Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Guide: Gardens, Art and Coffee

Save to My List My List

Researched guide · Checked on Oct 19, 2026

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa is a quiet neighborhood in eastern Tokyo where an Edo-period landscape garden, a museum of contemporary art and some of the city’s best independent coffee sit within a few minutes’ walk of each other. It is a calm half day away from the crowds, and a good place to try Fukagawa-meshi, the clam rice of old Tokyo.

Plan Your Visit to Kiyosumi-Shirakawa

Search hotels and things to do in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa. You book on the partner site.

HotelsActivities

Destination

Check-in

Check-out

Search Hotels

Overview

Best Things to Do

Kiyosumi Gardens

Kiyosumi Gardens is a traditional Japanese landscape garden of about 37,000 square meters, built around a large pond with three islands and a teahouse over the water. Follow the iso-watari stepping stones across the edge of the pond for close views of carp, turtles and waterfowl. Look out for the landscape stones, many brought from across Japan in the Meiji era. It is open from 9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed over the New Year holidays, and general admission is 150 yen. The garden is about 3 minutes on foot from Exit A3 of Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station.

Fukagawa Edo Museum

This museum recreates a working-class Tokyo street from the last years of the Edo period at full size, with houses, shops, a boathouse and a fire tower you can walk through. The lighting changes to match the time of day, and volunteer guides, including English speakers, explain the exhibits. It is open from 9:30 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed on the second and fourth Mondays (open if a holiday) and over the New Year, and general admission is 400 yen. It is about 3 minutes from Exit A3.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT)

In Kiba Park, MOT has five floors of contemporary art, with collection displays and special exhibitions. Its collection includes works by Roy Lichtenstein and Yoko Ono, and there is an art library, a museum shop and a café. It is open from 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed on Mondays (the next day if Monday is a holiday), over the New Year and between exhibitions. Admission depends on the exhibition. It is about 9 minutes on foot from Exit B2.

Coffee hopping

The neighborhood is known for independent coffee, from modern espresso bars to relaxed classic coffee shops. Blue Bottle Coffee’s flagship café here is in a large two-story former warehouse with big windows, and Arise Coffee Roasters is about 5 minutes on foot from the station. See our guide to cafés in Tokyo.

Station art

Even the station is worth a look: the walls of the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa platform and passageway are made from scrap metal of postwar industrial products by sculptor Shoichiro Higuchi, and its irregular fluorescent lights are popular with photographers.

Food & Drink

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa and the neighboring Fukagawa area are the home of Fukagawa-meshi: asari clams served on rice, first made as a simple, filling lunch for local fishermen. It comes in two styles: bukkake, with clams simmered in miso broth poured over the rice, and takikomi, rice cooked with clams in a soy-sauce seasoning.

• Fukagawajuku, near the Fukagawa Edo Museum, serves both styles of Fukagawa-meshi.
• Blue Bottle Coffee and Arise Coffee Roasters for coffee.
• MOT has its own café and restaurant inside the museum.

Find these on our Kiyosumi-Shirakawa restaurant list, and see Japanese food to try in Tokyo.

Shopping

• Museum shop: MOT has a museum shop and an art library.
• Coffee: ask at the cafés if they sell beans to take home, a light souvenir.
• Galleries: small contemporary art galleries are scattered around the neighborhood.

More ideas in our Tokyo souvenirs and shopping guide.

Where to Stay

Kiyosumi-Shirakawa is mostly residential. It is a short subway ride from Nihonbashi and Tokyo Station on the Hanzomon Line, and from Ryogoku and Asakusa on the Oedo Line, which are good bases. See Nihonbashi, Best hotels in Asakusa and Where to stay in Tokyo.

Search hotels in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa ↑

Getting There

• Subway: Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station is on the Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line and the Toei Oedo Line.
• From Tokyo Station: Marunouchi Line to Otemachi, then the Hanzomon Line, about 30 minutes.
• From Shinjuku: Toei Oedo Line, about 40 minutes.
• From the airports: about 50 minutes by train from Haneda, or about 90 minutes from Narita.

New to Tokyo trains? See Trains in Tokyo and How to use Suica.

Suggested Itinerary

A half day of gardens, history and coffee:

1. MorningKiyosumi Gardens
2. 5 min walk
3. Fukagawa Edo Museum
4. Walk
5. LunchFukagawa-meshi at Fukagawajuku
6. Walk
7. AfternoonCoffee at Blue Bottle or Arise
8. Walk
9. Late afternoonMuseum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

Travel Tips

• The garden and museums are close together and easy on foot. Use Exit A3 for the garden and the Edo museum.
• Check closing days before you go: MOT is closed on Mondays and the Fukagawa Edo Museum on the second and fourth Mondays.
• Kiyosumi Gardens changes through the seasons, so there is something to see all year.
• If you have more time, walk on to the neighboring Fukagawa area and Tomioka Hachimangu shrine near Monzen-nakacho.

Comparing areas? See 23 Tokyo neighborhoods side by side in Tokyo neighborhoods compared.

FAQ

Travel Essentials

• Airport Transfers

  Trains, the monorail, the Airport Limousine Bus and taxis compared.

  From Haneda · From Narita · Compare airport transfers on Klook ↗

• Train Tickets

  How to buy Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets for Kyoto, Osaka and beyond.

  Shinkansen guide

• JR Pass & Transport Passes

  Whether a rail pass or a Tokyo subway ticket will save you money.

  Transport passes guide

Explore More in This Area

• Things to Do in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa ›
• Restaurants in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa ›
• Where to Stay in Tokyo ›
• Tokyo Transportation Guide ›