Japan · Tokyo Prefecture · Tokyo
Minato, Tokyo — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Minato is a ward of Tokyo holding Tokyo Tower, Roppongi's museums, and the embassy lanes of Akasaka and Azabu.
About Minato
Where to stay in Minato
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Minato spreads its beds across several quarters. Roppongi puts you among the galleries, so guests wake within a short walk of the Mori Art Museum, the National Art Center, Tokyo, and the late-night eating that has long drawn a foreign crowd to these streets. Stay in Roppongi for art and nights out.
Akasaka trades that energy for embassy lanes and quiet streets near the Prime Minister's Official Residence, while Shiba keeps its rooms close to Tokyo Tower and the older temples below it.
About Minato
What are the main landmarks in Minato?
Minato keeps much of Tokyo's art within one ward. Roppongi alone gathers the Mori Art Museum high above the district, the Suntory Museum of Art, and the Okura Museum of Art, with the National Art Center, Tokyo a short walk away under its glass wave of a facade. Tokyo Tower rises over Shiba to the east.
Nearer the parliament, the Prime Minister's Official Residence sits behind its gates in Akasaka, and southward the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate marks the old road out of the city. The mix is unusually dense.
What is the history of Minato?
Minato took its present form in 1947. That year the old Akasaka, Azabu, and Shiba wards were merged into a single ward of Tokyo, folding three long-settled quarters into one administration. The name means harbour.
It recalls the shoreline that once ran close to Shiba before landfill pushed the water back, and the Takanawa Great Wooden Gate that guarded the southern road into the city. Tokyo Tower rose over Shiba in the postwar years, and Roppongi turned toward galleries later still. The harbour name outlasted the harbour.
Where is Minato?
Minato is a ward of Tokyo running from the galleries of Roppongi and the embassy lanes of Akasaka down to Shiba and the old shoreline beneath Tokyo Tower.
Good for
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Updated July 2026