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 Yamanote line was broken down into five parts. The 1st part consisted of a walk between Tokyo station (JY01) and Nishi-Nippori (JY08), Part 2 began back at Nishi-Nippori and continued on to Ikebukuro which is where this third part starts.

Date: Sunday 18th January 2026

Starting Point: Ikebukuro (JY13)

End Point: Harajuku (JY19)

Duration: 4.45 hours

Approximate Distance: 7 km

On more familiar territory and no maps app needed for any of this walk not that you really need such a thing when basically following a train track! However, it’s not possible (or so interesting!) to always walk parallel to the Yamanote Line and of course we did take the odd little detour like we did to see the exterior of Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed public hall heritage building from just over a century ago which is located on a quiet back street between Ikebukuro and Mejiro.

As we approached the next station we passed by Ceres Takadanobaba which, based on the building exterior, I always thought was a Catholic Church but it’s actually just a wedding venue.

Shin Okubo station was next and a return to the area where we once lived for a couple of years. We rarely went to Korea Town when we resided in the area but this time we did walk among the crowds and picked up some street snacks from a fast-food spot called Gamaro Gang Jung.

It’s a bit of a tourist trap that sells some viral rainbow cheese snacks and twisted potatoes, but my wife just purchased some spicy fried chicken and topokki.

It’s important to remind you that this venture is not really about seeing a load of sights on the way as it is basically a glorified dog walk! One interesting looking place neither of us had seen before was Yoyogi Broadway, a cool little area with some artwork reminiscent of NYC. Presumably it is a livelier area after dark

By the time we got to Yoyogi station we were quite tired but decided to push on to the next stop as that would be a better starting point for us when we continued this walk a month later.

The walk between Yoyogi and Harajuku is a sizeable one. Along the way we passed one of the modern arty toilets which are part of the Tokyo Toilet Project. 17 public toilets in Shibuya were redesigned with many of them later featuring in the movie ‘Perfect Days‘ (2023) although this one near Yoyogi station did not appear.

The overly congested shopping street in Harajuku known as Takeshita-dori basically finished off this part of our walk not that we ever contemplated going down it at all. Our dog has actually been down there before anyway.

The next instalment will begin back at Harajuku station to ensure the whole loop is walked in its entirety and that will appear here soon.

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’