Tokyo Station

Tokyo's main rail terminal, with a red-brick Marunouchi facade restored to its 1914 appearance. The plaza is free to visit.

Why visit

It is a transport hub and an architectural landmark, with the surrounding Marunouchi area walkable from Ginza.

How to get there

You are already at the destination if your train stops at Tokyo Station. For the restored red-brick facade, leave by the Marunouchi side, not the Yaesu side. The brick building faces the plaza toward the Imperial Palace. Yaesu is the newer east entrance and a different photograph.

JR East and Tokyo Metro both serve the station. Follow Marunouchi exit signs. GO TOKYO's guide covers the building as a landmark; the station operator posts construction and exit changes.

Hours & tickets

The station is a working terminal and does not have an attraction admission. Trains run to a timetable, not to a museum schedule. Shops inside, including Character Street in the underground concourse, keep retail hours that end while trains are still running. Checked Oct 2026: a closed shop is not a closed station. Use the shop's own hours if the merchandise is the goal.

The brick facade is outside and free to photograph. There is no rooftop ticket bundled with the building. Observation decks elsewhere in the city are separate products.

• GO TOKYO, official Tokyo travel guide
• GO TOKYO winter illumination guide

Best time to visit

The Marunouchi plaza is calmest early, before the commuter peaks and the tour groups. Evening light on the brick is the other good window, and it pairs with the winter illuminations that have used the Marunouchi streets in recent seasons. Those displays are dated events; check the current GO TOKYO illumination guide rather than assuming last winter's hours.

Do not try to enjoy the facade at 8:30 a.m. on a weekday. That is the rush into the Marunouchi offices. Mid-morning is the first easy time.

How long to spend

Forty-five minutes is the plaza, the brick front, and a pass through one underground street. Longer if you are changing trains or shopping. The station is a hub, so it works as the start or end of a day, not as a place you need three hours to understand.

Tips

• •Photograph the red-brick facade from the Marunouchi side across the plaza.
• •The underground 'Character Street' is a hit for anime merchandise.
• •Marunouchi for the brick building, Yaesu for the east exits and many of the bullet-train transfers. Say the side out loud when you are meeting someone.
• •Character Street is underground and easy to miss if you stay in the main concourse. Follow the station shopping signs if that is the errand.

Nearby

The Ginza crossing and Kabukiza are south of the Marunouchi side, a walk or one subway stop. Tsukiji is farther if you started the morning at the market and are now leaving by train. The Ginza district guide on this site groups those stops.

Play it in an itinerary