🏨 Tokyo's Imperial Palace & Nihonbashi Tour Activity

Tokyo's Imperial Palace & Nihonbashi Tour

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From $108.71

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Price varies by group size

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Pricing Info: Per Person

Duration: 4 hours

Departs: Tokyo, Tokyo

Ticket Type: Mobile or paper ticket accepted

Free cancellation

Up to 24 hours in advance.

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Overview

Visit Japan’s Imperial Palace, the home of the Emperor and the former site of Edo Castle, the political center of Japan until the mid-19th century. Then explore the commercial district of Nihonbashi, where you can visit long-established stores in business for over 400 years.

Highlights of this tour:
◆ Visit the Imperial Palace, the home of Japan’s Imperial Family
◆ Tour the palace's East Gardens and see beautiful seasonal flowers and the ruins of Edo Castle
◆ Walk through historical Nihonbashi, Japan’s major commercial district for over 400 years
◆ Try delicious dashi soup stock at a 300-year-old business
◆ Observe how Japanese seaweed is roasted at another historical establishment
◆ Try for yourself Japanese knife sharpening
◆ Learn about washi, traditional Japanese paper, at a centuries-old paper store
◆ Taste a variety of sake at Toyama-kan prefectural store

What's Included

Entrance into The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace

Japanese sake set

Nationally accredited tour guide-interpreter

Sample of Dashi soup stock

What's Not Included

Any other food or beverages

Transportation to the meeting point

Traveler Information

ADULT: Age: 6 - 100

Additional Info

Face masks required for guides in public areas
Guides required to regularly wash hands
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Public transportation options are available nearby
Temperature checks for travellers upon arrival
Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised

Face masks required for guides in public areas
Guides required to regularly wash hands
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Public transportation options are available nearby
Temperature checks for travellers upon arrival
Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

What To Expect

Imperial Palace

To begin your tour, you will walk a beautiful ginkgo tree-lined avenue to the Imperial Palace. Once you reach the palace, you will walk its vast grounds, which are dotted with cherry and pine trees and enclosed by deep, formidable moats. The palace buildings themselves are typically closed to visitors, but there is still plenty to explore on the palace outskirts. The most famous of these sights is the Nijubashi bridge, a double bridge that forms the entrance to the palace’s inner grounds. Together with the towering Sakuradamon Gate beside it, the view has long been considered one of the most iconic in Tokyo.

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The East Gardens of the Imperial Palace (Edo Castle Ruin)

After exploring the outer grounds, you will walk through Otemon Gate into the Imperial Palace’s East Gardens. This massive gate was once the main entrance to Edo Castle, the home of the Tokugawa shoguns, who ruled Japan for over 250 years, and the city's political center from the early 17th to the 19th century.

In the gardens, you will visit the old ruins and foundations of the castle that remain, while learning about the fascinating politics and culture of the time. In the gardens’ outer ring, you can also walk through a serene Japanese garden, where seasonal flowers like camellia, iris, and hydrangea can be enjoyed depending on the time of year.

60 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Nihonbashi

A short journey from the palace will then take you to Nihonbashi, a major commercial district and the start of Japan’s national highway network since the early seventeenth century. For hundreds of years, this was Japan’s main commercial area and it has long been packed with shops, roads, and waterways that connect trade throughout the country. Many of these stores still remain today, and as you tour the area, you will visit some of them.

3 hours • Admission Ticket Free

A short walk will then take you to Ninben dashi store. Dashi is traditional Japanese soup stock and a mainstay in Japanese cooking from hotpot dishes to noodle soups. At the store, you will learn how dashi is made and even have a little of some freshly-made dashi to try. Ninben has been in business for over 300 years, so they have been perfecting their dashi recipe for quite some time!

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Yamamoto Noriten Honten

Next, you will visit Yamamoto Nori, a nori seaweed producer that has been in business since 1849. At the store, you will be able to see a variety of different nori seaweeds on offer and watch as the staff roast the nori sheets ready to sell.

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Ozu Washi

After Kiya, you will head to Ozu Washu Japanese paper store. Here, as well as learning about and seeing all the various different types of Japanese paper and stationery items, you will also make a sheet of washi, traditional Japanese paper. Washi contains strong fibers from the paper mulberry mush, so it is typically thicker and more textured than Western paper. As a result, washi is typically patterned, and as part of the experience, you will be able to make a pattern to decorate your handmade paper.

60 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

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