A free view from the city hall's 45th floor, a shrine that paid for itself with theatre, and a garden with 400 years behind it. Up to six people, by subway and on foot.
Shinjuku Station holds the Guinness World Record for the world's busiest station: an average of 2,704,703 people a day in 2022. I'll meet you at a subway exit instead, because the station is easy to get lost in.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building has free observation rooms on the 45th floor, 202 metres up. From December to February, Mt Fuji shows on many days.
Shinjuku Gyoen started as land Tokugawa Ieyasu gave to Naito Kiyonari in 1590. It became an imperial garden and was finished in 1906 to a design by the Frenchman Henri Martinet. It opened to the public on 21 May 1949. Japan's first home-grown strawberry, the Fukuba strawberry, was raised in its greenhouse.
Highlights
City hall and the shrine, then a long walk in the garden.
Shinjuku Gyoen is closed on Mondays (the next weekday if Monday is a public holiday), so I plan around it.
The garden first thing, Harajuku after lunch, the city lights to finish.
Pair Shinjuku with Shibuya, on the same JR line.
In January 2011, in my last year of junior high, I left Japan for Brisbane. I stayed until I'd finished university in March 2020. That's nine years of Australian school, uni and part-time jobs.
I speak English and Japanese without any trouble, and I don't get shy around people from other cultures. What I care about most on the day is simple: that you're having a good time.
I'm based in Yokohama. I've been photographing planes since 2009. Since moving back to Japan in 2020, photography has taken me to airports and towns all over the country. Every area I guide is somewhere I've been myself.
I have a serious kiwi fruit allergy (anaphylaxis) and react to some fruit in the rose family. So I check our food stops with the restaurants before the day. If there's anything you can't eat, tell me when you first get in touch.
Quotes are provided in USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, GBP or EUR, so you can skip the hassle of currency conversion. Other currencies are quoted in USD. Each quote covers your whole group of up to six people. When you send an enquiry, please include your preferred dates and the kinds of experiences you'd like.
From Naito-Shinjuku, a post town on the Koshu Kaido highway set up on part of the Naito family's land.
Each time fire destroyed it, the shrine put up a theatre in its grounds to raise money to rebuild.
Let me know your date, group size and anything you can't eat. I'll send a route and a free quote.
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