3 Best Sights in Urayasu, Tokyo

The star attraction here is the Diamonds and Flowers Ferris wheel (Daia to Hana no Dai-kanransha), which takes passengers on a 17-minute ride to the apex, 384 feet above the ground, for a spectacular view of the bay area. On a clear day you can see all the way to Mt. Fuji; at night, if you're lucky, you reach the top just in time for a bird's-eye view of the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom, across the river. The park also has an observatory looking out over Tokyo Bay as well as the Tokyo Sea Life Park aquarium. There's also a bird-watching center.

Mickey-san and his coterie of Disney characters entertain here at Tokyo Disneyland the same way they do in the California and Florida Disney parks. When the park was built in 1983, it was much smaller than its counterparts in the United States, but the construction in 2001 of the adjacent DisneySea and its seven "Ports of Call," all with different nautical themes and rides, added more than 100 acres to this multifaceted Magic Kingdom. Most people buy the One-Day Passport, which gives you unlimited access to the attractions and shows at one or the other of the two parks. See the park website for other ticketing options.

The three-story cylindrical complex of this aquarium houses roughly 600 species of fish and other sea creatures within a dozen areas, including Voyagers of the Sea (Maguro no Kaiyu), with migratory species; Seas of the World (Sekai no Umi), with species from foreign waters; and the Sea of Tokyo (Tokyo no Umi), devoted to the creatures of the bay and nearby waters. To get here, take the JR Keiyo Line local train from Tokyo Station to Kasai Rinkai Koen Station; the aquarium is a 10-minute walk from the South Exit.