the public gallery, the emperor’s room and central hall, with the floor decorated with intricate mosaic design using 1 million pieces of tiles and mural paintings depicting the four seasons. island of Odaiba out in the Tokyo Bay for a picnic, sunbathing on a man-made beach, or even a jog. The walk is just over one mile (1.7 kilometers) including the 918-meter-long (just over half a mile) single-span suspension bridge and takes less than an hour one way.
A walk on the north side of the bridge provides the panoramic view of Tokyo’s skyline, with the world’s second-tallest structure Tokyo SkyTree rising into the sky like a needle. The south side overlooks Daiba Park and a scale copy of the Statue of Liberty, as well as Shinagawa and Oi piers.
You get to see both on a round trip, but you have an option of taking the Yurikamome (Seagull) elevated railway system one way. Daiba Park, which sticks out right underneath the Rainbow Bridge, used to be a site of cannon batteries built in the late 1850s to protect Tokyo from potential foreign attacks following the arrival of an American fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853. It was not used and later turned into a park. There are several parks and museums that are also
including the Museum of Maritime Science, Tokyo Sewerage Exhibit Hall (about the structure of Tokyo’s drainage system) and Tokyo Water Science Museum.
free,