My idea of cycling around the Yamanote Line way back in 2009 was actually inspired by a former colleague of mine who did it all on foot over two days including a capsule hotel overnight at the midway point. I was never too interested in repeating that so settled for doing it by bicycle. Fast forward about a decade and a half though and I’d changed my mind. Well, kind of!

Needing some original Sunday morning dog walking ideas, my wife and I decided to walk round the famous green train line which passes through most of Tokyo’s urban centres in a loop. I should point out that our little six-year-old chihuahua would do a mix of walking and being carried either in my arms or in his backpack.

The 35-kilometre route for the whole line was broken down into five parts. Station numbering was added in 2016 for the benefit of tourists and staff too when giving directions in English. We decided to do it in ascending numerical order going in an anticlockwise direction. This is part one…

Date: Sunday 16th November 2025

Starting Point: Tokyo (JY01)

End Point: Nishi Nippori (JY08)

Duration: 4 hours

Approximate Distance: 7 km

The first point of interest was just outside the ticket gates themselves. It’s a special tile that marks the spot where the tenth Prime Minister of Japan was killed in 1921 by a railway worker. The tile has a little white spot that undoubtedly goes unnoticed by most people as they race around.

The same was true for me too until 2018 when I went on a deep historical walking tour of Tokyo for a school event.

Looking up from there is a great view too and one that is also missed by many commuters. If you look up inside the south dome you can see eight animals from the Chinese zodiac. Each animal represents a direction but for some reason the four principal directions (north, south, east, west) are missing.

Our dog is no stranger to Tokyo station having been there numerous times ahead of Shinkansen (bullet train) journeys to Hiroshima.

That’s still not the end for our starting point as the exterior of Tokyo station is a wonderful sight in itself with its beautiful red brick architectural design serving as the symbolic gateway to the capital. It would mark both the start and end for our epic walk around the Yamanote Line.

It’s not such a common place for people to walk their dogs at all so the sight of our little chihuahua caught the attention of a fair few people in the vicinity.

There were a couple of quirky animal-related sights along the way to the next station. First up was a giant bear very close to Tokyo station.

The walk to Kanda wasn’t too exciting as we generally took the quickest and quietest routes for the sake of the dog. A sheep peering into the window of a lamb restaurant was the highlight!

Our walking tour was more about the route and getting some exercise rather than visiting a load of places along the way. However, there was the hope of seeing some interesting spots we’d never seen before and one such example (for my wife anyway!) was a shopping mall consisting of about 50 boutiques selling unique handcrafted and custom items beneath the railway tracks between Akihabara and Okachimachi. Personally, I was more interested in the train-style signage at the place which is called 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan.

Ameyoko market in Ueno is a far more famous and lively shopping district that neither of us had been to for a few years. It’s a hive of activity and atmosphere for the hordes of tourists in that area with so many outdoor restaurants and shops selling numerous souvenirs, clothes, cosmetics and so on.

Ueno is notable for its park and zoo as well as the many museums housed within it. The National Museum of Nature and Science brought back memories of when we took my wife’s nephew there a few years ago. The symbol of the museum is a 30-metre statue of a blue whale outside it which was rather apt as we were indeed (get ready to groan!) having a whale of a time on our walk!

The original idea was to finish at Nippori but as Nishi-Nippori is just 500 metres away (they are the closest two stations on the line) we decided to do one more station. We came across one of the most basic children’s playgrounds where there was just a solitary and rather lonely panda rocking-chair ride. Even that was off limits so maybe any kids visiting can have their fun by running around the panda or something like that!

One rule for this Yamanote loop challenge is to get a selfie with the dog at each and every station. The variety of shots taken on the first part of our journey was fairly limited!

The next instalment will begin back at Nishi-Nippori station to ensure the whole loop is walked in its entirety and that will appear here soon. With eight out of the 30 stations already covered on our first day we had made great progress and were looking forward to continuing our journey at a later date.

Click here to read ‘Cycling Round the Yamanote Line in the Opposite Direction To 12 Years Ago!’

Click here to read ‘Cycling the Yamanote Line (2009)’ 

Click here to read ‘#WeStopAtNothing! Platform Zeros in Japan, Z Stations in Tokyo & The Opening of a New Yamanote Line Station’

Click here to read ‘The Complete Tour of Katakana-Named Stations in Tokyo’