Shitamachi Customs Museum

About

Near Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park, this museum opened in October 1980, born out of a sense of urgency in the 1970s that the old Shitamachi — Tokyo's traditional downtown, working-class neighborhoods — was disappearing under redevelopment. The first floor reconstructs a Taisho-era (1912–1926) Shitamachi backstreet in full: houses clustered around a shared well, a candy shop, a coppersmith's workshop, and a merchant house doubling as a workshop, alongside artifacts of everyday life like an old telephone booth and a rickshaw. Upstairs, visitors can handle vintage toys and walk through a room recreating a Showa-era home. The Taito Arts and Culture Foundation has run the museum on behalf of Taito Ward, and after renovation work it reopened in March 2025 under a new name, Shitamachi Museum (したまちミュージアム).