Nakameguro canal bars

What the guides say about Nakameguro canal bars

The reason to stay here is the evenings. Dinner is either a canal-side table or a counter in the grid behind Komazawa-dori, and the canal bars run late on weekends. Onibus Coffee beside the tracks and the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on the river cover mornings. Western-leaning bistros and natural wine bars are more common here than almost anywhere else in Tokyo, which helps if you're staying a while. Lunch sets along Yamate-dori and Komazawa-dori are the cheap meal of the day.

Nakameguro. The canal, the riverside dining, the canal bars and cherry blossoms at night in early April. The index found only 92 hotel listings here in the latest sample. It's on the Tokyu Toyoko Line from Shibuya, or an easy walk down from the crossing through Daikanyama. The Nakameguro guide has everything else.

The famous three, with the crowds to match. Ueno Park lines its main avenue with hundreds of trees and is the busiest hanami ground in the city. It's magic at 8am and a queue by early afternoon. Chidorigafuchi turns the palace moat into a tunnel of branches over rowing boats, and on a sunny weekend the boat queue runs to hours. The Meguro River in Nakameguro becomes one of the most photographed canals in Japan, lanterns and blossoms reflected in the water after dark. The canal-side bars and riverside restaurants are why you'd stay past sunset, and why the towpath is shoulder to shoulder.