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After days of searching out cherry blossoms it was time to soak in some other Tokyo destinations. The second half of our trip would be spent exploring sights that we had never visited before, located in the more suburban outlying areas of the city.

While I’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland several times, I’d never taken much interest in its sister theme park DisneySea which is the considered more adult friendly park (a lot more thrilling rides and apparently they serve alcohol on the premises). After some convincing from the boyfriend we decided to go there instead of Disneyland. While we didn’t really get to fully enjoy the park due to arriving later in the day, I’m happy that I conceded and got to experience something new.

Our next destination took us out to Koganei City to visit the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Museum. After a short bus ride from the station we arrived at Koganei Park with the cherry blossons in full bloom and the smell of Japanese stall food in the air from the festival being held in a nearby courtyard.

The Open Air Museum was a quiet escape from the park festivities as we peacefully walked through the many well preserved historic homes and buildings. A personal favourite was the House of Kunio Maekawa with its charming living room that felt warm and cosy despite the cold windy weather outside.

On our way home we would stop in at Nakano Broadway – an enclosed, multi level shopping arcade that an almost feels like a small indoor city. It’s also another hive for finding figurines and collectibles, especially those from older and less memorable shows.

Continuing our cultural history theme, the following day would be spent at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in the Sumo suburb of Ryogoku. I was impressed by the amounts of varying aspects of Edo life the museum covered – from the large scale town planning and the social classes of the time to the life of local fire brigades and the rise of various technologies like printing. An exhibit of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints was also a highlight for me, something which I don’t think I fully appreciated the process of before.