Hanayashiki Amusement Park has been entertaining Tokyoites since 1853, making it the oldest amusement park in Japan. It didn't start out as one, though. It opened as a botanical garden, the name meaning "flowery residence," before becoming, at various points, a zoo, a memorial, a park and a theatre. The modern fairground only took shape after World War II.

Its roller coaster, which began running in 1953, is the oldest still-operating coaster in Japan. It sits inside the former fifth district of the old Asakusa Public Park, a government-designated entertainment zone that once included Kabuki theatres, geisha houses and a cinema that was Japan's very first.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Hanayashiki to trace Asakusa's extraordinary arc from Edo-period pleasure quarter to government-designated public park, explaining how one neighbourhood became the centre of almost every form of popular entertainment Japan has ever produced.