With a name that means, “black eye station” Meguro Station目黒駅・めぐろえき it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that Meguro Station is in a bad 近所きんじょ・neighborhood. Don’t worry though, the friendly residents and attractions of Meguro are more likely leave you with a desire to make a return trip than to send you home with a black eye.
Chief among Meguro’s attractions is the Meguro Parasitological Museum目黒寄生虫館・めぐろきせいちゅうかん. If you don’t have an iron stomach than you’d better skip lunch before a visit here because this museum, the only one of its kind in the world, has display all the different types of 寄生虫きせいちゅう・parasites that live in Japan and what they are capable of doing to you. It’s most famous exhibit? A nearly 9 foot long tape worm!
OK, how about someplace that won’t upset your お腹おなか・stomach? A 5-minute walk to the west of Meguro Station will take to you Daienji Templeだいえんじ・Daienji Temple. Built in 1624, Daienji has over 500 stone statues of the 仏陀ぶっだ・Buddha, each one dedicated to a soul lost in the great Edo fire of 1772. It also houses the beautiful 164cm tall Shaka Nyorai wooden Buddha statue. It’s only exhibited to the public on certain occasions so check with the temple and plan your trip accordingly.
A short walk away on the other side of Meguro Station is the Tokyo Institute for Nature Study付属自然教育園・ふぞくしぜんきょういくえん, a 200,000m2 nature preserve in the middle of Tokyo. Want to know what Japan looked like before there were cities and Shinkansens? This place will give you a pretty good idea. In addition to Daienji and the nature preserve, there’s the Meguro Citizens’ Center which comprises the Meguro Museum of Art, an art gallery dedicated to promoting locally produced art; and the Enterprise Center, which includes such attractions as the Toy Hospital to show children how to fix their おもちゃtoys, and a sports center complete with a pool, a gym and テニスコートtennis courts.
The Meguro River, the namesake of the station and the neighborhood, is just west of the station and is a great place to view the 桜さくら・sakura in the spring time.