{
  "project": "Small Guide",
  "type": "city",
  "city": "Tokyo",
  "local_city_name": "東京",
  "pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
  "country": "Japan",
  "curator": "André Ribeirinho",
  "description": "Radically simple, authored city guides. Small, edited lists of places, curated by André.",
  "url": "https://smallguide.to/tokyo",
  "updated": "July 2026",
  "symbols": {
    "◎": "Soulful",
    "◌": "Planned (not yet visited)"
  },
  "places": [
    {
      "name": "The Japan Folk Crafts Museum",
      "slug": "the-japan-folk-crafts-museum",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Komaba",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "symbol": "◎",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Mingei as a way of seeing: ordinary things, useful things, handmade things, given full attention.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "21_21 DESIGN SIGHT",
      "slug": "21_21-design-sight",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Roppongi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "symbol": "◎",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Design treated as inquiry rather than lifestyle. A good room for seeing how Japan explains objects to itself.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Okuno Building",
      "slug": "okuno-building",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Ginza",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "symbol": "◌",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Old Tokyo verticality: tiny galleries, worn corridors, and time still in the walls.",
      "judgment_status": "marked",
      "experience_status": "researched",
      "visited": false,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "21_21 DESIGN SIGHT",
      "slug": "21_21-design-sight",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Roppongi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Architecture",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Low, precise, and partly hidden. Architecture behaving more like a cut in the ground than a monument.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Maruni",
      "slug": "maruni",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Higashi-Nihonbashi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Furniture, wood, proportion, restraint. A room where design feels slower than the city outside.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "LAMMAS / ISTINTO",
      "slug": "lammas-istinto",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Toranomon",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Cheese next door to wine; the kind of small specialization a city needs.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "SyuRo",
      "slug": "syuro",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Torigoe",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "symbol": "◌",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Objects for daily life, if the room lives up to the promise.",
      "judgment_status": "marked",
      "experience_status": "researched",
      "visited": false,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "NISHIGUCHI KUTSUSHITA Tokyo store",
      "slug": "nishiguchi-kutsushita-tokyo-store",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Asakusabashi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Socks made like a craft, by people who treat the everyday as worth the care.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Tokyobike",
      "slug": "tokyobike",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Yanaka",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "City bikes built for cruising Tokyo rather than conquering it; the Yanaka shop carries the same unhurried idea into the neighbourhood around it.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Azmaya",
      "slug": "azmaya",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Minami-Aoyama",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Everyday Japanese homeware with quiet conviction; copper, brass, wood, and glass made to be used for decades. A few minutes from the Nezu.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Nakagawa Masashichi",
      "local_name": "中川政七商店",
      "slug": "nakagawa-masashichi",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Shibuya",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "The Shibuya branch of the 1716 Nara house; traditional craft made to live with now, from hemp cloth to small everyday objects.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "d47 design travel store",
      "slug": "d47-design-travel-store",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Shibuya",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Regional design shelved by prefecture, up in Hikarie; the d design travel guides turned into objects you can carry home.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "D47 Shokudo",
      "local_name": "d47食堂",
      "slug": "d47-shokudo",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Shibuya",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Eat",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Set meals from Japan’s 47 prefectures, one region at a time; a teishoku education with the trains sliding by below Hikarie.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "TSUKIJIRO",
      "local_name": "築次郎",
      "slug": "tsukijiro",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Tsukiji",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Eat",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Fresh seafood donburi at the Tsukiji outer market; a bowl of rice heaped with whatever landed that morning.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Yoshidaya",
      "local_name": "そば会席 吉田家",
      "slug": "yoshidaya",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Tachiaigawa",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Eat",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "A soba-kaiseki house in Tachiaigawa, as much for the garden as the food; handmade 100% buckwheat noodles, a signature duck soba, and proper tempura.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "d47 MUSEUM",
      "slug": "d47-museum",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Shibuya",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Design from all 47 prefectures, one exhibition at a time; the museum half of the d design travel project, up on the eighth floor of Hikarie.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Gōtoku-ji",
      "local_name": "豪徳寺",
      "slug": "gotoku-ji",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Setagaya",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "The temple behind the beckoning cat; a hillside of white maneki-neko left as wishes, thousands of them, every one with a paw raised.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo",
      "local_name": "東京国立近代美術館",
      "slug": "the-national-museum-of-modern-art-tokyo",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Kitanomaru",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "A century of Japanese modern art beside the palace moat; the fourth-floor room framing the Imperial garden is its own quiet exhibit.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "The National Art Center, Tokyo",
      "local_name": "国立新美術館",
      "slug": "the-national-art-center-tokyo",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Roppongi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Architecture",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Kisho Kurokawa’s undulating glass wall breathing along the street; a museum with no permanent collection, all space and light.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "fog linen work",
      "slug": "fog-linen-work",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Shimokitazawa",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Washed linen for the everyday; cloth, aprons, bags, and quiet homeware from the studio that made it feel ordinary again.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Maruzen",
      "slug": "maruzen",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Marunouchi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "A grand multi-floor bookshop by Tokyo Station, in the Oazo building; foreign titles and stationery, and a café that claims to have invented hayashi rice.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "TRADMAN’S BONSAI",
      "slug": "tradmans-bonsai",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Marunouchi",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Bonsai with a streetwear attitude; old trees restyled for a younger Tokyo and shown like sculpture.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Mameya Tokyo",
      "slug": "mameya-tokyo",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Omotesando",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Coffee",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Specialty beans from all over the world, weighed out at a standing counter; worth every second on your feet.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "The Sumida Hokusai Museum",
      "local_name": "すみだ北斎美術館",
      "slug": "the-sumida-hokusai-museum",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Ryogoku",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Look",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Hokusai returned to the Sumida streets where he was born; a deep collection behind Kazuyo Sejima’s angular, mirror-aluminium skin.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Kamakura",
      "local_name": "鎌倉",
      "slug": "kamakura",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Kanagawa",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Beyond",
      "symbol": "◎",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "The old coastal capital an hour south, worth the ride alone on the Enoden line that threads between houses and the sea. Hike the wooded hills from Kita-Kamakura to Sasuke Inari, a hidden shrine of red torii and white foxes where Yoritomo dreamed the army that made him shogun; then Kōtoku-in’s Great Buddha in Hase, bronze and open to the sky since a tsunami took its hall.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Kanazawa",
      "local_name": "金沢",
      "slug": "kanazawa",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Ishikawa",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Beyond",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Two and a half hours north by shinkansen; the preserved samurai lanes of Nagamachi and SANAA’s round, wall-less 21st Century Museum, where Leandro Erlich’s pool lets you stand under the water.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "nadoya no katte",
      "local_name": "ナドヤノカッテ",
      "slug": "nadoya-no-katte",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Nishihara",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Coffee",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Glitch single-origin light roasts poured in a beautifully stripped-back old wooden house; a quiet garden, mismatched furniture, and open only at weekends.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    },
    {
      "name": "Okume",
      "local_name": "尾粂",
      "slug": "okume",
      "city": "Tokyo",
      "local_city_name": "東京",
      "city_pronunciation": "toh-kyoh",
      "area": "Tsukiji",
      "country": "Japan",
      "category": "Shop",
      "symbol": "◎",
      "year_added": 2026,
      "public_line": "Duck into the hidden market behind the fish market for Okume, dried-goods sellers since 1871; pick your dashi from katsuobushi, kombu, and dozens of options weighed out at the counter.",
      "judgment_status": "selected",
      "experience_status": "visited",
      "visited": true,
      "public": true
    }
  ]
}