Photo By: Elin Chow

Meguro river is one of the best place in Tokyo to enjoy the cherry blossom season, drawing huge crowds year after year. It is located in Nakameguro, near to Shibuya, in central Tokyo. Since we had already seen daytime cherry blossoms at Shinjuku Gyoen earlier in the day, we decided to visit Meguro river just to experience the stunning view of cherry blossoms at night.
The nearest station to the river is Naka-Meguro Station, not Meguro Station. To get from Ikebukuro Station to Naka-Meguro Station, you will need to transfer to the Tokyu Toyoko Line at Shibuya Station. You can get to Shibuya Station by the JR Yamanote Line. The journey takes about 15 minutes and costs 170 Yen. Alternatively, you can also get to Shibuya Station from Ikebukuro Station by the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line. But this will take about 16 minutes and costs 200 Yen.

It takes 4 minutes to get from Shibuya Station to Naka-Meguro Station by the Tokyu Toyoko Line. A one way trip will cost 130 Yen. From Naka-Meguro Station, it is about a 10 minutes walk to Meguro river. You can easily navigate your way there with Google Map or by following the crowds.

As soon as you arrived at the river, you will be amazed by the spectacular sight of cherry blossoms. Roughly 800 cherry trees lined a 4 km stretch of Meguro river, starting from a large bridge near Ikejiri Ohashi Station all the way to Fudomae and Meguro Station. The cherry blossoms usually bloom from late March to early April, which attracts tons of visitors every year.

The ordinary dull canal looked spectacular with cherry trees on both sides in full bloom. About 1 km of these trees are illuminated with lights in the evening. The lights are turned on around sunset (5pm) and switched off at 9 pm every night. The river is also lit up with red and yellow lanterns strung along the riverside, which cast a romantic luminescent glow on the water.



We enjoyed strolling under the canopy of pink and white blossom. It was a very pretty sight as blossoming branches make an arch hanging over the river, creating a magnificent pink tunnel over the water. We were glad that it was not terribly crowded on the day we visited, probably because it was a weekday. Well, it was still packed with people, but everyone was patiently waiting for their turn to have their pictures taken.


Viewing the cherry blossoms at night is a completely different experience. The soft pink petals are absolutely breathtaking and there are numerous trendy cafes and restaurants along the river where you can enjoy a meal with cherry blossom view.


Cherry blossoms at Meguro river can be enjoyed day and night. But we only get to visit at night due to time constraints. I believe it will be extremely beautiful in the day time as well. We spent about an hour strolling along the river while taking photos and admiring the view. It is an absolute great place to be in Springtime. We wish that we could stay longer to enjoy the view, but we were super tired after a long day.


If you are interested to know more about our trip, you may want to check out our 9D8N Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka Trip Itinerary + Overview for the list of attractions that we had visited during our 9 days in Japan. For anyone planning your first trip to Japan but have no idea where to start, you should read my "How To Plan A Trip To Japan" post.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates on my 9 days adventures in Japan! You might also want to check My Wanderlust page for some of my other travel adventures