Hama-rikyu Garden

Hama-rikyu (‘Imperial Detached Palace Garden’) is a 25-hectare Edo-era stroll garden on Tokyo Bay, surrounded by Shiodome’s glass office towers. Two tidal ponds rise and fall with the sea — a 17th-century engineering trick — and a wooden tea house on Shioiri-no-ike serves matcha to walk-in visitors.

What to Expect

The walking loop takes 60–90 minutes. From the entrance, head clockwise: the 300-year pine (planted ~1709, the oldest in any Tokyo garden), then through Otsutai-bashi covered bridge to Nakajima-no-ochaya, the central tea house, where ¥850 buys a bowl of matcha and a wagashi sweet. Two duck-hunting blinds (kamoba) are restored in the back of the garden — historically loaded with handheld nets, now empty.

Consider This Instead

For a quieter, smaller Edo garden — the same shogun aesthetic without the cruise-ship tour buses — head to Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Garden in Hamamatsucho, 10 minutes south. Half the size, half the visitors, ¥150 entry, and the same pond-and-pine vocabulary in a more intimate frame.

How to Get There

Tips

• Take the ferry from Asakusa. 35 minutes down the Sumida is more interesting than the train and ends at the garden’s own pier.
• Sakura: end of March, koyo: mid-November. Both peaks book in 200,000 visitors over a few days.
• Combine with Tsukiji Outer Market. 10-minute walk north for breakfast, garden after.
• Tea house closes at 16:30. Earlier than the garden gate; finish the matcha first.

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