Five great Tokyo walks

The Imperial Palace and Kitanomaru Area

The centre of government and culture

See the palace and pass through the peaceful grounds of some of the city’s most traditional shrines. It’s a long stroll, but there’s a lot to see along the way: traditional architecture, temples, gates, gardens, ponds and museum buildings. You can even take a boat ride on the way.

Start: Tokyo Station Finish: Tokyo Metro Takebashi Station (Tozai Line) Duration: 135 min

Exiting Tokyo Station from the Marunouchi exit, continue east past the Marunouchi building, and on to the Imperial Palace Plaza. To the east side of the plaza is the Nijubashi Bridge. Loop around the plaza and head north past the Palace Hotel to the Otemon Gate. Head to the left to enter the 53-acre classical East Garden. Continue across the East Garden to the Hirakawamon Gate. Bear left at Takebashi Station and you will find yourself at Kitanomaru Park, which is enclosed by the National Crafts Gallery, Nippon Budokan concert hall, the Science Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art. Near the Crafts Gallery is Chidorigafuchi, with a stand of cherry trees and boat rides. Walk through Kitanomaru Park to the Tayasumon Gate and head east, towards Yasukuni Shrine, or double back around the outside of the gate to walk along the water at Chidorigafuchi. Walk west, away from the British Embassy, back towards the National Crafts Gallery, and straight on to Takebashi Station.

Ueno-Onshi Park Area

Park and museums

In this short course, get the full effect of one of Tokyo’s most famous parks, complete with temples, ponds, and a five-storey pagoda. Stop off at one of the museums on the way, while walking under Ueno’s canopy of trees.

Start: JR Uguisudani Station
Finish: Tokyo Metro Yushima Station (Chiyoda Line)
Duration: 60 min

From JR Uguisudani Station North Exit, make your way towards Kane-ji and Jomyoin Temples. Head east passing the Tokyo National Museum (Japanese and Far Eastern art), National Museum of Nature and Science (science and natural history), National Museum of Western Art (non-Japanese and non-Asian art), and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (various genres). These museums always stage popular exhibitions, and there’s often a long queue of people waiting to get in. This is also where you will pass the entrance to Ueno Zoo. Continue past the Kiyomizu Kannondo Hall, towards the statue of famous Tokyoite Takamori Saigo, who saved the city from destruction in the mid-nineteenth century. Just across the way you’ll see Shinobazu Pond, where there’s year-round duck watching and lotus blossoms in the summer. Go around the pond, and past the Shitamachi Museum, which chronicles the life of downtown Tokyo citizens of the early twentieth century. The last stop on the walk is Yushima Tenjin Shrine, popular around exam time with students hoping for good luck.

Shibuya-Koen-Dori to Meiji Shrine

Modern and traditional in one

Take a walk on the wild side through Shibuya’s busy streets, but end up on the quieter end of things with Yoyogi Park and the peaceful Meiji Shrine, against the backdrop of Shinjuku.

Start: JR Shibuya Station
Finish: JR Harajuku Station
Duration: 130 min

At Shibuya Station take a moment to locate Hachiko, the faithful canine companion of every person who passes through Shibuya station. This is the beginning of Koen-Dori, the Shibuya main drag, packed with shops, restaurants and other attractions. Make your way up Koen-Dori towards the TEPCO Electric Energy Museum, and then past Parco and Parco II, two of Shibuya’s most iconic department stores. Continue along Koen-Dori past the quirky Tobacco and Salt Museum and NHK Hall. From this point you can enter Yoyogi Park and enjoy the ever present rockabilly dancers, or head over the street to the footbridge where you can still see some of the costumed cosplay kids hanging out on the weekends. Also located at this point is the entrance to Meiji Shrine, which provides a welcome getaway from the surrounding bustle. The entrance to the shrine grounds proper is deep within the forest-like stand of trees, and affords a great view of DoCoMo Tower in Shinjuku as the dramatic background for the traditional Shinto shrine architecture. If you feel like continuing on, make your way to Harajuku Station and down Takeshita-Dori towards the Ota Museum of Art, perfect for viewing traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Shinjuku Gyouen to Shinjuku Station

In the middle of it all

Start at a traditional garden, but get the real downtown feeling complete with the towering Tokyo skyline and shrines nestled between department stores.

Start: Tokyo Metro Shinjuku Gyouen-mae Station (Marunouchi Line)
Finish: Shinjuku Station
Duration: 130 min

After enjoying the manicured lawns and greenery of Shinjuku Gyouen, head past Shinjuku Sanchome subway station towards Isetan Department Store and Isetan Art Museum. Walk a little further and find Hanazono Shrine, one of the more noted shrines in Tokyo, and site of a shrine market on Sundays. Take a walk through the shrine grounds and loop back around through the Promenade Park, a marble-paved walkway that provides respite from the busy Shinjuku streets. Continue west along Yasukuni-Dori through to Kabukicho, the entertainment district, packed with cinemas, bowling alleys and other places for a fun afternoon or evening. Keep following Yasukuni-Dori past Odakyu Halc department store turning south at the Shinjuku Nomura Building and continuing through the West Shinjuku skyscraper district straight to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Here you can take an elevator to the observatory 202 metres above Tokyo and see the panoramic cityscape. Walk east from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building straight to the west exit of Shinjuku Station.

Tokyo Big Sight and Odaiba

The cutting-edge community

Get around Tokyo’s futuristic waterfront city, complete with expansive plazas, shopping, amusements, high-tech monorail and a promenade on Rainbow Bridge.

Start: Kokusai-Tenjijo-Seimon Station (Yurikamome Line)
Finish: JR Shinbashi Station via Rainbow Bridge footpath
Duration: 100 min

From Kokusai-Tenjijo-Seimon Station, you can access Tokyo Big Sight, a venue for expos and other events. Follow the East Promenade and at Panasonic Centre, and turn on to the Centre Promenade for the Tokyo Water Science Museum and the Yume-Ohashi Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Dreams. Continue past shopping and amusement mega-complexes Palette Town and Venus Fort. Next head left, following the sci-fi-esque Yurikamome Line monorail past Aomi Chufo-futo Park. Here you will find the Telecom Centre Building. Keep following the Yurikamome Monorail towards Oedo Onsen Monogatari, a hot spring theme park, the Tokyo Port Museum, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, and the Museum of Maritime Science. Next you will pass the Le Meridien Grand Pacific Hotel and Fuji Television, with its distinctive architectural sphere. From the upper floors of this building a great view of the bay and Tokyo can be seen. At this point you can catch the waterbus back to Asakusa, or keep walking towards Odaiba-Kaihin Park, which boasts a summer beach for swimming and views of Rainbow Bridge. Further along the Yurikamome path is Daisan-Daiba Park, which extends out into the bay. From here, you can follow the Rainbow Bridge footpath to Shinbashi Station.