Wonderful Japanese Gardens in Tokyo
This tour is for those interested in Japanese gardens in Tokyo. Please read their description in the general itinerary and choose three gardens. I will arrange a specific itinerary, including lunch, depending on the location of your hotel and your favorite foods.
Itinerary
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
At your hotel
- I will meet you near the reception. I will show your name on my iPad. I will contact you via WhatsApp, so please have your phone ready. We can find our phone numbers at the bottom of the itinerary two days before the tour date.
Choose three Gardens to go from the following list in the order of my recommendation.
I will propose an itinerary considering the location of your hotel.
1. Kiyosumi Garden
Kiyosumi Garden: This garden used to be the garden of Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, famous for its collection of Japanese stones with lots of birds. (Admission: 300 JPY)
2 Happo-en's Japanese Garden
Happo-en's Japanese Garden: This garden used to be the residence of Samurai named Hikozaemon Okubo.
In 1915, Fusanosuke Kuhara started a guest house to welcome foreign businessmen.
He was the founder of many Japanese company such as Hitachi and Nissan.
Happo-en is now successful in wedding party business with this well-maintained garden.
You can see very old Bonsai and varicolored carps in this garden.
3. Koishikawa Koraku-en Garden
Koishikawa Koraku-en Garden: This garden was made in 1626 by Yorifusa Tokugawa who was one of the brothers of Shogun during Edo period. It is a typical stroll type Japanese garden for samurai lords with the scenery of lake Biwa, Ohi river, and Kiso river. It has a wonderful atmosphere in the middle of Tokyo. (Admission: 300 JPY)
4. Rikugi-en Garden
Rikugi-en Garden: This is a typical strolling type Japanese garden in Edo period made by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu who loved Japanese old poems. He was a favorite assistant of 5th Shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa.
He wanted to reproduce the scenes of Japanese poems.
There are 88 sceneries from the old collection of Japanese poems.
(Admission: 300 JPY)
5. Hamarikyu Garden
Hamarikyu Garden: This garden used to be the duck hunting field of the Tokugawa Shoguns during Edo period. There are beautiful ponds with salt water, renovated hunting hedges, rest houses, flower field, and a huge 300-year-old pine tree. (Admission: 300 JPY)
6. Shinjyuku-gyeon Garden
Shinjuku-gyoen Garden: This garden used to be a duck hunting field for samurai lords and the Emperor. This garden is next to Shinjuku area, very large, so many kinds of trees and has a well maintained Japanese garden. It is very popular in the spring with many kinds of cherry blossoms. (Admission: 500 JPY including the guide, closed on Mondays)
7. Hotel New Otani's Japanese garden
Hotel New Otani's Japanese garden: This garden was made and maintained by the high-end hotel, which is open to public for free. It is a compact and wonderful garden with a marvelous waterfall. It has a dry landscape garden, too. (Admission free)
8. Shunka-en Bonsai Museum
Bonsai is the living art of trees with moss in a flowerpot.
This museum is operated by famous bonsai creator "Kunio Kobayashi".
You can appreciate so many bonsai master peaces in the garden and in the rooms.
(Admission 2,000 JPY/person, including the guide, closed on Mondays)
9. Ex-Furukawa Garden
This property used to be the residence of Furukawa family during Meiji period.
There are Japanese, western rose gardens, and the western style old mansion.
The Japanese garden was bult by Jihey- Ogawa a famous gardener in Kyoto.
You can see many stone lanterns in the garden, dry water fall, and Kyoto style tea house with a moss garden.
This garden is not so popular yet, so is very quiet.
(admission: 150 JPY, 70 JPY over 65)
Ending Point
At your hotel
Want to personalize this tour?
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This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
Inclusions & Exclusions
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)
Tour Important Information
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
Not available on Mondays.
Cancellation Policy
- Free cancellation - 8 days prior to meeting time
- 50% Refund - 3 to 7 days prior to meeting time
- No Refund - Within 2 day(s) prior to meeting time
About Tour Guide Yuki K.
I was born and grew up in Yokohama. I used to work in Tokyo for more than 20 years. I became the National Government Licensed Guide Interpreter in English in 2013. At first, I had attended a volunteer group which provided a tour of the Imperial Palace East Gardens until 2015. I guided more than fifty times in the garden as a volunteer and studied about Japanese history and culture. Based on this experience, I became a tour guide of this online site in 2015.
Since then, I have guided more than 500 tours in Tokyo as well as Yokohama, Kamakura, Hakone, Kyoto, Nikko, etc., while improving my tours. My tours are very flexible and I always do my best to customize them according to the interests of my guests. I studied about the places and will provide you knowledge to appreciate them deeper than just visiting there by yourself or a member of big group tours. I like foods and I know many restaurants which provide typical Japanese lunch with reasonable price without waiting too long. Therefore, I am sure that I can provide you the best tours customized to your interests. It will be my great pleasure to help you to enjoy your stay in Japan. So please be my guest!!
Reviews
Daphna S.
“Perfect Mount Fuji Day with Yuki”
We had a wonderful day trip to Mount Fuji with Yuki! I did the tour with my 12-year-old son, and we both really enjoyed it. From the start, Yuki was in touch, shared a clear plan, and tailored it to us. Two days before, he even suggested moving the trip earlier due to the weather so we could actually see the mountain, and he was right! Yuki is knowledgeable, efficient, and easy to spend the day with. He also stayed flexible and adjusted things along the way based on what we wanted. Highly recommended!
