Along the Sumida: twelve bridges and an older Tokyo

Before the trains, everything in Edo moved by boat on the Sumida. That river is the city's older axis — and walking the bank is the only way left to read it, because on today's rail map it has all but disappeared.

Two and a half hours past twelve bridges, and what makes them worth looking at is that each is a different design from a different decade. Azumabashi in red, facing the beer hall across the water. Kototoi and Kiyosu stand next to each other but a whole engineering era apart — one learned from Germany, one purely Japanese. In between are the riverside park with cherry trees planted in the Edo period, small shrines, and a riverside stand where you stop for tea and a sweet.

It ends in a riverside garden right beside a station, so you can go anywhere from there. Flat the entire way, no steps, fine with a pushchair or a wheelchair — rated easy. Groups of up to ten, English-speaking guide. It's the cheapest of the outdoor tours, and the best one for an afternoon you don't want to rush.