Tokyo Explorer

Meguro is many things to many people but of all the attractions, eating options and places of historical interest to visit, one stands head and shoulders above the rest in bringing all together under one roof – Ebisu Garden Place (EGP).

As much a place of local historical interest as it is a place jam packed full of modern entertainment options, EGP is one up-market corner of Tokyo worth going out of your way to visit – not least for the free beer samples at the Yebisu Beer Museum – the company after which the area was itself named; something of a rarity in Japan.

Occupying a large swathe of land near the main JR Ebisu Station on the circular Yamanote Line in Tokyo, EGP is actually a glass covered structure, home to Mitsukoshi Department Store, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and more restaurants, bars and boutiques than you can shake the proverbial stick at.

Best accessed from the JR station via a series of moving floor ways more often seen in airports, the main entrance to the complex is somewhat muted with the full scope of the seemingly ‘sunken’ EGP hidden to a degree behind a trendy bar restaurant that spills out onto the pavement housed in an old fashioned brick building.

Although set at the foot of a huge residential and office tower complex, the large communal space around which the shops, cinemas, restaurants and museums have been constructed seems far more family orientated than similar collections of dining and shopping options elsewhere in the capital.

Off to the left, as you enter stands the entrance to the aforementioned beer museum; visitors being entitled to a small ‘sample’ of fresh beer at the end of a short series of exhibits that cover the beer making process and throw in a dash of local history for good measure. Extra ‘samples’ can be purchased by those so inclined at very reasonable prices that serves to enable several of the brands specialties to be tried in one visit at no great expense.

Mitsukoshi department store – one of the nation’s biggest and brightest has long claimed the nouveau riche of Ebisu for their own with many of the shops seen in their flagship store represented here too – even if in smaller form due to the limited land space.

Activity wise, and complemented by numerous eateries representing culinary options from across the globe, as well as the usual, and best avoided junk food options no neighborhood of Tokyo can seem to do without, the art of people watching so popular in the Meguro Station area is obviously something the folk of the ward have down to a tee if EGP is anything to go by; the majority of the customers at the open air cafes more than happy to sit in the shade, sip their drinks from time to time and watch the world go by.

To the rear of the main pedestrian heart of EGP stands the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, one of very few in the world dedicated solely to photos and those who take them, and from time to time host to important visiting collections from around the world.

All worth seeing in the area is not confined solely to the ‘Garden’ however, as leading off in several directions from the main EGP, and effectively serving to blend the site in with the surrounding neighborhoods, a number of narrow lanes and major thoroughfares have in recent years seen many little gems open their doors; one-off restaurants, craft shops and Japanese versions of English, Irish and many other nation’s pubs and clubs not an uncommon sight on the once company lined streets that is slowly but surely increasing the pulling power of this relaxed yet never boring corner of Tokyo.