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Yuki K.
Dear Daphna, Thank you for your review. We were very lucky to see Mt. Fuji, most of it would be better than all of it. I have been worried about your tour due to the war at first, then due to the moving weather forecast. Thank you for the ride on the speedboat on the lake. I will recommend it to my future guests. Please give my best regards to your son. Yuki
Patricia M.
“Bisit to Hakone”
Yuki-san did a great job with our group. He was smart and experienced. He changed the timing of our use of the ropeways to avoid the lines and made sure we could cruise Lake Ashi and still have time for one more visit. Very well organized and a good communicator.
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Yuki K.
Dear Patricia, Thank you for your review! I hope you can see Mt. Fuji sometime during your stay. Please give my best regards to your group members.
Marissa C.
“Historical Tokyo”
Yuki is an excellent guide. He responded to my queries even before our trip. He came prepared with a presentation of the historical facts for every site we visited. He oriented us how to navigate the complex train system of Tokyo. For English speaking visitors, he is the guide you need to pick. I noticed that the prices of the guided tours are varied. I believe his rate is a reasonable one.
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Yuki K.
Dear Marrisa, Thank you for taking your time to write the review. We visited the must-visit in Tokyo, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace, and Asakusa. We had lunch at my favorite udon restaurant, where we could pick up our favorite fresh tempura. The weather was perfect for walking! Please give my best regards to Digna.
$189/ per group
More tours by Yuki K.
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Tokyo À la Carte Private Tour – Choose from 50+ Destinations
This tour covers my favorite places in Tokyo. You can choose three places from the list of more than 50 options in Tokyo, categorized as Temple & Shrine, Garden, Shopping, Observatory, Museum, Experience, and Others. I'll find a place for our lunch based on your choice and offer you a specific itinerary.
Tokyo À la Carte Private Tour – Choose from 50+ Destinations
Private Day Tour to Hakone – Scenic Highlights & Mt. Fuji Views (Weather Permitting)
Hakone is very popular place for one day trip from Tokyo. We will take the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Odawara and a mountain train, a ropeway and cruise Lake Ashi by the Pirate ship to enjoy her various scenery. Hakone is famous for hot spring public baths, you can try one if you want. If the weather is fine, you can see the magnificent view of Mt. Fuji from several places. I've been to Hakone more than 100 times and can help you to make best memories.
Private Day Tour to Hakone – Scenic Highlights & Mt. Fuji Views (Weather Permitting)
Kyoto Private Day Tour from Tokyo by Shinkansen with Hotel Pick-Up
This tour is for those who want to visit Kyoto and return to Tokyo within a day. We will use the fastest bullet train "Nozomi" for our round trip to Kyoto station, which costs about 30,000 JPY per adult (you and the guide), in addition to my guiding fee. You can't use the JR Pass for this tour due to its restrictions. You can choose one route from the list bellow. 1. Miyabi route (Most popular places) 2. Golden route (Most scenic places) 3. History route (Most quiet and historical places)
Kyoto Private Day Tour from Tokyo by Shinkansen with Hotel Pick-Up
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Private Day Tour to Kamakura – Great Buddha & Hasedera Temple
Kamakura used to the capital of Japan during 12th to 14th century. It was the first period governed by the samurai warriors; Shoguns.Since samurai practiced Zen Buddhism, there are many Zen Temples which were built before those in Kyoto.
Private Day Tour to Kamakura – Great Buddha & Hasedera Temple
Other Popular Nature & Outdoor Tours in Tokyo
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Mount Mitake, Mount Otake and Mt. Nokogiriyama One Day Hike
This is a one-day 3 peaks hike covering Mt. Nokogiriyama (1,107m) , Mt. Otake (1,266m), and Mt. Mitake (929m). It is approximately a 4-6 hour hike with a series of up-and-down mountain trail hikes. The tour will end in Mitake Shrine and will head down using MitakeTozan Railway going to Mitake Station The course will be approximately 12km in total.
Mount Mitake, Mount Otake and Mt. Nokogiriyama One Day Hike
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Mt. Takao: temples, monkeys & waterfall
Get the Tengu's protection with an easy forest trail just 1h from Tokyo! The temple devoted to those deities, is surrounded by centuries-old trees, home of flying squirrels and monkeys. With along the way waterfalls still in use by monks for meditation. Mt. Takao hiking is relatively easy and only requires comfortable shoes, and if the weather is favorable, Mt. Fuji can be seen at the submit! And in the old town, restaurants and snacks offer a different taste than the capital.
Mt. Takao: temples, monkeys & waterfall
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One-day trip to Hakone
Hakone (箱根) is a part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, less than one hundred kilometers from Tokyo. Famous for hot springs, natural beauty, and the view across Lake Ashinoko of nearby Mount Fuji, Hakone is one of the most popular destinations among Japanese and international tourists looking for a break from Tokyo.
One-day trip to Hakone
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Tokyo Cherry Blossoms viewing at various spots (1)
This tour introduces you about Tokyo Cherry Blossoms viewing at various spots such as Chidorigafuchi park, Yasukuni shrine, Tokyo Midtown and Nogizaka park. The season of this tour is around mid of March to that of April. You can focus to enjoy the beautiful Cherry Blossoms during this tour.
Tokyo Cherry Blossoms viewing at various spots (1)
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