Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial & Tokyo Reconstruction Museum

Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, some 40,000 people who had fled their homes perished on this site when sparks set clothing and bedding alight. The fire raged for nearly a day and a half, destroying three-quarters of the city and killing 140,000 people. Seven years later, a three-storey pagoda-topped memorial building was erected; after World War II, the memorial’s name was changed to include the 100,000 people who died in Tokyo’s air raids. The Reconstruction Museum in a nearby building in the park contains wartime mementos. Both buildings are pretty run down and receive little attention. Most of what they do receive is concentrated on the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honours the war dead. Memorial services are held on 10 March and 1 September at 10am.