4. Sukiyabashi Jiro
With 13 Michelin 3-Star awarded to establishments and a total of 504 establishment getting at least a star, Tokyo is the runaway leader in the contest for the location with the most Michelin Stars. Among these restaurants, Sukiyabashi Jiro holds the distinction being one of the first sushi restaurants to obtain a Michelin 3-Star rating (the other being Sushi Mizutani). The owner and sushi master, Jiro Ono, who is born in 1925, is also the world’s oldest Michelin 3-Star Chef.
This restaurant also boasts of its own documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011), and having served the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the U.S. President Barack Obama.
5. Tokyo Midtown
Tokyo Midtown, in Minato Ward, is the home of the annual Midpark Challenge / Guinness World Records Live! held during Golden Week. Every year, this challenge sees thousands of challengers attempt to achieve seemingly mundane world records.
Among the world records set in past editions of this event are:
- Fastest horizontal body roll
- Most bouncy balls scooped in 30 seconds
- Fastest time to toss rings around 6 pegs
- Loudest paper gun
- Most chair rotations in one minute by a team of two relay
- Fastest time taken to wrap 3 bento boxes
- ..and you get the point
During other parts of the year, Tokyo Midtown remains a very attractive area to visit and houses the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which has one of the most expensive hotel suites in the world at 2.5 million yen(~USD 25,000) per night. If world records are your thing, you could check out the Guinness World Records Museum (Tokyo) located not too far away, near the Tokyo Tower.
6. Tamarokuto Science Center
The Tamarokuto Science Center is the home of the most progressive planetarium in the world as verified by Guinness World Records. This attraction was first opened in 1993 and is located in the suburban part of western Tokyo. The planeterium was also the former record holder for largest planetarium dome but that has since been surpassed by the dome at Nagoya City Science Museum. The CHIRON II projector in the Tamarokuto Science Center is capable of projecting 140 million stars and almost 2,500 nebulae.
7. Setagaya Ward
Setagaya Ward boasts of two unrelated world records, the first of which is Sazae-san. Sazae-san, the animated series, is currently in its 46th year of broadcast and is the world’s longest running animated television series. The series started way back in 1969 and continues to be aired weekly now. So what does this have to do with Setagaya Ward? You might already have guessed but the creator of Sazae-san, the late Machiko Hasegawa spent many years of her life in Sakurashinmachi, Setagaya. This town is now filled with elements of Sazae-san – from bronze statues to theme cafes.
The second world-record breaking feat related to Setagaya was a world record set in the Komazawa Olympic Park. Kenichi Ito is the fastest man in the world over 100 metres… while on all fours. He set the record of 16.87 seconds in Setagaya Ward in 2013.
Itching to come to Tokyo? Remember to put some of these places on your itinerary.
