I completed a Tokyo bucket list item that I feel was a mild accomplishment and wanted to post a few details about it.
When we were moving to Tokyo, before we left Michigan, I thought it could be cool to walk across the entire breath and width of Tokyo’s Metropolitan area as a way to get a feel for what Tokyo was in terms of size. “What do the edges of the Tokyo metro area feel like?” I thought. It just felt like a nice thing to do.
I’m basing “metro Tokyo” off of a somewhat unscientific “what does Google Maps say metro Tokyo is?” – Google will tell you this:
From here I just chose the furthest points in the cardinal directions and mapped a route South to North and West to East. That looks like the image on the top of this page, or you can see below for the full map of my walk.
Full Walk Google Maps Link:
This shows both the walks I took in both directions. Perhaps somebody on Google living in Tokyo will wish to make a similar walk.
Main takeaways
- The walks were not that hard in large part because there was not a ton of elevation gain. The walks were long and keeping a good pace was important to finish in a reasonable time but the next day in both cases I was fine
- Total recorded distance was around 87 kilometers although I’d guess I was closer to 100km including all of the walking to actually get to the starting points and then home from the endpoints
- Second walk I had a lot of blisters, possibly because it rained the whole day and my feet were wet?
- I really enjoyed the experience and the sense of accomplishment
- The edges of the metro area certainly feel different and have more plots of land being used for tiny farms / gardens
- I enjoyed almost all of the walking, I really can’t think of any moments where I wasn’t having a good time or was miserable
- At the end of both days of walking it was gratifying but also annoying that it took me almost an hour and a half to get home on the train.
- Annoying because I was tired and having to walk to a station, transfer, walk home, etc, wasn’t what I wanted to be doing
- Gratifying because it really shows how far I went, when even the trip home which is half the distance takes so much time on a train
- I would recommend the walks for anybody in Tokyo who enjoys walking and has a few days to spare
- My original plan was to split up each walk with an overnight stay at a capsule hotel, which could be a more enjoyable way to do these walks over a weekend
South to North
Total Distance: 41.13
Total Time: 7:56:50 (6:59:06 moving time)
Pace: 10:11 /kmThe South to North walk was enjoyable. I would say overall this was the more scenic of the walks. I don’t want this post to be too long or boring so here is the starting point:
Here, in all it’s glory, is the end point (the mirror at the end of the road), where the most Northern part of Tokyo becomes Saitama:
I actually walked a bit further after this point to a more major road so I could capture the “entering Saitama” sign:
On the walk I did a few things:
- Listened to podcasts (including Free with Ads, The Besties, and maybe that’s it)
- Talked on the phone
Key observations were that the Southern most part of Tokyo bordering Kawasaki is more city-ish than the Northern bit. It’s pretty interesting because near the end of the walk you start to see small little plots of land used for growing (they are small but still feel commercial, not 100% sure though).
Here are a few random photos from the walk.
West to East
Totak Distance: 46.03 km
Total Time: 8:24:28 (7:45:26 moving time)
Pace: 10:07 /kmThe West to East walk was a bit more outside of super popular walking paths, and it rained the entire time. That sounds terrible but the rain was such that I got wet but wasn’t miserable or cold. Also I did walk through Akihabara and the area around Tokyo Sky Tree, both of which are pretty interesting.
I was surprised to see my pace was so close between both walks, 10:07 per kilometer vs 10:11. I wasn’t going for speed or anything in particular, just trying to walk at a relatively fast pace to try to complete the walk so I still had some time in the evening to do something.
Again I took photos of the start and end points, though in this case the particular starting point was a bit less “obvious.”
Unfortunately there was no super clear marker for the end, no road signs or anything, because the furthest Eastern spot is along a river where there is no bridge.
That said, here are some photos anyway:
A few things of note that I would HIGHLY recommend for anybody doing this same walk.
First, I stopped at this bakery &torch on the wya to the starting point. It’s a great little bakery and although many times baked goods in Tokyo look roughly the same there is a huge difference in quality and taste I think and this place was a great starting spot. It was SUPER busy but added a bit of a festive start to my walk.
To end the walk, right near the end, I found a little alcohol store. I don’t have any photos but this was actually the most charming warm / fuzzy feeling I had on the entire walk because the store had a neon sign and just felt super casual and a bit more “in the country” sort of vibe, people with flip flops and sweat pants sitting around chatting to the people running the store. According to Google maps the place is closed, but it wasn’t closed when I was there less than a few weeks ago so if you happened to do this walk I’d highly suggest stopping in to check it out! I bought myself a beer to drink when I got to the end point which was less than a kilometer away at this point.
And now just a few other random photos from the walk
What’s next?
Next I’m thinking I’ll probably do the Yamanote Line walk (https://www.hokeniryo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/walkmap/en/map/detail/pdf/yamanoteline_1_en.pdf) – it is almost certainly going to be more interesting because the Yamanote Line stops along very popular spots (or perhaps in many cases the spots are very popular because the line stops there).