Back in the Edo times, the shore near Shinagawa was used for fishing, and a small but prosperous fishing village sprang up. Although the area is no longer used for commercial fishing, there are still many nostalgic traces left to be seen. The juxtaposition between the skyscrapers in the background and the old houseboats docked in the water offers a perfect glimpse into Tokyo’s motto “where old meets new”. These days, the harbour houses "yakatabune", or recreation boats used for eating/drinking, along with the last remaining fishing boats. Only known to the locals are some hidden areas of houses undestroyed by the local development. The guide will show you into little alleyways lined with green hedges and great old homes where you can imagine what life used to be like in the fishing village.
The Kyu-Tokaido Road was the first stop for travellers moving from Tokyo to Kyoto. It was a lively place full of inns and bustling with shops to service all their needs. It was one of the few areas to survive the fires and air raids that ravaged other parts of Tokyo in the past. These days many of these shops still remain – venture down the street and discover a green tea shop with over 100 years history, or a quaint old rice cracker shop.
Branching off the main Tokaido Road are many smaller streets and alleyways with local temples hidden away and quaint old houses covered in greenery. You can even see a water well in the middle of a residential lane, which was used in the past to bring water to the local houses. Most other such pumps have been destroyed long ago.
After exploring the Kyu-Tokaido Road, stroll down Shinbaba Street and take a look at the Shotokuji Temple. It’s especially pretty in Autumn as it’s surrounded by maple trees. This temple has quite an usual fence, made of an old brick wall taken from a nearby factory.
Established in 709, Ebara Shrine is worshipped as the place of the dragon god where people come to pray for rain. Located next to the Meguro River, it’s said that in 1062 they took water from the nearby river to offer to the god, praying for victory in a battle with Northern Japan. It’s home to a yearly festival held in the rainy season (June) where Mikoshi (floats) are carried through the water. The carvings on this shrine are very intricate and unique and worth a look for those interested in art. The best time to see Ebara is in spring when it’s surrounded by cherry blossoms blooming along the river.
Shinagawa Shrine was founded in 1187 as a guardian of the nearby post-town. It is home to a “fujizuka”, or a mini-Fuji, built for worshippers who didn’t have the strength or money to climb the actual Mt. Fuji. It is actually the largest fujizuka in Japan, standing at 15m high. It’s made from rocks taken from the base of Mt. Fuji. This shrine also has many separate buildings, lots of red torii gates and a fountain called Hitotsubu-manbai-no-izumi where it is said that if you wash your coins in it, your fortunes will increase. +Stop for some refreshment in an old private house which has been turned into a small tea cafe. They offer homemade roasted teas, as well as green tea and many traditional seasonal Japanese daifuku sweets. *If you don’t want to stop here, the guide can take you somewhere else instead.
The walking tour showed the historic side of Old Tokyo. The visits to 100 year old rice cracker shop, 139 year kimono shop, Japanese sandal shop and the tatami shop were interesting. Our guide, Michiko was excellent and so willing to share her knowledge and love for the Tokaido Road. Thank you Michiko. The memories from this tour will stay with me - particularly the ramen shop.
Kaori was a great guide, who was very knowledgeable . We had many small stops on the route where she explained the history of the shops , shrines , how the people lived and general area . We then stopped for a coffee in a cute local cafe. Would definitely recommend for solo or group. Thank you!
Bob was an excellent guide. We learned a lot about the history of the area and saw some great local shrines. Bob went above and beyond for us and we really appreciated his knowledge of the area.
Kaori was the perfect guide for our Old Town Tour. Appreciated her communication before we met, the day was well planned with a delicious coffee and lunch break. Lots of great information during the day. Kaori was very considerate of our wishes and worked all our requests in. Highly recommend this experience with Koari.
Charlotte was our tour guide today March 16,2026. We walked around an interesting area in Tokyo. Not only was Charlotte very knowledgeable of the area, but she presented it in an easy understandable way without going into too much boring details like other tour guides often do. She was polite, kind and very friendly. We enjoyed every minute during our tour. She also explained many interesting and cultural aspects of Japanese life. She answered all our questions and also helped us with different needs that he had about how to get around the city. We highly recommend her and this tour.
Great tour, very nice and informative guide.
A fabulous morning spent with Kaori walking the beautiful streets of shinagawa. Insightful and interesting! Kaori was a fantastic guide, we loved it
Charlotte was an engaging and knowledgeable guide! She understands the city culture and history well and I thoroughly enjoyed my tour.
We really enjoyed this short walking tour of Shinagawa, learning about its history and the symbolism that still remains for hundreds of years. We visited old buildings, temple/shrines, and local businesses that still remain tucked in among the modern buildings. Our guide, Eriko, shared lots of history and knew the area very well. She even took photos of us and sent us the digital album right after the tour.
