Toshima, Tokyo — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Toshima?

Toshima carries an unusual density of museums. The Sunshine Aquarium and the Ancient Orient Museum share the ward's tower podium with Namco Namja Town and J-World Tokyo, while the Sezon Museum of Art gathers changing exhibitions a short walk away. Smaller halls fill the side streets.

The Yayoi Kusama Museum, the Eisei Bunko Museum, the Printing Museum, and the Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum each pull visitors off the main blocks, and the Museum of Toshima City keeps the record of the ward itself.

What is the history of Toshima?

The ward took its present form in 1943. Toshima grew from a cluster of villages and temple grounds on the edge of Tokyo into one of the metropolis' packed inner wards, its old lanes gradually giving way to the tower complex that now holds the Sunshine Aquarium. Older ground survives in patches.

The Natsume Soseki Memorial Museum keeps the memory of the novelist who lived and wrote in the district, and the Museum of Toshima City records how the streets changed around him.

Where is Toshima?

Toshima packs about 13 square kilometres of dense inner Tokyo, its low-rise museum lanes rising toward the tower podium that carries the Sunshine Aquarium at the ward's core.