Roppongi & Azabu六本木・麻布

One day · Roppongi, Azabu

The art triangle and the view: three museums, a daimyo's garden, the tower at dusk and a late supper in Azabu

Roppongi rebuilt itself as Tokyo's art quarter twenty years ago, and the three museums that anchor it are within a fifteen-minute walk of each other; the trick is the order. Glass and design in the morning, a village lunch downhill, the wave of the National Art Center after, and the Mori on the 53rd floor timed so that the exhibition ends as the sun goes down behind Fuji — with the open roof above it. Then the district does what it has always done well: dinner and a bar, late.

Roppongi & Azabu · 5 stops

Guide · Anywhere in the centre

A rainy day in Tokyo, done well: a national collection, a depachika lunch, a coffee house, an art-book lounge and a bath

Tokyo in the rain is not a lesser city; it is one that moves indoors, into museums, food halls, coffee houses and baths that were built for exactly this. The rule is to choose one district and stay under its roofs — every large station is a covered city — rather than to cross town. Here is a day assembled from the best of them, with the alternatives by area so you can build your own.

Ueno & Yanaka · Shinjuku · Marunouchi & Tokyo Station · Nakameguro, Daikanyama & Ebisu · Roppongi & Azabu · 5 stops

Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View森美術館と東京シティビュー

Contemporary art on the 53rd floor, a 360-degree view on the 52nd, and an open-air roof above them both.

150 min · Roppongi (Hibiya line, exit 1C; Oedo line, exit 3)

Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple東京タワーと増上寺

The orange tower of 1958 rising directly behind the Tokugawa family temple — the city's most beloved contradiction.

90 min · Akabanebashi (Oedo line), 5 minutes; Onarimon (Mita line), 6 minutes

The National Art Center, Tokyo国立新美術館

Kisho Kurokawa's wave of glass — no collection, only exhibitions, and a restaurant on an inverted cone.

90 min · Nogizaka (Chiyoda line), exit 6, direct; Roppongi, 5 minutes

Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art東京ミッドタウンとサントリー美術館

A garden of a daimyo estate, a museum of lacquer, glass and tea utensils, and the design galleries around it.

120 min · Roppongi (Oedo line, exit 8, direct; Hibiya line, exit 4a)

Azabu-Juban shopping street麻布十番商店街

A village high street between the embassies — taiyaki since 1909, a soba house since 1789, and a public bath.

75 min · Azabu-juban (Namboku / Oedo lines), exit 4

Roppongi after dark夜の六本木

Jazz at the Blue Note, cocktail bars in the towers, and the international dining room of Tokyo.

180 min · Roppongi (Hibiya / Oedo lines)