Shirokanedai Tokyo
Shirokanedai: read a guide to Shirokanedai, Tokyo. Shirokanedai is home to some of Tokyo's most beautiful parks and gardens.
Tokyo Area Guide: Shirokanedai 白金台
- Shirokanedai
Overview - Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
- Nature Education Park
- Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo
- Matsuoka Museum of Art
- Shirokanedai Map
- Shirokanedai Access
- Tokyo Area Guides
Shirokanedai Oveview
Shirokanedai is an area in Minato ward, Tokyo, just east of JR Meguro Station.
Shirokanedai is the centered around a large former feudal, then imperial, estate, and is an area rich in history.
Shirokanedai is worth visiting mainly for the Teien Metropolitan Art Museum, the Nature Education Park, and the grounds
of the Institute of Medical Science.
Shirokanedai's present-day reputation is as a home of the (idle) rich, but this affluence has not made for a town of great appeal. The main shopping
street of Shirokanedai, "Platinum Street," is off Meguro-dori Street, starting from the Shirokanedai intersection by Exit 1 of Shirokanedai Subway Station. Platinum Street is attractively tree-lined and has one or two faux-historic-looking cafes,
but is, like most of the Shirokanedai area, dull.
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
While not strictly a park, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is on land that was once a feudal, then imperial, estate. The building in which the Tokyo Metropolitan Teian Art Museum is housed is an historical example of art deco architecture and design, inside and out, worth seeing just for itself, whatever exhibition may be on when you visit.
Between Tokyo Metropolitan Teian Art Museum and Meguro-dori Street that fronts it is a beautiful landscaped area with
gardens, including a sculpture lawn, that can be enjoyed for a small fee without having to pay for entry to the Tokyo Metropolitan Teian Art Museum. Read more about the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Meguro Dori Ave
Nature Education Park,
Institute of Nature Study, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
The Institute of Nature Study's Nature Education Park (Shizen Kyoiku En) occupies the major part of the same original land as the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (see above), it is 20 hectares of forest that preserves the pre-modern landscape of Tokyo. Administered by the National Museum of Nature and Science, it is inner city Tokyo's biggest authentic wilderness areas. Read more about the Institute
of Nature Study.
The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
The Institute of Medical Science of the University of Tokyo was founded in 1892 as "The Institute of Infectious Diseases" with its own affiliated research hospital. The Institute of Medical Science is Japan's foremost research institute for medical life science. The campus of The Institute of Medical Science is worth a wander through for its natural beauty, and for the imposing original brick Gothic-revival-style No. 1 building. The Institute of Medical Science is accessible both from Platinum Street (through its West Gate) or Meguro-dori Street (its Main Gate) right beside Exit 2 of
Shirokanedai Subway Station.
The Medical Science Museum of The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, is just on your left after entering the main gate.
Shirokanedai, Tokyo
Matsuoka Museum of Art
The Matsuoka Museum of Art is housed in a strikingly designed building built in 2000. Its collection focuses on European sculpture, from ancient to modern, Asian
ceramics, Japanese painting, and modern European painting. Read more about the Matsuoka Museum of Art.
Shirokanedai Map
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Access Shirokanedai
Three train lines serve Shirokanedai: the JR Yamanote Line, with Meguro Station, and the Metro Namboku Subway line and Toei Mita Subway line both with Shirokanedai Station.
Happo-en Restaurant, Shirokanedai, Tokyo
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