There are many Japanese Gardens in Tokyo, many of which used to be a part of Samurai mansions. This tour is for those who want to visit Japanese gardens.You can choose three gardens from the list of gardens shown in the itinerary.
At your hotel
I will propose an itinerary considering the location of your hotel.
This garden used to be the garden of Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, famous for its collection of Japanese stones with lots of birds. (Admission: 300 JPY)
You can see Bonsai and varicolored carps in this garden, nice place for lunch, too.
This garden used to be the mansion of Mito Tokugawa, wonderful atmosphere in the middle of Tokyo. (Admission: 300 JPY)
This is a typical strolling type Japanese garden in Edo period made by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu who loved Japanese old poems. (Admission: 300 JPY)
This garden used to be the duck hunting field of the Tokugawa shoguns with salt water ponds and a 300 year old pine tree. (Admission: 300 JPY)
This garden used to be the inner garden of Edo castle, which is renovated based on a picture in early Edo period. This is a typical strolling type Japanese garden and its original was made by Ensu Kobori who was a high ranking samurai. He was a master of the tea ceremony and made many other Japanese gardens, too. (Admission free, closed on Mondays and Fridays)
Wonderful garden with a marvelous waterfall. (Admission free)
A quiet garden with a teahouse and pond. There is a ground water well made by Kiyomasa during the early Edo period, which is a famous spiritual power spot. Recommended to visit in late June for iris flowers and the autumn leaves in November. (Admission: 500 JPY)
At your hotel
This is the list of gardens you can choose with their entrance fee, in the order of my recommendation.
1. Kiyosumi Garden (300 JPY)
2. Happo-En's Japanese Garden
3. Koishikawa Korakuen Garden (300 JPY)
4. Rikugien Garden (300 JPY)
5. Hamarikyu Garden (300 JPY)
6. Ninomaru Garden in the imperial palace (free)
7. Hotel New Otani's Japanese garden (free)
8. Inner Garden of Meiji Shrine (500 JPY)
Guide fee,
Hotel pick up
Transportation cost of the guide within Tokyo
Transportation cost of you (about 1,000 JPY per person within Tokyo)
Transportation cost of the guide outside of Tokyo (If you stay outside of Tokyo such as Disneyland.)
Lunch cost of you and the guide, entrance fee (described in each place in highlights, free for the guide)
There is little restriction due to COVID 19 in Japan since 2023. I was vaccinated six times with the Pfizer one.
Not available on Mondays.
We will walk a lot as these are strolling type gardens; about 20,000 steps a day.
- The tour guide is not available on Monday.
- Please, send a direct message to the tour guide for confirming the availability before booking
It depends on the places but about 1000 JPY per person. I will rend you an IC card for public transportation.
We met Yuki at our hotel at 9:00. The weather was overcast. Yuki leant us his passes to travel to Kegon waterfall and Lake Chuzen . By the time we arrived it was impossible to see the falls or lake, we returned to Nikko. While a guide cannot determine the weather an experienced guide would have checked ahead, avoided wasting 2 hours on a bus and suggested an alternative itinerary…..that’s what a guide with local knowledge would have done. We suggested a stop at Nikko Botanical Gardens. Yuki had not visited them …surprising again lack of local knowledge. After lunch we toured the various temples and shrines. Yuki did not tell us anything that was not on the notice boards walking ahead with no attempt to add to our knowledge. We finished about4 returning to our hotel where Yuki was helpful ….we wanted to send some luggage ahead and he compiled the necessary forms In summary very expensive…40,000yen to GowithGuide and another 20,000 to Yuki for “travel and accommodation “ a total of 60,000yen Yuki added little to what we could have done by ourselves. Yuki is not a knowledgeable guide for Nikko and should not be marketed as such We look forward to your response.
Dear Ian Sorry for your disappointment. I usually take my guests from Tokyo fort one day tour. You should have known that from my offer. It was very unfortunate that it was so foggy to see anything near the lake on the upper part of Nikko mountains. I planned to take you to the waterfall and lake cruise but neither seemed to work well. So I followed your request to visit the Garden. Then, I took you to Tosho-gu shrine and Rinno-ji temple after Futabasan Shrine which I added as your wife asked me. Please enjoy your trip to Japan and give my best regards to your wife. Thank you for taking my tour. Yuki
This was supposed to be an eye opening experience on the Shinkansen to Hakone. Not long after we transferred to the mountain train, all power shut down so we were stuck on the train for 2 hours before the authorities allowed all passengers to exit thru the train’s emergency exit in the first car, one by one down a narrow ladder. Of course we sat in the 1st train and were the last ones to exit. We never made it to Lake Ashi or the ropeway, but had a decent lunch before heading back to Tokyo. It was a much shorter trip than originally planned, and quite expensive. Our guide Yuki was attentive and tried his best to find alternative transportation. I only wished he had offered a partial refund.
Dear Nina Thank you for writing a review of my tour. It was so unfortunate not only the weather but also the loss of power of the train. I had been advising you not to visiting Hakone on the day based on the weather forecast. But you insisted Hakone so I took you there. Sorry not to think of refunding you. Best regards Yuki
Yuki is a fantastic guide and provided a great introduction to Tokyo including deep knowledge of the sights we visited, helping us learn the public transportation system, and having a great lunch at a favorite spot of his. Very clear communicator prior to and during our tour. Really enjoyed our day in Tokyo with Yuki.
Dear Eric Thank you for your nice review of my tour. We visited Shibuya Sky, Meiji Shrine, and Imperial Palace East Gardens. I was worried about the weather but it was perfect for Skibuya SKy and thank you for providing my admission fee. Please give my best regards to Jenifer. Yuki
Yuki was great. He was knowledgeable and had great ideas for places to visit. He kept in touch with us regarding the typhoon that was going through Japan and how it affected our scheduled tours. I would definitely recommend him to anyone visiting tokyo.
Dear Martin Thank you for your review. It was a very quiet authentic tour of Tokyo. We visited Nezu shrine, Koraku-en Garden, and Zojyo-ji Temple. Thank you very much for taking my tour. Yuki