Tokyo might be one of the busiest cities on earth — a non-stop tangle of trains and taxis, shouting shopkeepers, and sake-slurping salarymen — yet, perhaps paradoxically (or because of it), Japanese culture values silence. Here’s where you can find your own mental quiet amid the clamor.
For millennia, treasure ships and military barges have been coursing the Sumida River, which runs from Tokyo Bay to the old downtown of Asakusa to the north. The Meguro River is its quiet cousin, on the southwest corner of central Tokyo: a two-mile stretch lined with some 830 sakura (cherry trees), tiny parks, and plenty of little kids with their obaasan and ojiisan (grannies and grampas) enjoying them. Take it as an afternoon breath of fresh air after shopping the chic boutiques of the Ebisu and Daikanyama or design stores of Meguro. For an admittedly not quiet, but only-in-Tokyo experience, join the nighttime crowds as they party beneath illuminated trees during cherry blossom season — typically the first half of April.
When the weather cooperates, head up one floor from the Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View observatory to the roof of the landmark Roppongi Hills complex to take in sublime cityscapes in all their 360-degree glory. Wind and inertia subdue the sound of conversation mere feet away. Bonus moment of silence: take the subway here (it runs right beneath the building), where, even during rush hour, a cone of silence is a sign of respect for fellow travelers. If you hear anyone speaking amid the rhythmic train squeaks, it’s almost certainly not in Japanese.
52nd floor Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku
+81 3 6406 6652
11am–8pm
¥1500/$16 admission to City View + ¥500/$5.35 Sky Deck add-on
“Take power now, take pleasure later” is an approximate, but fitting, translation of this garden’s name, from Chinese poetry given that it was once property of the Tokugawa shogun. Now open to anyone, this 17th century, 17-acre samurai garden is awash with waterways and walkways, bridges and hillocks. Go on a weekday and you may have it all to yourself. (Just avoid June, when irises fill its waterways, February’s busy plum blossom season, and, of course, fall foliage season.) Besides silence, another prized trait in Japanese gardening is “borrowed scenery,” objects outside the garden but visible from within; here, it’s the futuristic cool of the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium, a jarring but entirely appropriate sense-of-place reminder. If you like what you see, other worthwhile gardens include Hama Rikyu, overlooking Tokyo Bay, and Kiyosumi Teien, east of the Sumida River.
1-6-6 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku
+81 3 3811 3015
9am–5pm
¥300/$3.20 admission
With a history of over six centuries, Noh is said to be the world’s oldest continuously performed art: masked actors in intricately embroidered kimono relate legends of man and the spirit world, accompanied by multi-pitched drums and sonorous chanting. “And this is quiet, how?” Serious fans report that sitting still and observing these brooding shows can put them into an almost meditative state — a quiet of the mind, if you will — followed by a sudden awakening that some describe as rapturous. It’s best experienced in an outdoor performance by torchlight in summer (called Takigi Noh), or for indoor shows try the National Noh Theater or the Noh stage inside the Cerulean Tower Hotel in the Shibuya neighborhood.
From the Imperial Palace on down, most Japanese gardens are refined abstractions of nature. So the 50-acre Institute for Nature Study, near the central districts of Ebisu and Shirogane, is a rarity in Tokyo. Not that it’s virgin forest — this is Tokyo, after all — but you’d scarcely know that this unkempt mass of marshes and ponds was once home to a former samurai estate and gunpowder warehouses. To ensure quiet, only 300 people are admitted at any one time. Serious hikers: head to Mt. Takao, an hour by train west of the city center.
5-21-5 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku
+81 3 3441 7176
9am-4:30pm; closed Mondays
¥300/$3.20 admission
Tokyo’s noise may never fade away entirely, but even in this megalopolis it’s possible to find some mental quiet amid the clamor.