Tokyo's Oldest Sake Brewery: Private Tour, Tastings, River Walk

Far from the usual tourist trail, this is the kind of place I’d never have found on my own, yet it offers such an authentic and memorable experience that it’s hard to believe it’s still such a hidden gem. Even if you’re not a big sake drinker, you’ll love strolling along the beautiful Tama River, dipping your feet into its cool, clear waters, and discovering a side of Tokyo that few visitors ever get to see—lush, peaceful, and completely different from the city’s bustling center. Simon is such a lovely person. This wasn’t my first tour with him, and it definitely won’t be my last!

Simon was awesome, we felt like we were traveling with a friend more then a guide. Great sake and location and so nice to get away from the crowds and sit by the beautiful river enjoying the view and sake. Highly recommend this tour.

If you like to drink than this is the tour for you! Simon was an absolute gem from start to finish and this tour wouldn’t have been nearly as great without someone as knowledgeable as him! He gave great recommendations for the sake, the food, and took care of everything so we just needed to show up and drink! Make sure to take that tumeric drink he offers you at the beginning because it for sure helped all of us!! Cannot sing enough praises for this tour and for Simon!!

It was good to get out of Tokyo and see this sake Brewery. Guide was knowledgeable and fun. My son and I had a great trip and guide kept us happy between the sake and treats. Great trip you should all go. Also remember to ask him about the hot springs up the rail. Perfect place to finish the day off.

We had an amazing time exploring Tokyo with Simon from Tokyo Memories. From the very beginning, the tour felt personal, relaxed, and thoughtfully planned. Rather than just ticking off famous spots, the experience really focused on the stories, history, and little details that bring Tokyo to life. One of the highlights was visiting Okutama and touring one of the oldest sake breweries in the area. It was such a unique experience and something we never would have discovered on our own. Learning about the history of sake, the brewing process, and the connection to the local environment made the visit especially memorable. Simon is incredibly knowledgeable and explains things in a way that’s easy to understand and engaging, even for those who aren’t big history buffs. What really stood out was the flexibility — the tour was adapted to our interests, pace, and questions, which made it feel more like exploring the city with a local friend than being on a standard tour. We also discovered places and perspectives we never would have found independently. The recommendations for food and local spots were spot-on, and we left the tour feeling like we had a much deeper appreciation of Tokyo and Japanese culture. I would highly recommend Tokyo Memories to anyone visiting Tokyo, whether it’s your first time or a return trip. This is the kind of tour that stays with you long after the day ends.

Started at Shinjuku Station where i met my guide, Simon. We rode the train past the brewery area to Mitake Station and walked the trail along the Tama River to the Seiryu Garden (near the brewery). It's a beautiful mountainous/forested area along the river. At Seiryu Garden we had some snacks, sake, and lunch before the official guided tour started. During the brewery tour, Simon translated for me, as the tour was only in Japanese. He kept me up to date and perfectly explained the brewery process being shown and asked questions that I had for the tour guide. We then went to the tasting bar and tried (4) different samples of sake out of the (10) that were available. I would highly recommend this tour to get out of the main city for a while, learn about the sake brewing process, and try a wide variety of sake flavors. Thanks, again, Simon!

A great tour!! We had a blast and learned some cool info along the way. The location was beautiful and peaceful. The sake and company was great!

This was a fabulous day from start to finish.Simon was a wonderful guide,extremely knowledgeable. The river walk is a beautiful part of the tour.The food and tasting Simon provides are delicious and generous! I highly recommend this tour especially if you love sake,food and nature.

This is a fabulous day from start to finish! Simon gives you a fantastic day-history,nature and lots of tasting!!

Overall just such a wonderful tour. Simon (the tour guide), was such a lovely person to get to speak to on the experience of Japan. The brewery was really interesting, with such a beautiful picturesque environment to match. Fabulous sakes, the lunch included was so delicious too! The train ride back to Tokyo was so much fun and went by incredibly fast as we all just chatted. Best tour yet!

We really enjoyed this tour. Beautiful scenery and a very nice sake experience. We walked through beautiful valley on the journey to sake brewery. The view was just amazing. Thank you

We really enjoyed the trip. The trip started at Shinjuku station, we were given some drink for preparation (drink before you drink lol) The view on the way to sake brewery is just amazing. We were lucky the season is still autumn (the autumn came late this year). So we got some beautiful autumn scenety. You will taste lots variety of sake (from the same brewery ofcoz), snacks, lunch, and tour on the brewery. When we got there, there were only few people and most of them are Japanese.

Simon made this tour very much fun, interesting and tasty! From before it started he was attentive to the scheduling, picked us up at meet up place on time. He guided us throughout, while having continuous conversation about many topics. He is wordly and with such an interesting background and life experiences that are a tour within the tour. I enjoyed sake very much and Simon was a good drinking partner as well. He was attentive to every detail and very accommodating. When we repeat this tour we will likely try to have Simon come with us and will certainly consider him for other outings. Thank you Simon...Fernando & Yukie.

Simon was very knowledgeable about Japanese culture and a real joy to spend the day with. Simon also offers several other tours for foodies. He was much more knowledgeable about the making of Sake than the tour guide at the distillery. We even noticed the other taking the tour were more in tune with what Simon was telling us than they were of the distillery guide. We hope to return to Japan and will most definitely look for one of Simon’s other tours. Simon was the best.

