# Tokyo

> Tokyo is shot in short, specific windows: the hour before the shops open, the twenty minutes after sunset when the towers light up, and the ten days a year the cherries are out.

This page as HTML: https://www.komorebis.cc/destinations/tokyo

- Coordinates: 35.6812, 139.7671
- Nearest airport: HND

The city is too large to cover in one session, so the base 30 minutes is built around one neighbourhood, and extra hours add a second on the same train line. The classic pairing is Marunouchi and the Imperial Palace moat — the restored 1914 red-brick Tokyo Station, the wide ginkgo avenue of Gyoko-dori and the stone bridges of Nijubashi are all within a fifteen-minute walk — followed by Ginza or Shibuya after dark. Weekday mornings before nine are the quietest time almost everywhere; Sunday afternoons are the busiest.

Drones are the honest exception. Almost all of the 23 wards are a densely inhabited district under the Civil Aeronautics Act, metropolitan parks prohibit flights by ordinance, and the Imperial Palace and government quarter fall under the Small Unmanned Aircraft Prohibition Act. We do not fly over streets, parks or crowds in Tokyo. Aerial work is limited to private land — a hotel, a venue or an estate on the edge of the city — with the owner’s consent and an MLIT approval filed through DIPS 2.0 about ten business days in advance.

## When to go

Cherry blossom peaks in late March to early April and pulls the biggest crowds of the year; book that week by January. Autumn colour arrives late — the ginkgo avenues turn gold from mid-November and the maples peak in late November to early December. December to February is dry and clear, with the best light of the year and Mt Fuji often visible from high floors in the morning. The rainy season runs from early June to mid-July, and July–August are hot and humid, so summer sessions start at sunrise or after six in the evening.

- **Cherry blossom**: Late March to early April
- **Autumn leaves**: Ginkgo mid–late November; maples late November to early December

## Getting there

Haneda is 25–40 minutes from central Tokyo by Keikyu or the Tokyo Monorail; Narita is about an hour by the Narita Express or Keisei Skyliner. The JR Yamanote loop links Tokyo Station, Shibuya and Shinjuku, and the Ginza line runs from Shibuya through Ginza to Asakusa in about 33 minutes.

## Kimono

Most rental shops are in Asakusa, where dozens sit within a few minutes of Kaminarimon; there are a handful in Harajuku and Shinjuku. For a shoot elsewhere in the city you dress at a rental studio near the shoot through the kimono add-on ($55 per person, rental and dressing), or dress in Asakusa and meet us there; a dresser at your hotel is quoted separately on request. Dressing takes 30–45 minutes; hair styling is booked separately.

## Rules on location

Train stations, department stores and shopping-centre interiors do not allow staged shoots; we work on public streets and in places that allow photography. Tripods are refused in most gardens and on observation decks. Do not block pavements or station exits, keep voices down on trains, and never photograph people’s faces up close without asking. Metropolitan gardens and national gardens require an application for commercial or wedding shoots, which we file when you book.

## Drone

Only on private land or at a venue, with an MLIT application filed ten or more business days ahead.

## Photo spots

### Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building

- Coordinates: 35.6812, 139.7649
- Best time: Blue hour, about 20 minutes after sunset
- Access and permits: Free from the station plaza and the KITTE 6th-floor rooftop garden; no staged shoots inside the station

The red-brick façade with its two domes faces a broad granite plaza, and the long axis of Gyoko-dori runs from it straight to the palace. The plaza works for full-length portraits with the whole building behind; the KITTE rooftop gives the elevated view with the Shinkansen tracks alongside.

- **November–February**: The façade lights up at dusk and Marunouchi Naka-dori has gold illuminations from early November into February; sunset is around half past four.
- **June–August**: Sunset is near seven; the plaza holds heat, so we shoot the blue hour and finish by eight.

### Nijubashi and Kokyo Gaien

- Coordinates: 35.6797, 139.7528
- Best time: 7–9 am, before the tour groups
- Access and permits: Free; the outer gardens are open at all hours. Drones are prohibited by law; tripods tolerated only for personal use

The stone double-arched bridge over the moat, with the Fushimi watchtower behind, seen from the edge of the gravel plaza. The space is wide and pine-dotted, so even on a busy day there is room to step away from other visitors.

