イタリア産天然溶岩石を使った溶岩ホットヨガスタジオ「オンザショア」

イタリア産天然溶岩石を使った溶岩ホットヨガスタジオ「オンザショア」

Tachikawa Travel Guide: Things to Do, Walks and History West of Tokyo

GREEN SPRINGSから見た多摩モノレール紅葉した木々の上の軌道を車両が走っていく 立川駅徒歩1分年中無休の溶岩ホットヨガスタジオ

Tachikawa Travel FAQ

If I go to Tachikawa, where should I go? If you choose only one place, Showa Kinen Park: a national government park of 180 hectares in total, built on the site of Tachikawa Airfield, where the flowers change with the seasons. If you want to stay near the station, combine the art of Faret Tachikawa with GREEN SPRINGS.

What can I see on foot from Tachikawa Station? From the North Exit: Faret Tachikawa is three minutes on foot, GREEN SPRINGS about eight, and the Akebono Gate of Showa Kinen Park about ten. From the South Exit: Suwa Shrine is ten minutes, and Tachikawa Park, with the Negawa Greenway, about fifteen.

Where can I spend some spare time in Tachikawa? Many places cost nothing. The Faret Tachikawa artworks are free to see, and admission to the Antarctic and Arctic Science Museum and the Tachikawa Disaster Prevention Center is free. The Midori no Bunka Zone of Showa Kinen Park is also a free area.

Why is Tachikawa so popular? The first reason people gather is transport. JR Tachikawa Station is served by the Chuo, Ome and Nambu Lines, the Tama Monorail crosses it north to south, and about 150,000 people a day board the JR trains alone. In the 2020 census the daytime population was more than ten percent higher than the night-time one, the highest ratio of any city in Tokyo. It also matters that the land returned from the US base was filled, in turn, with a park, national research institutes, and commercial and cultural facilities.

Is there anywhere in Tachikawa fun for train lovers? The Tama Monorail itself is fun to ride. It crosses the Tama River on the Tachihi Bridge, and for about two and a half months around the winter solstice, between Tama Center and around Tachikawa-Minami, you can see “Diamond Fuji” from the window — the setting sun sinking onto Fuji’s summit. Weather permitting.

Are there walking courses in Tachikawa? The city publishes “Tachikawa walking courses” on its official website, including routes through old villages, from the Yagawa toward the Tama River, through modern history, through the birthplace of the Sunagawa farmlands and along Sunagawa and the Tamagawa Aqueduct, and the Path of Poems on the Negawa Greenway. The four walks on this page were built with those as a guide.

What is Tachikawa’s local specialty? Tokyo udo. Tachikawa is Tokyo’s largest producer, with 32.9 percent of Tokyo’s harvest in the 2022 crop year. There is also a short-cut grade called “Tachikawa Komachi,” and certified souvenirs such as udo pie.

What events are held in Tachikawa? The summer fireworks at Showa Kinen Park, the August grand festival of Suwa Shrine, the park’s Cosmos Festival and Autumn Leaves Festival, and Faret Tachikawa’s Museum Days in spring and autumn, among others. In February there is the udo competition, and on New Year’s Day a daruma doll market is held at Azusami Tenjin Shrine.

When did Tachikawa become a city? City status came on 1 December 1940. In 1963 it merged with the town of Sunagawa to take its present shape. It went from village to town in 1923, the year after the airfield opened.

How do I get to Tachikawa from central Tokyo or Kanagawa? From central Tokyo, the JR Chuo Line runs from Shinjuku with no change of trains. In fact Tachikawa Station was born in April 1889 as the end of the first stretch of track the Kobu Railway, today’s Chuo Line, laid out from Shinjuku. The line reached Hachioji four months later. From Kanagawa, the JR Nambu Line links Kawasaki and Tachikawa, 35.5 kilometres with no change. The Nambu Line was completed to Tachikawa in 1929, and was originally laid to carry gravel from the Tama River. From the Yokohama direction you can also take the Yokohama Line to its end at Hachioji and change to the Chuo Line. From Shinjuku or from Kawasaki, Tachikawa is not “beyond the end of the line” but “at the far end of a single ride.”

How long does it take to go around Showa Kinen Park? According to the official guide, the Park Train goes round in about 50 to 60 minutes. By bicycle, there is the cycling course of about 14 kilometres. No official time is given for walking it, so decide on your entrance and the places you want to see in advance.

初日の汗は、予約した人だけが持ち帰れる。

体験レッスンを予約体験専用 03-6665-0898LINE

The Whole Feature: Where to Start Reading

Finally, here is the full Tachikawa Walks feature, sorted by what you are after. English editions are marked; the rest are in Japanese.

What makes this town interesting lies in the daily lives of the people who live here and in the hands of those who have kept small businesses going here for years. Citizens who polish the artworks, farmers who climb down into the udo pits, volunteers who clear the undergrowth in the woods. I would like people who don’t know Tachikawa yet, in Tokyo and far beyond, to see what they have looked after. One ride from Shinjuku, one ride from Kawasaki. Next weekend, get off once at the town you took for a station on the way.

