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Around 80 years ago, Tokyo suffered heavy bombing during the Asia-Pacific War. As a result, it lost many buildings dating from the Edo period (1603-1868) or earlier. However, many talented architects emerged after the war, with Tokyo later coming to have one of the world’s largest assemblages of iconic modern buildings. This section introduces two facilities that provide a complex, in-depth insight into Tokyo’s architecture.

Located near Tokyo’s Ryogoku Sumo Hall, the Edo-Tokyo Museum (scheduled to be closed until 2026) explores the history of Edo. Before becoming Tokyo, Edo was the seat of power for the Tokugawa Shogunate, with the Edo period commencing when Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate at Edo Castle (now the Imperial Palace). The museum also has an annex called the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, an outdoor museum that lies around 30km west of the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Koganei Park, Koganei City, Tokyo. The expansive 7-hectare site is home to 30 former residences and stores dating from the Edo period to the middle of the Showa era (1926-1989). These include Kagiya, a Japanese-style bar built at the end of the Edo period (in 1856) that has survived to the present day through fires and earthquakes; Kodakara-yu (built 1929), a representative example of a Tokyo public bath; and the former residence of Kunio Mayekawa (built 1942), an architect who played a major role in the development of Japan’s modern architecture. A visit here feels like stepping back in time, with the townscapes complimented by recreations of furniture, shop merchandise, eating utensils and other items from olden times.

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT is located within Tokyo Midtown, a shopping center in central Tokyo. Its origins lie in a movement spearheaded by the late designer Issey Miyake and others to create a museum that would serve as a base for design culture in Japan. The venue aims to redirect our eyes to everyday things and events, create various proposals and communicate numerous discoveries from a design point of view. Most of its exhibitions are directed by designers, with the graphic designer Taku Satoh serving as the institution's director. The building was designed by Tadao Ando based on Issey Miyake’s “A Piece of Cloth” clothing design concept, with 80% of the structure’s floor space built underground. Other nearby facilities include Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo Midtown Design Hub, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, the design-themed multipurpose AXIS building, TOTO Gallery·Ma (a gallery specializing in architecture), and numerous design studios.

The National Archives of Modern Architecture was established in 2013 to prevent materials related to modern Japanese architecture (drawings, photographs, sketches, models, etc.) from being damaged, scattered or lost overseas. Its voluminous collection of precious objects includes architectural design materials by Kiyonori Kikutake, Junzo Sakakura, Hiroshi Hara, Kunio Maekawa, and Takamasa Yoshizaka, for example. It also houses early architectural drawings from when the facility’s Honorary Director Ando Takao first established his own design office. The Archives stages around two special exhibitions a year and lies close to the Former Iwasaki House Garden, a Tokyo metropolitan park comprising the residence and gardens of the Iwasaki family, founders of Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, the predecessor to today’s Mitsubishi Group.