Signature Tour · Tokyo

Ueno Park, Museums and Yanaka

A full day in Tokyo’s park of museums, temples and lotus ponds, ending in Yanaka, the old neighbourhood the fires missed.

Ueno and Yanaka

360 minutes

Private, 1 to 6 guests

From $220 / person

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Overview The Area Itinerary Details Booking

Overview

A park of temples and museums, and the Tokyo that survived

Ueno Park was once the grounds of Kan’ei-⁠ji, the Tokugawa family temple. After the battle fought here in 1868 it became one of Japan’s first public parks, and the country’s great museums grew up around it.

Spend the morning with your guide in the park and the Tokyo National Museum, then walk north to Yanaka, where temples, wooden houses and an old shopping street came through the 1923 earthquake and the war.

Ueno Toshogu and Shinobazu Pond

Highlights of the Tokyo National Museum

Temples and lanes of old Yanaka

Length

Full day, 360 minutes

Starts

10:00

Meeting point

Ueno Station, Park Exit

Finishes

Nippori Station

Walking

About 6 km, with some steps

Group

Private, 1 to 6 guests

Language

English, others on request

The area

A temple hill that became Tokyo’s park

The Tokugawa temple

Kan’ei-⁠ji was founded in 1625 on the hill northeast of Edo Castle, the direction from which bad luck was thought to come, to protect the shoguns.

The battle of Ueno

In 1868 samurai loyal to the last shogun made a stand here against the new imperial army, and most of the temple burned.

Japan’s first park and museums

The hill became one of Japan’s first public parks in 1873. The national museum moved here in 1882, and Le Corbusier’s National Museum of Western Art followed in 1959.

Yanaka, the Tokyo that survived

Yanaka escaped the worst of the 1923 earthquake fires and the wartime bombing, so it still has dozens of temples, wooden houses and old shops.

a building that has a lot of lights on it

people near gold and blue temple during daytime

Itinerary

How the day unfolds

15 min

Meet at Ueno Station

Meet at the Park Exit, a minute from the park gates.

45 min

Ueno Park

The statue of Saigo Takamori, the grounds of Kan’ei-⁠ji and the gold-leafed Ueno Toshogu, first built for Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1627 and rebuilt in 1651.

90 min

Tokyo National Museum

Japan’s oldest museum holds the largest collection of Japanese art in the world. Your guide picks a route through the highlights: samurai armour, ukiyo-⁠e, Buddhist sculpture and lacquer.

60 min

Lunch

Lunch near the park, perhaps at a soba shop or one of Ueno’s old Western-style restaurants.

30 min

Shinobazu Pond

The lotus pond and the Bentendo temple on its island, built in imitation of a temple on Lake Biwa.

90 min

Yanaka

Temples, Yanaka Cemetery, artists’ studios and the Yanaka Ginza shopping street, finishing at the steps known for their evening view.

30 min

Finish at Nippori

A short walk to Nippori Station, with a few shops to browse on the way.

Details

What’s included

Included

Private bilingual guide

Tokyo National Museum entry

Route planned around your interests

Not included

Lunch and drinks

Special exhibitions at the museums

Shopping

Tokyo National Museum

Booking

Book your day

Pick the number of guests and a date. You pay securely on the next page.

Where we meet

A quiet corner of Bunkyo

The studio is in Suido, a residential part of Bunkyo Ward, well away from the neon districts. The streets are calm, which suits slow and careful work.

5 minutes on foot from Edogawabashi Station

Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line

Your guide meets you at the station exit

Prefer us to meet you at your accommodation? Let us know and we will take you door to door.

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