Splendid Edo Wonderland

Step into the history of Japan

George Popescu Sep 09, 2015 - 1 min read

<p>The entrance of the park is defended by a samurai warrior which will let you in with a ticket of course! </p>

<p>You can look inside many of the houses in the village. They are usually arranged and furnished in the Edo period.</p>

<p>A local geta shop which looks exactly as in the past. </p>

<p>There is a great statue of a famous man in the village, and outside it's explained what his connection with the bull is and why he's revered. </p>

<p>The buildings are furnished in a very traditional way. Look at all this minimalistic design used in ancient Japan.</p>

<p>One of the buildings has a museum with weapons and other utensils used in that period, as well as clothing and jewelry of the time. </p>

<p>The smithy where the famous katana swords were made. There's also many replica weapons and photos with explanations. </p>

<p>Decorative figures outside some of the houses, including many strange creatures called "Tanuki" which you can still see in modern Japan. </p>

<p>This small bamboo forest is hiding behind the Ninja theater where you can go and watch a 20 minute presentation showing two combatants practicing their skills against each other. </p>

<p>If you feel lucky after watching the ninja show, you can try the ninja maze, which is basically a maze meant to deceive you. You can try to find your exit or get lost forever. </p>

<p>This is the entrance to a horror show type building. It's not advisable for children, but teenagers and adults should go and see some of the tortured souls living there. Remember to look up every once in a while. </p>

<p>A view of the village. Many people walking around in clothes of the old times, some of them work for the company, but some are just tourists which choose to dress up as an Edo era character. </p>

<p>There's a couple of restaurants where you can sit indoors or outdoors and enjoy traditional Japanese food of rice and meat with pickles or just chicken on a stick. </p>

<p>There's a small theater for children where the exploits of Nyanmage, which is a cat like character who protects Edo Wonderland from evils, and you can just go in and sit down at any time, there's no specific show time for it. </p>

<p>The prison. This photo is showing the sleeping quarters of the prisoners that were housed there. </p>

<p>Make sure you don't miss the geisha show, which is both entertaining and funny, including using a foreigner to play the part of the lord. </p>

<p>Another view of the village. I understand it is exactly as it looked like in the old times.</p>

The wonderful town going back to the Edo period is a sight that must be experienced by any visitors to Japan. You will be able to enjoy the atmosphere as well as the sights and sounds of the village, including the denizens living there as well as various shows. There's options for watching two different ninja shows as well as the famous geisha entertaining the lord show and the "oiran" parade, which is the name for the highest ranking courtesan. For the children there's the Nyanmage theater, which is playing the movie staring the main defender of the village and local mascot throughout the day. There's also various museums, a horror house, as well as a place where children can practice throwing shurikens, better known as ninja stars, as well as archery.

I highly recommend going to this website to purchase the dual pass for both this park and the Tobu World Square Park.

More info

Find out more about Edo Wonderland.

George Popescu @george.popescu

I was born in Bucharest, Romania and after a brief stay in London, England I settled and lived in Toronto, Canada for 20 years. I moved to Tokyo in late 2013 and have lived here ever since. I enjoy exploring the city with my camera as well as going to many special events that Tokyo has to offer e...