Whereas the Edo-Tokyo Tatemono-en is an open-air museum of traditional and modern Tokyo homes and buildings mostly dating from the late 1800s to the 1940s, this architectural museum concentrates on rural Japan from centuries past. Located in the neighboring city of Kawasaki, 30 minutes by express train from Shinjuku, it features around 20 traditional houses and other historic buildings, in a lovely setting along wooded hillsides. Most buildings are heavy-beamed thatched houses (the oldest are 300 years old), but there are also warehouses, a samurai's residential gate, a water wheel, and a Kabuki stage from a small fishing village, all originally from other parts of Honshu and reconstructed here. An English pamphlet and numerous signs explain each of the buildings, open to the public, so you can wander in and inspect the various rooms, gaining insight into rural Japanese life in centuries past. Plan on spending a half-day here, including round-trip transportation.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Tokyo, 10th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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