Charlotte, our guide was a wonderful guide - friendly,and knowledgeable of the city, culture, subway system, history and all around district
Our tour guide Kaori,was excellent. She gave us a complete history of the area. She had paintings and drawings showing how life was in the bygone era. As well as showing us historic sites She introduced us to a wonderful coffee shop. The tour was well worth it
Charlotte did a wonderful job during our tour. Her deep knowledge of the Japanese culture really made it a very enriching experience. She is also very friendly and fun to talk to.
The Tokyo old town walking tour really supplemented our visit to Tokyo before we joined a 13 day tour of Japan. Charlotte our guide was extremely knowledgeable after living in Japan for 20 years. She had a gift of knowing what would interest us and tailoring the tour to suit our interests We enjoyed the best coffee we had in Japan in a little bookshop in a street that we would never have found We also enjoyed walking around every day Tokyo streets where people live off the tourist trail Charlotte also gave us lots of tips for future experiences whilst visiting Japan (food, bars etc) Thank you Charlotte!
This is our 2nd trip to Tokyo. This time we wanted to explore some of the more traditional neighbourhoods. This tour was an excellent way to achieve that goal. Emiko was a charming tour guide who was excited about the area and happy to share what she knew. I enjoyed our conversation! My favorite part was climbing the local “Mt Fuji”!
This tour was amazing and very informative behind the scenes look at old Tokyo I would highly recommend it. It was a great start to our trip to japan
The tour of Old Town Tokyo: Shinagawa-Juku Walking Tour was a highlight of our time in Tokyo. Our tour guide, Mutsuko was excellent and provided an interesting overview of history, culture, shrines and local businesses. We especially enjoyed visiting a tea shop where we sampled tea and Japanese sweets. The owner was delightful! We highly recommend this tour with Mutsuko!
A great option for those who have seen most of the usual touist sites and want to visit historic shops and shrines that are still a vital part of real life in Tokyo. The guide is knowledgable and pleasant and takes a lot of pictures for you. Even though it was an easy pace we saw a lot of different things. It was pretty rainy part of the time but we had fun anyway. Be warned that the meeting place is on the train line and not the metro system. We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to ge there.
Excellent experience in a local area with a very knowledgeable local guide. We had access to beautiful artisan shops and temples. Our guide provided helpful historical perspectives and wonderful details about the culture and daily life. This lovely tour was the highlight of our brief stay in Tokyo.
Mutsuko was amazing and friendly. The tour covered the history of Japan and the importance of Shinagawa. If you are a history buff, you will love this tour. Five stars.
Mutsuko was a wonderful guide. I somehow had the luck to end up with her solo and we had a lovely morning strolling the Shinagawa area which is full of temples and shrines, as well as some beautiful old architectural store fronts. She pointed out stores that had been run by generations of the same families. You really don’t get this in downtown Tokyo! Towards the end of our trip, she took me to a tea shop and treated me to a delicious Japanese dessert (I got shaved ice with sweet red beans and syrup and freshly made mochi) and iced tea. Mutsuko shared a lot of information so I came away with a much better understanding Japanese history. She has also done her homework, visiting locations and stores in advance so they weren’t surprised by us - a 5 generation boat restaurant owner let us onto his boat to look inside at the set-up for example. All these things added up to make the tour feel more personal and with a chance to meet locals than a larger tour (I know I was by myself but I understand this tour has a cap of 6, so even with 6 it would feel special). Thank you Mutsuko!
It was a wet, rainy day in Tokyo but we enjoyed our walking tour anyway. We saw several shrines & temples. All along the way our excellent guide Eriko explained the history and culture of the area of kita shinagawa. We stopped in a kimono shop, a boat tour business on the river, and a local shop that sold all kinds of Japanese crackers (arare). Despite the awful weather we had a great adventure. Highly recommend this tour as something different than the typical tourist tour.
Great low-key tour with a knowledgeable guide (Machiko). This felt off the beaten path and away from other tourists. We learned much about the local history and used our imaginations to envision the past. Easy walking tour, perfect for first day in Tokyo!
We really enjoyed this tour. We saw an area that was off the beaten path now, around the Tokaido, yet very important in the history of Tokyo.It was wonderful to see several small shrines and temples that were not at all crowded, and to learn how they fit into modern Japanese life. Also enjoyed seeing the small independent businesses that still exist, such as the kimono store and the tea cafe. Our guide, Hitomi, was friendly , knowledgeable, and fun. She gave us a nice perspective of how the city and people have evolved over time.
We only had one full day in Tokyo. We found this walking tour and we are so pleased we decided to go on it. Our guide, Fumiko, was an absolute delight! Spoke good English and most informative. This is an ideal way to be introduced to Tokyo. It's a quiet area easy to get to by subway. Quaint houses and shops selling all kinds of goods mainly to the locals. Visited several of these shops, sipping local tea and finishing off in a quaint tea house with local delicacies. We visited many shrines all within easy walking distance of each other. Peaceful and clean, most people riding bicycles.