### Chidorigafuchi

- Coordinates: 35.6896, 139.747
- Best time: Sakura week, 6–8 am
- Access and permits: Free walkway; rowing boats are hired by the half-hour and queue for an hour or more at peak

A 700-metre path along the palace moat under a canopy of cherries that lean right out over the water. The rowing boats below are the picture everyone knows; the path itself is narrow and becomes one-way at peak, so we shoot it at dawn.

- **Late March–early April**: The moat faces west, so the morning light comes from behind the path and lights the blossom over the water; evenings are lit up but crowded.
- **Rest of the year**: Quiet and green; the boats run in summer and the bare branches in winter make a sparse, graphic frame.

### Zojo-ji and Tokyo Tower

- Coordinates: 35.6574, 139.7483
- Best time: Late afternoon into dusk
- Access and permits: Free grounds; no shooting inside the main hall and no drones in adjoining Shiba Park

A Buddhist temple whose 1622 Sangedatsumon gate and main hall stand directly in front of the 333-metre tower. The row of stone Jizo statues in red knitted caps on the west side is the quieter frame.

### Hamarikyu Gardens

- Coordinates: 35.66, 139.7632
- Best time: Opening time, 9 am
- Access and permits: ¥300 entry; tripods and commercial shoots need prior application to the garden office

A former shogunal garden on Tokyo Bay with a tidal seawater pond, and a teahouse on an island linked by wooden bridges. The contrast is the point: pines and a thatched roof in the foreground, the Shiodome towers behind.

## Districts

- [Shibuya](https://www.komorebis.cc/destinations/shibuya.md) — Shibuya is the Tokyo of motion — the scramble crossing empties and refills every couple of minutes, and the photograph is timed to the lights rather than to the sun.
- [Shinjuku](https://www.komorebis.cc/destinations/shinjuku.md) — Shinjuku gives two shoots in one ward: the smoky lantern alleys east of the tracks after dark, and one of the city’s great gardens a ten-minute walk south by day.
- [Asakusa](https://www.komorebis.cc/destinations/asakusa.md) — Asakusa is where Tokyo wears kimono: dozens of rental shops sit within a few minutes of Kaminarimon, and Senso-ji’s grounds are open before the first shop lifts its shutter.
- [Ginza](https://www.komorebis.cc/destinations/ginza.md) — Ginza is Tokyo dressed up: wide pavements, flagship architecture and, on weekend afternoons, a main street closed to traffic so you can stand in the middle of it.

## Covered at no travel charge

Marunouchi, Otemachi, Nihonbashi, Ginza, Shiodome, Toranomon, Roppongi, Akasaka, Shibuya, Ebisu, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Ueno, Odaiba

## Popular here

- [Japan photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/japan-photoshoot.md) — from $220; 15 edited photos within 3 days
- [Tokyo night photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/tokyo-night-photoshoot.md) — from $240; 15 edited photos within 3 days
- [Couple photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/couple-photoshoot.md) — from $220; 15 edited photos within 3 days
- [Pre-wedding photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/pre-wedding.md) — from $800; 15 edited photos within 7 days
- [Proposal photographer](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/proposal.md) — from $280; 15 edited photos within 3 days
- [Cherry blossom photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/sakura-photoshoot.md) — from $260; 15 edited photos within 3 days
- [Autumn leaves photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/autumn-leaves-photoshoot.md) — from $260; 15 edited photos within 3 days
- [Personal brand photoshoot](https://www.komorebis.cc/services/personal-brand.md) — from $370; 15 edited photos within 3 days
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## Frequently asked questions

### Can you fly a drone for our Tokyo shoot?

Not over the city itself. Central Tokyo is a densely inhabited district, parks ban drones, and the palace area is a legal no-fly zone. If you have a private venue — a hotel terrace or an estate on the outskirts — we can apply for MLIT approval with the owner’s consent, which takes about ten business days.

### How do we combine several neighbourhoods in one session?

The base 30 minutes covers one. Two is realistic with an extra hour if they share a line: Marunouchi and Ginza are a ten-minute walk apart, Shibuya and Harajuku one stop. Asakusa to Shibuya is 33 minutes on the Ginza line, so that pair needs two extra hours.

### What happens if it rains?

Light rain suits Tokyo at night — wet streets double the neon — and we bring clear umbrellas. In heavy rain we move the session to another day within your stay at no charge; in the June–July rainy season we suggest leaving a spare day.

### Where do we meet?

At the first location or your hotel lobby anywhere in the covered areas. ZH clients can arrange everything with us on WeChat, including the meeting point and a Mandarin-speaking assistant on the day.

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