Great time with Simon Very knowledgeable tour. Had lots of fun and lot of drinking . One of great tours I did.

This was a fantastic experience!! I can't recommend this enough. The walk along the Sama river was beautiful, the views surrounding the area were absolutely breathtaking, the Sake and food were delicious. Simon was an absolute fantastic tour guide. We couldn't ask for more. Thank you so much, Simon, for this incredible day. One of the most memorable days of our trip. 🥰😍🤩

10/10 highly recommended. i came to this tour with my friends, had a lot of fun. The short treck to the brewery was particularly memorable. the sake was great as well as the company i was with while drinking.

Simon was an exceptional guide, an absolute pleasure to spend the day with. He took us on a tour through a historic sake brewery and a delicious lunch in a small, local eatery. We tasted many kinds of sake and learned our preferences. Would highly recommend!

What a memorable day for us! A little rain didn’t “dampen“ the beautiful experience to see a part of Tokyo away from the city. It was wonderful to meet Simon and share the conversations and time together on the tour. Sake was great and we had a wonderful lunch together. Thank you Simon! Don’t miss booking this tour.

I loved the leisurely train ride to outer-Tokyo. It was our first visit to Japan and we wanted to see, smell, taste and soak up as much of Japan as possible. We enjoyed the visit to the sake brewery and liked the informal sake tasting with snacks that Simon organised especially the smoked eggs. Simon was friendly and relaxed (just what we needed for a holiday) so unlike the commercial tours where everything ran like clockwork and you would probably come home more tired than when you left. Having lived in Japan for 22 years, he was fluent in Japanese, knowledgeable of things Japanese and (most impressive of all) could navigate Japan's convoluted rail systems which we found intimidating. He was genuinely interested to know what we were wanted to do and tried his best to make them happen and we hope that he will help us again when we visit next year.

This was definitely the highlight of our trip! Simons sake brewery tour is everything you could ask for, it’s an amazing way to see another part of the city, while Simon gives you a local perspective and the drinks definitely don’t hurt. Couldn’t recommend it more, and would even do it again if we find ourselves back in Tokyo!

Thank you Simon for creating a wonderful day of heading out to Tokyo Province. The countryside felt exactly like I hoped it would and our day was filled with a walk down the riverside, sake and local food, a tour of the oldest sake plant, lunch and ice cream on the way back. We were soaked from the sweat and heat and it didn’t matter! We learned so much about convenience store food, all kinds of cuisine, traveling the world according to Simon and many, many laughs. There was not a question he wouldn’t answer. Many thanks for even picking us up at our hotel because we had not maneuvered a strain staton yet! Comme Samida

Our tour guide, Simon, was very knowledgeable about Japanese culture and sake brewing history. He even made our sake tour experience a blast during torrential rains from the June 2nd typhoon. I wish I could take him on all my tours around the world.

What a great experience to start our trip in Japan. Not only was the tour and brewery experience amazing but being able to chat with Simon and pick his brain about Tokyo helped for the rest of the trip. Can not recommend this enough as a private tour.

I booked the store for my husband and myself when we went up to Tokyo for a week, and let me tell you this was awesome. Even if you don't know anything about sake I would highly suggest going on this tour because you will learn a lot, you will drink a lot and you will have a good time. Our tour guide was very awesome, very friendly and he knew tons of information about the area and about sake. The only suggestion I have is maybe not decide to do this tour the day before you fly out you will get to drink a lot of amazing sake and you will not want to put it down we had a little bit of a struggle waking up the next morning to fly but I wouldn't change anything we did. LOL Book this tour and enjoy wonderful sake in a wonderful area and enjoy the moment.

Our time spent with Simon was amazing. A lot of good information, fantastic views and delicious sake. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who has some free time near Tokyo. I definitely see myself going back to this brewery some time in the future.

Simon made it easy to find the meeting spot and showed up on time. We started the day with a turmeric drink to help us not feel a hangovers the next day. If you like nature and sake then you will have a great time.

Simon met us at the Shinjuku station at 9 and started us off with a beer apiece and a drink called "Power of Turmeric" which was meant to prevent hangovers. It 100% didn't work, but it set the tone for the rest of the day. My wife and I were initially a little worried about an hour train ride, but we found Simon really easy to talk to. We got to the station where the brewery was located, and Simon helped us negotiate the purchase of some udon cups from the woman running the shop. He also negotiated a purchase of more beers, which I think was appropriate. At the brewery we started with some sake and some fried tofu. Both were great. We had lunch together (a lot of tofu - again, really good). At lunch we had a flight of sake, then we headed to the tour. Honestly, we didn't understand much of the tour because we don't speak Japanese. Simon translated the important parts. Then we had more sake. Then we had even more sake. Then we had some snacks and another bottle of sake. When it was time to leave, we had another beer. Good lord. We parted ways with Simon around 5 pm and promised to meet him for drinks later. As it turns out, we are not great at housing multiple bottles of sake and then meeting up later. We were in bed by 8. Simon was fantastic, the sake was fantastic. Everybody should do this tour. I've recommended it to friends and coworkers. You should, too.