The tour was amazing. Our tour guide, Eriko-san was very nice. I was happy to know some Japanese history from Shinagawa! You should join this tour!
Great tour route and amazing tour guide! We all enjoyed very much exploring Shinagawa-shuku area and we would love to join another tour again in future.
My partner and I did a walking tour on a Sunday with Fumiko. Fumiko was so friendly, took lots of photos of us and gave us advice on where else we could visit. It was really cool to do a tour of a part of the city that wasn’t touristy. It’s a beautiful area with a cool history. We saw many shrines and temples. Just fyi, nothing much opens in Japan until 10am so you’ll find a morning walk quiet, and on a Sunday much was closed so there was a few places we couldn’t go into.
We had a lot of fun with Eriko as we explored Shinagawa together and learned about the juxtaposition of new and old. We feel as though we made a new friend in Japan and hope to see her again one day!
Hitomi is a wonderful guide and the tour is very informative. Apart from the historical nuggets and seeing the origins of the business district it was great just to spend time with her and learn about life in modern day Japan. She has a charming manner and made it great fun. Highly recommend.
We arrived in Tokyo and found this small group tour an excellent way to orientate ourselves in the big city. Our guide Yoshimi was great and took us along interesting backstreets to find places we would not have found ourselves- little shops and shrines. Overall a fantastic start to discovering Tokyo.
Masayo was so knowledgeable about Japanese history and the history of the Shinagawa area. She took us to lots of ‘out of the way’ places that we might have walked past if we had been walking on our own and shared her knowledge of these places. The visit to the tea house was great, not to mention well-deserved after all the walking, and the visit to the rice cracker shop was very special. Thank you Masayo for a great afternoon & tour on our first day in Japan. Mandy, Luke and Talitha
Had an amazing tour of Shinagawa which is the old town of Tokyo, the buildings and streets are typical of another age. Trades and crafts still continue in traditional ways and people are friendly and welcoming. Our guide, Masayo Usuki was excellent, her knowledge of the area, its history and opening our eyes to another part of the city. For anyone interested in the history of the real Tokyo this is a tour not to be missed.
Hi Toni was a great guide for this interesting tour of historic Shinaaawa. She had many stories and photos of the area. Her English is excellent. She had relationships with vendors that allowed us gracious entry to their shops. The choice of places to see was a great mix of temples, shrines,shops and even a mini-Fuji experience at the end.
Shinagawa is an old part of Tokyo (the first stop on the ancient Tokaido Road), but it is now covered by many new office buildings. This tour helps you to see beyond the new architecture and to catch a glimpse of the old Shinagawa. Omakase Tours was easy to work with and very efficient. Our tour guide, Hitomi-san, was excellent: knowledgeable, personable, and articulate.
Our tour with Machiko was great! We got to hear a lot about the history of Tokyo and she was able to answer tons of questions we had as first timers in Japan. We loved the tea at the cafe where we took a break from the heat and she was able to send us lots of photos from our tour. Highly recommend!
Highly recommend a trip to Shinagawa to learn more about old world Japan! Our tour guide Emiko was very knowledgeable - providing us with details of how people lived and worked as well as how they observed rituals when going to Shrines. We got to climb Mt Fuji (replica - not the real one) - which on a short trip to Japan was just the ticket! It was great to be the only couple on this tour - as we had so many questions - many of which were answered on the spot....... but some were not so easy to answer! We were especially surprised to receive an email from Emiko later in the evening with responses to her "homework" as she put it. I did not realise I had asked so many questions, but she went home did some research and was able to provide detailed information for us. This was really going above and beyond expectations. I would highly recommend this tour to get a snese of the old Edo world of Japan!
Yoshimi was a brilliant guide and we had a really good time. We learnt a lot about Tokyo's fascinating history.
Yushima is a great tour guide who fully explains the historical context of the Shinigawa area. The walking is enjoyable and I particularly enjoyed the short climb up the mini Mount Fuji (you have to be there to experience it). A truly delightful experience - highly recommended!
Masayo-san was a wonderful guide, filled with both historical and modern perspectives. She was obviously very well-prepared, knew the area well, and answered all our questions very thoughtfully. A highlight was the traditional tea service in a small shop on a small street in Shinagawa. Recommended for everyone.
This was one of the loveliest tours I've ever been on. I got to spend the afternoon with Masayo san, who was incredibly welcoming and friendly from the start, as well as fluent in Japanese and English, which was super helpful. Every step along the way around Shinagawa was super interesting, I could barely catch up with taking notes and photos. I really felt transported back into the Edo period and with all the additional information provided by my friendly guide, I got such a great impression of how life 300 years in this area must have been like. I learned about Japanese traditions, religions, language, food and more. Masayo san had an answer for every question I had :-) I really loved the tour and I would 100% recommend! Arigatou gozaimasu! Lena
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