Monuments in Tokyo

A monument marking the first airplane flights in Japan hints at the dark history behind its peaceful park setting.

This surreal thumbs-up monument commemorates a shiatsu legend.

Once known for its eerie appearance, this semicircular monument is all that remains of a Tokyo industrial icon.

Here once stood an opulent state guest house that symbolized the Westernization of Japan.

Emerging from the sidewalk, this sculpture of a whale commemorates the importance of baleen in traditional Japanese puppetry.

This monument gives insight into how lost children were found in Edo-period Tokyo.

A sad reminder of the World War II bombing stands largely unnoticed on a street corner.

A Buddhist temple on an artificial island that houses a monument to the fugu fish.

The remains of the vast manor that once belonged to Lord Kira, villain in the 47 Ronin story, is now a shrine dedicated to the incident.

This often-overlooked monument was crafted in the shape of the iconic samurai coin to honor an Edo-period mint.