Kick off your 2022 by planning your future trip to Japan! Tokyo is ever changing and offers excitement no matter what time of year you visit, from the blooming pink blossoms in the spring to the bright red leaves in the autumn, vibrant greens in the summer and sparkling lights in the winter. To truly enjoy a relaxing holiday, the local sights, foods, and activities can’t go amiss, and in Japan where every season is unique, Tokyo too has plenty of different locations to enjoy regardless of the month.

The Capitol Hotel Tokyu has put together a list of locations recommended by locals to make the most of every season, from places to visit in Tokyo to foods to indulge in. No matter what season you visit Japan, there is always something new and exciting to discover, so make sure to add these items to your Tokyo itinerary.

Winter

TOKYO SKYTREE® TOWN

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, TOKYO SKYTREE TOWN is a destination that will keep you entertained throughout the whole day. Directly connected to ‘Oshiage Skytree’ Station, it offers a variety of restaurants and stores to visit, as well as the Sumida Aquarium, and the TOKYO SKYTREE® tower itself. Offering spectacular 360-degree views of Tokyo from 450 metres, it’s also a recommended spot to view the winter phenomenon known as Diamond Fuji. Exclusive to winter, our staff recommends the Tokyo Skytree Town Ice Skating Park as another activity to keep you entertained during the winter.

 GINZA Tsubo Yakiimo

A must-try food of the season is GINZA Tsubo Yakiimo’s roasted sweet potato. Carefully baked at low temperature over charcoal for 90-120 minutes in traditional Japanese pots, the pleasant scent of the sweet potatoes wafts out onto the streets and is a healthy treat that locals adore every winter. Perfect to grab and eat later or indulge in the store after a long day of shopping with a cup of tea, the natural sweetness and the fluffiness is a perfect winter treat!

Spring

Chidorigafuchi Park

A 30-minute walk from The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, you’ll find the beautiful Imperial Palace, alongside Chidorigafuchi Parks, which is one of the parks located northwest of the amazing building. Known as the best place to enjoy cherry blossoms in spring, Chidorigafuchi Park is an oasis in the busy city, with plenty of grassy spaces to enjoy picnics, a moat to take in the scenery of cherry blossoms floating in the water, and boats to enjoy rowing beneath the overhanging branches full of pink blossoms.

Shiono Akasaka Tokyo

From late March until mid-April, Tokyo is dyed with beautiful pinks with Japan’s springtime flower, the cherry blossom. Shiono Akasaka Tokyo is a store that specialises in wagashi, Japanese confectionery, which was opened in 1947 and has been serving dedicated customers for over 70 years. Located less than 10 minutes away from The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, our staff recommends the sakura mochi and cherry blossom shaped dried sweets which are available in the spring. At The Capitol Lounge SaRyoh within the hotel, guests can enjoy Shiono Akasaka Tokyo’s products as welcome sweets on weekends and national holidays to indulge in the season with all of their senses.

Summer

Todoroki Valley

Only a 20-minute train ride from central Tokyo, and the bustling city fades to a serene, tree-filled valley with a bubbling brook in a valley stretched across the expanse of approximately one kilometre; the only valley in Tokyo’s 23 wards. Todoroki Valley remains pleasantly cool despite Tokyo’s blistering heat under the lush foliage from trees such as the Japanese zelkova and bamboo-leaf oak, filled with the refreshing sounds of the river and the wild songbirds. This picturesque valley in Tokyo is also home to the Todoroki Fudoson Temple, which is famous for its cherry blossoms and beautiful Japanese garden, where you can get lost in the peace and serenity and forget all about the city noises.

Shaved Ice

A dessert that practically screams ‘summertime in Japan’ is ‘kakigori’, shaved ice. At The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, the “ORIGAMI Kakigori Collection” is one to look forward to every year to cool yourself down, with seasonal flavours differing every year. Indulge in a luxurious version of this classical summer treat, with thinly shaved ice topped with flavoured syrup and a variety of different toppings that change every year, making it the perfect treat to take the edge off of Tokyo’s heat.

Autumn

Showa Memorial Park

As the fifth biggest park in Japan, this park is so vast that you will struggle to explore the whole grounds in a day. With a pool, barbecue areas, and green spaces to enjoy picnics, the park has plenty to do alongside strolling through its beautiful flower gardens, bonsai garden, and classical Japanese garden where a Japanese tea ceremony can be enjoyed surrounded by vibrant reds, yellows, and oranges in the autumn. Special to the autumn is the cosmos flower farm, where the ground is blanketed in pinks, purples, and yellows, and its tunnel of gingko trees that turn golden.

TORAYA Tea Room

With a philosophy for customers to ‘graciously enjoy our Japanese sweets’, the TORAYA Tea Room was founded in Kyoto and has been creating Japanese sweets for the past five centuries, including working for the Imperial Palace.  Located 15 minutes away from The Capitol Hotel Tokyu, our staff recommends their chestnut anmitsu, an autumn exclusive menu item. Using only new crops harvested in Japan that year, the anmitsu is made even more luxurious with chestnut mizu yokan, whole chestnuts preserved in syrup, and chestnut and white azuki bean paste, packing plenty of autumn flavours into one serving.