Picnics: the basic rules
A packed lunch on the lawn is fine in every big park, including the ones with an entrance fee. The other rules vary. The metropolitan parks have no general alcohol ban, so a beer with lunch is normal, but open fire and portable gas stoves are not allowed outside the BBQ areas, and smoking is limited to marked spots or not allowed at all. Shinjuku Gyoen is the strict exception: no alcohol, no cassette stoves, no ball games, no musical instruments, no pets and no tents, and you are asked not to bring household rubbish in.
Tents and shade are where parks differ most. Yoyogi Park does not allow tents, tables or chairs at any time of year, and neither does Kinuta Park. Inokashira allows only a small shade tent, no more than 2 m a side, on the Sankaku Hiroba lawn between 9am and 5pm, with at least one side open and no pegs. Showa Kinen Park allows dome tents up to 2 m but no tarps, and not in the Japanese garden. Kiba bans every kind of tent during the cherry season.
- A thin sheet is enough on dry grass. After rain the lawns stay damp until about noon, so a sheet with a waterproof backing helps.
Hanami: the cherry season rules
In late March and early April the same lawns fill up, and the city's rule is simple: you may hold a spot within the hours and areas each park sets, but an unattended sheet is not allowed, and neither is paying someone to hold one. At Yoyogi, sheets with nobody on them are removed without notice, and ropes, pegs and paper notes to claim ground are banned. So are fire, generators, amplifiers and DJ gear, tents, tables and chairs, and in the blossom weeks carts and trolleys too, so bring only what you can carry. In 2026 Yoyogi had fewer bins than usual because of building work, with three rubbish stations that closed at 8pm.
At Ueno Park the central cherry avenue becomes a one-way walkway at peak bloom, and in recent seasons sitting has been limited to the marked areas beside it; in 2026 most of those areas were taken by 9am even on weekdays. Inokashira Park asks parties to finish by 10pm and to keep groups small and visits short, and bans fire, loud music and singing, and jumping into the pond. Kiba removes unattended sheets and bans tents for the whole season. Shinjuku Gyoen keeps its alcohol ban through cherry season and may require timed reservations on the busiest weekends.
- The calmest hanami is on a weekday morning, or in the early evening after the lunch groups have packed up.
Where BBQ is allowed
Grilling is allowed only in designated BBQ areas, and only with a booking. In 2026 the metropolitan parks with BBQ areas are Kasai Rinkai, Kiba, Toneri, Mizumoto, Hikarigaoka, Koganei, Nogawa, Musashino, Akatsuka, Shioiri, Wadabori, Yumenoshima, Shiokaze, Oshima-Komatsugawa, Fuchu-no-mori, Musashino Central, Akirudai and Oyamadairi. The BBQ area at Shinozaki has been closed since June 2022 for river embankment works. Yoyogi, Ueno, Inokashira, Kinuta, Komazawa and Shinjuku Gyoen have no BBQ area at all. Outside the city system, Showa Kinen runs its own BBQ Garden, about eight minutes on foot from the Nishi-Tachikawa Gate.
Using a metropolitan BBQ site costs nothing; you pay only for food and equipment if you rent them. Sites are shared areas rather than private pitches, you cannot choose your spot, and each booking covers up to 15 or 20 people depending on the park. On the day you check in first, and fire is allowed from 10am to 4pm. Kasai Rinkai Park also has evening slots from 5pm to 9pm, every day in July to September and during Golden Week, and on weekends and holidays in June and October. Kiba adds a 5pm to 8pm sunset slot on Saturdays from April to October.
How to book, and when
Every site opens bookings on a fixed day, online or by phone, and popular weekend dates go on that first morning. As of 2026, Mizumoto opens bookings on the 1st of the month before your visit, Toneri on the 3rd, Koganei and Hikarigaoka on the 5th, and Kiba on the 10th at 10am. Kasai Rinkai takes bookings 60 days ahead, Nogawa and Musashino from one month ahead by phone, and the Showa Kinen BBQ Garden from two months to four days before. Booking links for every metropolitan site are on the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association BBQ page, and Showa Kinen has its own BBQ Garden page.
When you book you can add a hands-free set: the operator has the grill, charcoal, plates and food ready, and there is little to clear up. Equipment-only rental is available if you want to bring your own meat. If you bring your own grill, name it when you book, because some parks turn away equipment that was not declared. Kiba lets a group book only one weekend or holiday date per month, and Hikarigaoka takes one site per group, up to 20 people.
- With a hands-free set at Kiba, Toneri, Mizumoto or Koganei, the staff lend a tarp for free if it rains.
Charcoal, rubbish, toilets and shops
The rule that surprises visitors most is that whatever you bring in, you take home, including rubbish and used charcoal. Kasai Rinkai sells rubbish bags and charges per grill to take away used charcoal, and many BBQ areas have no rubbish point at all. At Kasai, grills must stand off the ground, and fires lit on the ground, firewood and shichirin clay grills are not allowed. Kinuta has no bins anywhere in the park and many others have only a few, so a rubbish bag belongs in every picnic kit.
Big parks have plenty of toilets, but on cherry weekends the queues are long, and Yoyogi adds temporary ones in the season. Shops inside the parks are few. Buy food and drinks at a convenience store near the station, where picnic sheets are also sold, and expect the shelves to be picked over by noon on a sunny Saturday. The shop at Nogawa Park is an exception and sells charcoal and drinks, including alcohol.
- Bring one bag for cans and bottles and one for food waste. Station bins are small and fill up quickly.
Heat, rain, dogs, drones and fireworks
In July and August the lawns are hot by 10am and heatstroke alerts are common, so picnic early, sit under trees and carry more water than you think you need. Because shade tents are restricted in many parks, a parasol and a hat are often the practical answer. When it rains there is little cover: the BBQ areas at Kasai Rinkai, Toneri, Mizumoto and Koganei have no roof.
Dogs are welcome in the metropolitan parks on a lead short enough to control, and you pick up after them; dog runs need registration with a rabies certificate. Paid gardens and Jindai Botanical Garden do not admit pets, Shinjuku Gyoen admits only assistance dogs, and at Showa Kinen you fill in a pet pledge at the gate and keep dogs out of the Japanese garden and the cycling course. Drones and radio-controlled models are banned in every metropolitan park, in Shinjuku Gyoen and at Showa Kinen. Fireworks are mostly not allowed, but Inokashira permits hand-held ones at five marked spots from June to mid-October until 10pm, if you bring a bucket of water.
