Tokyo Night Visitor Guide

No ticket exists for Tokyo after dark. The streets of Shinjuku and Shibuya are free and never close; what you pay for is a way round them. If you are weighing up Tokyo Night tickets, start with how you want to move and when the sun goes down.

What an evening costs

You can walk the neon districts for nothing. A tour buys the part that is hard alone: an order placed in Japanese at a standing bar, a seat in a car at the car meet, a photographer, or a driver after the trains stop. Drinks, taxis and tips are extra unless the fare says otherwise.

Every fare is in US dollars, as each operator lists it. The cheapest evening is a guided walk through Shinjuku's backstreets from $20.80 a person. The private drives are priced for the whole car, so four people sharing one often pay less each than on a shared drive.

When it gets dark, and why it matters

Sunset in Tokyo moves two and a half hours through the year, from 16:28 in early December to 19:01 at the turn of June and July. Japan has no daylight saving, so it never jumps overnight. The times below are the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's, for central Tokyo.

So a 5:30pm start, like the photography walk's, begins in daylight from late February to late September and walks you into dusk. A 7pm start is after sunset on all but a few days around the start of July. If the lights are the point, book 7:30pm or later, or come in winter. Evening temperatures month by month are on the weather and sunset times page.

Where the tours start

Most evenings begin at a station exit, and the exit matters more than the station: Shinjuku Station alone has more than a dozen. The commonest start is the East Exit, at the Lion statue or the police box a few metres away, at ground level. Get there ten minutes early.

The yakatabune leaves from Etchujima Terminal on the water, not from a station, so allow time to find it. Every start is plotted on the meeting-points map. The private drives come to your hotel lobby or taxi rank instead.

On foot, by car or on the bay

The first question is how you want to move. On foot you get the alleys, the bars and the crowds at street level, and you stay in one or two districts. By car you cover more ground, from Odaiba to Shibuya in one evening, and a driver takes you back to your hotel.

The car-meet drives are their own world. They head down the Bayshore Route to the Daikoku Parking Area, where car owners gather most nights. Police can close it without notice, and nobody can promise which cars you will see. On the bay there is one choice: a 90-minute dinner cruise on a yakatabune, past Rainbow Bridge.

What is open late

Around a tour, the city stays up. The streets of Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ueno never close, and Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho fill after dark. Tokyo Tower's Main Deck opens until 23:00, and the tower is lit from sunset to 22:00, so you can see it from the street for nothing.

None of the driving tours includes a deck ticket; they stop outside for photos. More on each lit landmark is in the night attractions.

Who each tour suits

The drinking age in Japan is 20, so the bar tours are for adults, and the clubs ask for photo ID. The wagyu evening takes no children under 6 and no vegetarians. One car-meet drive welcomes children, and one private driver-guided evening offers child seats on request.

If you use a wheelchair, ask before you book. The yakatabune does not suit wheelchair users, the photography walk covers about three kilometres on foot, and the Ueno crawl says it is not wheelchair accessible. To drive a go-kart you need a paper International Driving Permit and must be 18.

Cancellations and the weather

Every tour here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start. Several walks and drives run rain or shine, so pack an umbrella. If an operator calls a tour off for bad weather, you are offered a new date or a full refund.

Getting back

Trains generally stop from about 12:30am to 4:30am. If your evening runs late, check the last train from the nearest station before you start, or budget for a taxi. The private drives take you back to your hotel, so the question never comes up.

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower is run by TOKYO TOWER Co., Ltd., 4-2-8 Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo. The nearest station is Akabanebashi on the Oedo Line, five minutes on foot; Kamiyacho on the Hibiya Line is seven minutes from exit 1. The tower does not sell or answer for the tours listed here.

Asked before you go