Tokyo / Marunouchi & Tokyo Station / Architecture

Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building

東京駅丸の内駅舎 とうきょうえきまるのうちえきしゃ

The 1914 red-brick station, its domes restored, with a gallery, a hotel and a city of food underneath.

EssentialArchitecture · History · Free · Food · Shopping

Tatsuno Kingo's station lost its domes to the bombing of 1945 and lived with a flat roof for sixty-seven years; the 2012 restoration put them back, with the zodiac reliefs inside. It is best seen from the plaza in front, which the city cleared of everything so the building could face the palace down the avenue. Inside are the Tokyo Station Gallery, in the brick of the north dome; the Tokyo Station Hotel, whose rooms look into the domes; and, below, the Gransta and Character Street concourses where every region of Japan sells its speciality — the best single place to buy food gifts.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Arrive by the Marunouchi side, not Yaesu; the two sides are different buildings and different cities.
Best time
Dusk, when the façade is lit; the concourses any time.
Allow
45 min
Station
Tokyo (JR / Shinkansen / Marunouchi line)
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.tokyostationcity.com · Map

Appears in

In this area: Marunouchi & Tokyo Station

Garden Essential

Imperial Palace East Gardens皇居東御苑

The site of Edo Castle — the great keep's stone base, the moats, and a garden open free to anyone who walks in.

90 min · Otemachi (five subway lines), exit C13a, straight to the Otemon gate
Museum Worth it

Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum三菱一号館美術館

Marunouchi's first office building of 1894, rebuilt brick by brick as a museum of nineteenth-century art.

75 min · Tokyo (Marunouchi south exit) or Nijubashimae (Chiyoda line)
Street Worth it

Marunouchi Naka-dori丸の内仲通り

The plane-tree avenue that Tokyo's businesspeople walk at lunchtime — sculpture, shopfronts and the calmest pavements in the city.

40 min · Tokyo or Otemachi, any exit on the palace side

All places — Marunouchi & Tokyo Station →