Next, we will walk along Miyuki-dori while taking
in the view of the elegant Taimei Elementary School (location 3), which was founded
in 1878. An imperial visit is called miyuki in Japanese,
and this road is said to take its name from the fact that Emperor Meiji used it
to travel from the Imperial Palace to the Imperial Naval Academy.
Continuing along in this direction, we will come to the Sony Building (location
4) on Sotobori-dori. At the Sony Building, one of Ginza's most famous landmarks,
visitors can see and try out Sony's latest cutting-edge products, and the staff
members there are happy to answer questions and give demonstrations. One of the
most popular attractions here is on the sixth floor, where visitors can play their
choice of the latest game software on a large-screen monitor for free.
In the area around the Sony Building there are a number of long-established
art galleries (location 5,6,7), as well as galleries that exhibit the works of
up-and-coming artists from Japan and other countries. It is said that this tradition
goes back to the Edo period, when the Kyobashi district next to Ginza was home
to mansions belonging to artists of the Kano
school, an influential school of traditional Japanese art patronized by the
Tokugawa shogunate.
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