Nakameguro

Canal-side cafes and the best evening sakura in Tokyo

Nakameguro is built around its canal, and the canal sets the pace: slow walks, good coffee, boutiques you browse rather than raid. During cherry blossom season the Meguro River becomes the single best evening hanami spot in the city, with lit blossoms reflecting in the water. The backstreets behind the main strip still feel local.

Nakameguro is organised around a single piece of geography: the Meguro River, a concrete-banked canal lined with cherry trees and, behind them, a strip of boutiques, cafes and izakayas. For one week a year the canal becomes the most photographed place in Japan, four kilometres of blossom lit by lanterns at night. The other fifty-one weeks it is simply one of Tokyo's most pleasant places to walk slowly.

The neighbourhood splits in two: the polished canal-front, and the warren of backstreets behind it where the counters seat eight and the natural wine flows. Come late afternoon, walk the water both directions, then let the evening happen in the backstreets. Daikanyama is a ten-minute uphill walk if you want to chain the two.