Dog Friendly City Guide: Tokyo, Japan
A dog friendly guide to Tokyo: walking the Imperial Palace gardens, the Odaiba and Kasai Rinkai bayfront, the west-side parks and the Tama River, in a city built for a dog at heel.
Tokyo is a city of small dogs and immaculate parks, and it walks them with a particular grace. The dog here rides the train in a bag and trots on a lead through gardens that have been raked and tended for centuries, and many of the big parks keep a fenced dog run where the lead comes off.
It is dense, green in pockets, and endlessly walkable, a megacity that makes room for a dog in the quiet corners between the towers.
Everything below comes from our own verified data, not the booking-site badges that pass for research elsewhere. Each walk has been checked as genuinely dog friendly, and the hotels at the end are assessed against the Roch Dog Friendly Standard.
Where to Walk
Start at the centre, where the Imperial Palace outer gardens open around the Wadakura fountain, the great green lung of downtown Tokyo. Two of the city's finest old gardens sit close by: the tidal pond at Kyu-Shiba-rikyu and the stepping-stone paths of Kiyosumi, both classical Edo landscapes made for a slow circuit.
The bayfront gives you the open sky. Odaiba Seaside Park runs along the water with the Rainbow Bridge in view, Kasai Rinkai Park spreads its lawns and bird sanctuary along the eastern shore, and the reclaimed-island parks at Shibaura and Shinagawa keep the waterfront green.
West of the centre the residential wards hide the best everyday walks. Shinjuku Central Park sits in the shadow of the skyscrapers, Hanegi Park and Akatsuka do the leafy neighbourhood loop, and the linked Zenpukuji and Shakujii parks string their ponds along the Zenpukuji river path. Further out, Toneri Park gives a dog room to roam.
For the long walk, the Tama River cycling path runs for miles along the southern edge of the city, flat and open the whole way. And for the postcard, the foot of Tokyo Tower makes the evening stroll.
Where to Stay
Which leaves the bed. Tokyo's dog friendly hotels are assessed against the Roch Dog Friendly Standard on what they actually do for a dog and its owner, the same independent ranking we bring to every city, not the booking-site badges that pass for research elsewhere. Browse the dog friendly hotels in Tokyo to see how each one was rated, and what that rating buys you and your dog.
This guide was first published on 1 June 2023 and updated on 8 June 2026.
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