The Tokyo Bay is navigable - even far beyond the city limits. But while there are several boat tours on offer, there is a regular commuter boat service that cruises Tokyo Bay, and gives you both a perfect view of the city and a convenient way of getting from northwestern Tokyo to the islands in the bay, and beyond.
During the Edo era, big ships were prohibited. Despite the location on Tokyo Bay, the last big ship to enter for 300 years was the Dutch trading ship De Liefde. The captain helped Tokugawa Ieyasu establish his domination over Japan, by using the ships guns to bombard the castles of insurgent damiyou.
The next big ships to enter were the American warships commanded by commodore Perry. They became known as the “black ships”, thanks to their ironclad hulls. But they were also steam-driven and could go against the wind, something that had not been possible up to then in Japanese seamen’s craft.
The shogunate set limits on how big boats could be, so they would not be used to ferry an invasion army into Tokyo. And since the size of the boats meant they would primarily be used for fishing, trade took other routes — mostly the inland rivers. And ferrying people and goods around the Tokyo seashore.
When the Black Ships came, the traffic on Tokyo Bay consisted of vessels that could at most take ten people. You could ask for a ride across the bay, but ferry services did not exist. In Edo, if you wanted to go somewhere, you walked.
So not only did the removal of the shogunate mean a fierce modernization of the road and rail transports, it also meant steamers starting to ply Tokyo Bay and the rapidly expanding Tokyo Harbor. Taking a shortcut between the Southern and Northern shores of Tokyo Bay was a simple way of getting around the city quickly, especially since the railroad terminated in Shimbashi and Ueno.
The Second World War was a huge disruption to everything in Tokyo, including the boat services, and after the war, the islands around Odaiba were being filled in; the pace of reclaiming land from the mud flats that had surrounded the bay increased. Today, there are only a few places where the original sea shores of the Tokyo Bay exist.
If you go a bit inland, there are boat tours on some of the rivers that run into Tokyo Bay. Mostly, they are blocked today, and the bridges are too low to make shipping practical, but you can take a boat trip up some of the rivers and see the city from a completely different angle. Mostly the underside of freeways, to be honest.
But while the shoreline has moved further into the bay, the frequency and number of ships doing the rounds of the bay have continued to increase.
There are day cruises, some going as far as the islands outside the mouth of the Tokyo Bay, which are also served by regular ferries. The islands are part of Tokyo City, and the chain of islands stretches straight south from Tokyo. For most of the outlying islands, it is more convenient to fly, but some islands do not have an airport or prohibit air travel as they feel it would be disruptive. Ships depart from Tokyo, taking the best part of a day, even two days, to get to the southern islands. Not strange since they are at the same latitude as Okinawa and Hawaii, and the high mountains of these volcanic islands, combined with the climate, make it possible to grow coffee on the mountains, which means Tokyo is the only major metropolis in the world where coffee is grown.
But those islands are far away from Tokyo Bay. The ships that travel around the bay nowadays are either utility craft or they are there for the tourists or partygoers. There are several companies that offer cruises of Tokyo Bay, a great way to see the city, especially at night, when the lights from the city and the bridges make the view spectacular. And not only that, it is a great way to get away from the heat. Some ships are even made up to look like pirate ships.
The cruises range from half-day cruises with guiding, much like you would get on a tour bus, showing all the nooks and crannies of Tokyo Bay, to dinner cruises with service and meals to match the view (and prices, too).
If you want dinner service on the water, a popular way is to rent a “yakatabune” pleasure boat. They have literally been around since the Edo era (although the ships are, of course, new). Often, they serve Chinese meals, and you have to be careful not to fall off as they tend to rock more than a bay cruise ship. During fireworks season, renting a pleasure boat is a very common way for companies to hold parties, either for customers or their employees.
But cruises and pleasure boats are not the only way of getting around the bay. There is a “water bus” service running from Asakusa to Odaiba and then on to the pier next to the historic Hama-Rikyu Gardens, where the shoguns used to hunt ducks.
The starting point of the “water bus” service (it is known in Japanese as 水上バス, Suijō Basu) is in Asakusa, which means it is directly on the Sumida River, the biggest of the rivers that run through Tokyo. While not very long, it collects several tributaries and is as mighty as most other rivers when it runs out into Tokyo Bay.
The water bus runs down the river, past the artificial islands in Tokyo Bay, stopping at Hama-Rikyu Gardens (only for passengers alighting). The admission price for the garden is included in the ticket, and the pier is inside the garden itself. It then stops at Hinode, with Hamamatsucho the closest station on the Yamanote Line. Crossing the bay, it arrives at the Odaiba Seaside Park, and continues to Toyosu on the way back to Asakusa.
There is another line, the Mizube Cruise Line, which follows the same route until Odaiba, but then turns east and heads to the Kansai Rinkai Park, which is on the way to Disneyland and on the border of Chiba (although that route does not run every day).
The ships of the Water Bus service look futuristic when they lie on the water, low with glass windows all around. They look like spaceships travelling on the water. And this is no coincidence. The Hotaluna series of ships has a distinction that probably no other public ferry service has: They were designed by a manga artist. None other than Reji Matsumoto, the genius behind Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999.
Stay tuned for more exciting content like this! Follow us on our social media platforms and check out our blog regularly to stay updated on the latest news, trends, and insider stories from Japan. Don’t miss out on future updates — sign up for our newsletter for exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox!
