Part of the Tokyo Yamanote Line Walk series — slow walks through the neighbourhoods along Tokyo's famous loop line, one station at a time. Rikugien Garden was built in 1702 by a feudal lord who was also a poet. He designed the landscape to evoke scenes from classical Japanese and Chinese poetry — eighty-eight of them, arranged around a central pond. It is one of Tokyo's finest traditional gardens and consistently overlooked by visitors who go to Shinjuku Gyoen instead. This four-hour walk takes you through Rikugien, then through the quiet residential streets of Komagome — a neighbourhood that feels like Tokyo at a slower speed — and along the Somei cherry-blossom path that gives the neighbourhood's most famous variety of cherry tree its name.

Pricing note: This is a private tour priced per person. Solo travellers: ¥18,000. Groups of 2–6: ¥15,000 per person.