Take It To Tokyo

The Tokyo National Museum is the oldest Japanese National Museum, created in 1872, and is the lartest art museum in the nation. The museum contains over 110,000 works and is compsed of five different buildings. The Museum has changed names multiple times, including from the Imperial Museum to the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum. It received its current title in 1947. It has survived major problems that have threatened its establishement including the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 as well as a temporary closing in 1945 due to World War II.

The National Museum of Western Art is the most well known art gallery specializing in western art in all of Japan and was created in 1959. The museum contains works ranging from the Renaissance to the early 20th century. Every year the museum creates a special exhibition, which will contain materials that have been loaned from museums and private collections from all over the world. One of the most famous such exhibitions was the display on Chegall, which brought together 450 of the artists works from 15 different countries. The National Museum of Western Art contains works by such artists as Salvador Dali, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Jackson Pollock.

The Ueno Zoo is the oldest zoo in Japan, having opened in Japan in 1882, and is housed on 35 acres of land. The land upon which the zoo is located originally belonged to the imperial family, but was given to the government in 1924, in honor of the crown prince Hirohito's wedding. The zoo houses over 2,600 animals, including the Sumatran tiger and the western lowland gorilla.

Sports are a popular attraction in Tokyo, as they have great diversity in the variety of sports available there. For baseball fans, there are two professional baseball teams, the Yomiuri Giants and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. For soccer fans, there are two soccer teams to watch, F. C. Tokyo and tokyo Verdy 1969. For the fans of sumo wrestling, the Japan Sumo Association maintains its headquarters in Tokyo and there are three sumo tournaments held each year in Tokyo in January, May, and September. Tokyo has hosted a variety of international competitions, including the artistic gymnastics world championships in October of 2011. Tokyo has also previously hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and is currently in the running to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, along with Istanbul, Turkey, and Madrid, Spain, with a decision expected on September 7th.