Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo: Sea of Clouds

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If this FREE destination isn’t on your Tokyo summer bucket list, you need to add it right now. Just a 30 minute bus ride from Shinjuku Station, nestled within Bunkyo City is the illustrious Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, where you can escape the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and go back in time to a Meiji-era landscape. Located behind the hotel is their famous gardens, complete with a waterfall, a pond, koi fish galore, traditional bridges, and the ancient and an ancient Three-Story Pagoda, one of only three in all of Tokyo. Every day from July 1st to September 12th, from 7:00 to 22:00, the gardens transform into a foggy paradise. Twice an hour, a gong sounds. This is when the most magical few minutes begins. A deep mist fills the garden completely surrounding the viewer, the scattered lanterns faded orbs of light. It makes you forget that you are at the center of one of the busiest metropolitan areas in the world—it is that otherworldly. At 7:00 and 10:00, the gardens feature The Great Sea of Clouds, in which the gardens (and subsequently the viewer) are completely submerged in mist even higher than their heads, to the point in which you cannot see more than a meter ahead of you. It mutes any of the remaining buzz of the city and truly grounds you. It is an unforgettable experience and one you must partake in while in Tokyo. See more details below!

Location: Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo, 2 Chome-10-8 Sekiguchi, Bunkyo City, Tokyo 112-8680
How to access: 白６１Bus from Shinjuku Station; ~30 minutes + 3 minute walk to hotel

Best times: 7:00 AM and 22:00 AM to see the fog show at its peak. Check the website here for the full schedule.

Cost: Free!

Note: Make sure to respect the hotel and its guests as you walk through the property!