And now the answer to the quiz. It is B, about 28 percent. According to the city’s population table, 4,772 people in 1921 became 6,115 in 1922. A rise of 28.14 percent. In the notes column for that year, the table records only one event: “Tachikawa Airfield opened.” That single line of notes changed the village’s future. A hundred years on, roughly as many people as live in the whole city pass through that village’s station gates every day.

yogaのレッスン前の様子生徒の足もとにあるヨガマット 立川駅徒歩1分年中無休の溶岩ホットヨガスタジオ

Before You Go

  • From central Tokyo, take the JR Chuo Line from Shinjuku to Tachikawa with no change of trains. From Kanagawa, the JR Nambu Line links Kawasaki and Tachikawa (35.5 km) with no change. From the Yokohama area, you can also take the Yokohama Line to Hachioji and change to the Chuo Line. Tachikawa Station is also served by the Ome Line, and the Tama Monorail crosses it north to south. Check timetables and journey times on JR East’s official site.
  • Carry an IC card such as Suica or PASMO; it saves buying a ticket for every ride.
  • From Tachikawa Station: Faret Tachikawa is three minutes from the North Exit, GREEN SPRINGS about eight, the Akebono Gate of Showa Kinen Park about ten; Suwa Shrine is ten minutes from the South Exit.
  • Tachikawa tourism information: Tachikawa Tourism and Convention Association, “Tachikawa Kanko Navi” https://www.tokyo-tachikawa.org/
  • Showa Kinen Park: https://www.showakinen-koen.jp/ (check admission, opening hours and closing days, and Park Train and rental bicycle fares and schedules, on the official site. The Showa Emperor Memorial Museum is announced as closed until 27 November 2026.)
  • Antarctic and Arctic Science Museum: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/science-museum/ (closed on Sundays, Mondays, national holidays and some other days, so check in advance)
  • Faret Tachikawa Art: https://www.faretart.jp/
  • Tama Monorail: https://www.tama-monorail.co.jp/
  • Tachikawa City walking courses (old villages): https://www.city.tachikawa.lg.jp/kanko/bunka/1004244/1004848/1004889.html
  • Closure notice for the Kawagoemichi Ryokuchi Old Farmhouse Garden: https://www.city.tachikawa.lg.jp/shisetsu/1008065/1008100.html
  • Festival, fireworks and event dates change every year. Check each organizer’s official site for the latest. Opening days and hours of all facilities are best confirmed on their official sites just before you go.
  • Shrines and temples are places of worship. Walk quietly, and follow any signs about photography.

After the Walk, at Tachikawa Station North Exit

Whichever route you walk, you usually end up back at Tachikawa Station. That is what a knot town is like. The studio that made this feature has also been supported by the people of Tachikawa and the towns around it, and by the small local businesses here. This feature is written as a small way of giving something back to that town.

One minute on foot from the North Exit of JR Tachikawa Station, on the third floor of the Etoile Building at 2-14-10 Akebonocho, Tachikawa, Tokyo, is On the Shore Tachikawa (オンザショア立川店), a lava-stone hot yoga studio. Besides hot yoga on heated lava-stone floors, it offers room-temperature yoga, Pilates, women-only kickboxercise, boxercise, HIIT and personal training, with more than 25 kinds of yoga lessons.

It is open every day from 8:00 to 23:30. You can loosen up in the morning before heading for the park, or work up a sweat in the evening before going out to the bar alleys.

If it is your first time, there is a trial yoga lesson for ¥1,980 including tax, with two bath towels, one face towel and a mat to rent included. You can drop in with whatever you have been carrying all day. Pregnant guests cannot join lava-stone hot yoga, but room-temperature maternity yoga is available. Many of our yoga instructors speak English, and the studio’s owner, Naomi Fujita, who holds Japan’s top English qualification (Eiken Grade 1) and a perfect TOEIC score and once worked as a translator and overseas interpreter at Nomura Securities, and who lived in Alaska for three years, often helps guests from the US bases in English herself (visitors from abroad have even left Google reviews about the care they received in English); if you would like an English-friendly lesson, just say so when you book.

Studio information is at https://ontheshore.jp/ , and trial lessons can be booked at https://site.locaop.jp/C0aVK?_src=hp .

In a town that grew because aeroplanes called it, you stretch the legs that walked all day and deepen your breath, one breath at a time. A journey through the knot town ends, as it should, at the knot.

Cover photo: The Tama Monorail seen from GREEN SPRINGS, a train gliding on its track above autumn-coloured trees (Photo: DiKnK8713 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons)

Information as of October 2026.

More Tachikawa Walks

All Tachikawa Walks (English)

初日の汗は、予約した人だけが持ち帰れる。

体験レッスンを予約体験専用 03-6665-0898LINE

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