Michelin Green Guide Tokyo — Three-Star Meiji Jingu, Tokyo National Museum and Mt. Takao, and How to See All 118 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 118 starred sights in Tokyo

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition came out in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given together with the edition that awarded it.

Fourteen of the 26 three-star entries are the buildings and holdings of the Tokyo National Museum — the Peacock Wisdom King painting, the haniwa figures, the Gallery of Horyu-ji Treasures and more. Setting those aside, the three stars go to the city of Tokyo, Ueno and its surroundings, Meiji Jingu, Shinjuku Gyoen, the Metropolitan Government Building and Mt. Takao, plus a handful of buildings in Ginza and Aoyama. The stars are spread across a wide city, so plan one area per day. If it is your first visit, a guided day tour is an easy way to fix the geography in your head.

Three-star Meiji Jingu, Shinjuku Gyoen and the Metropolitan Government Building

Meiji Jingu and its forest, the Naien, are three-star sights in the 2015 edition. The shrine honours Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, and the woodland around it was planted with trees donated from across Japan — today it reads as deep forest right beside Harajuku Station. The gravel approach takes about 10 minutes on foot. Come early in the morning and the forest is quiet.

In Shinjuku, Shinjuku Gyoen and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building are three-star, while Shinjuku itself, Kabukicho, Golden Gai and the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower hold two stars. The government building has a free observation deck on the 45th floor, with Mt. Fuji visible on clear days. Shinjuku Gyoen combines Japanese, English landscape and French formal gardens and is famous for cherry blossoms and autumn colour (paid entry, usually closed Mondays). In Harajuku, Omotesando and the Ota Memorial Museum of Art are one-star, and the Prada building in Aoyama is three-star.

Three-star Ueno and the Tokyo National Museum, plus two-star Yanaka

Ueno and its surroundings and the Tokyo National Museum are three-star in the 2015 edition. Founded in 1872, it is the oldest museum in Japan, and the guide gives separate three stars to the Honkan main building, the Gallery of Horyu-ji Treasures, and individual holdings including the Peacock Wisdom King painting, the Hungry Ghosts scroll, a dotaku bell, haniwa and dogu figures and gigaku masks. The Heiseikan and Toyokan are one-star. Allow half a day if you want to see it properly.

In Ueno Park, Ueno Tosho-gu is two-star, and the National Museum of Western Art, Ameyoko market and Ueno Park itself are one-star. The one-star Shitamachi Museum reopened in 2025 as the Shitamachi Museum in its renovated form. Walk north and you reach Yanaka, its cemetery and the sculptor’s house-studio Asakura Museum of Sculpture, all two-star. Further north, Rikugi-en is a two-star daimyo garden.

Two-star Senso-ji, Tokyo Skytree and Ryogoku

Asakusa and Senso-ji are two-star in the 2015 edition, with the Kaminarimon gate, the five-storey pagoda, the main hall and the Denbo-in garden each one-star. Kappabashi, the street of kitchenware shops, and the Asahi Beer Azumabashi Hall with its golden sculpture are one-star as well. The temple grounds open early, and the hour before the Nakamise shops open is the calmest time to walk and photograph.

Across the river, Tokyo Skytree is two-star and the Sumida Aquarium at its base is one-star. The 634 m tower has decks at 350 m and 450 m. To the south in Ryogoku, the Edo-Tokyo Museum — reopened on 31 March 2026 after renovation — and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo are two-star, while the Fukagawa Edo Museum and Kiyosumi Garden are one-star.

The Imperial Palace, Marunouchi, Ginza, Tsukiji and Toyosu

The Imperial Palace and its surroundings are two-star in the 2015 edition, with the palace itself and the free East Gardens one-star (the gardens normally close on Mondays and Fridays). The National Museum of Modern Art in Kitanomaru Park is two-star. In Marunouchi, the Tokyo International Forum is two-star and its vast Glass Hall is three-star.

Ginza is two-star, and here the stars sit on the architecture: the glass-block Hermès building and Mikimoto Ginza are three-star, while Dior, De Beers and the Shiseido building are two-star. The 2020 edition added GINZA SIX and the view from the Park View Garden at Tokyo Midtown Hibiya as one-star.

Two-star Tsukiji Outer Market still trades, even though the wholesale market moved to Toyosu in 2018. The Toyosu Market and the waterfront Toyosu Gururi Park were added as one-star in the 2020 edition. Hama-rikyu Gardens, walkable from Tsukiji, is one-star.

Three-star Mt. Takao, plus Roppongi, Odaiba, Kichijoji and day-by-day plans

Mt. Takao is three-star in the 2015 edition. The mountain is 599 m high and about 50 minutes from Shinjuku on the Keio Line, and a cable car or chairlift carries you halfway up, so you can reach the summit without any hiking experience. On clear winter days Mt. Fuji is visible from the top. West of the city, Inokashira Park in Kichijoji and the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka — tickets are date-and-time reservations — are two-star.

In Roppongi, Roppongi Hills, the Mori Tower, its Tokyo City View observation deck, the Mori Art Museum, the Suntory Museum of Art and the National Art Center are two-star. Odaiba is one-star, with the Yurikamome line across Rainbow Bridge and the Fuji TV building two-star. Koishikawa Korakuen, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and Aoyama Cemetery are two-star as well.

Michelin Green Guide Tokyo — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.