Tsukiji Hongan-ji

From Exit 1 of Tsukiji Station you come up beside a building that looks nothing like a Japanese temple: a domed outline modeled on ancient Indian Buddhist buildings, animal carvings dotted around it, stained glass over the entrance. The architect Ito Chuta, who had traveled across Asia studying buildings, designed it after a friendship with Otani Kozui, the head priest who led expeditions along the Silk Road. It was finished in 1934 after the 1923 earthquake fire destroyed the previous hall. The temple itself goes back to 1617, near Asakusa. When the Meireki Fire of 1657 burned it, the shogunate gave it land that was still sea, and the reclaimed ground, 'built land', gave the district its name, Tsukiji. Step inside and the hall turns conventional, with more space for worshippers than for priests and Amida Buddha at the center. There is also a pipe organ, used for Buddhist weddings and a monthly concert that draws around 500 people. The main hall, its Oya-stone walls and the gate posts became Important Cultural Properties in 2014. Cafe Tsumugi's 18-dish breakfast is limited in number, so book ahead.