Tokyo Totoro Inspired Forest Lake Sayama and Local Tea Walk
Walk the forest widely believed to have inspired My Neighbor Totoro with a local guide who lives nearby and knows these trails in every season. It's a small-group tour (max 4 guests), so we keep an easy pace with plenty of photo stops. The Sayama Hills are not a theme park. Since the early 1990s, local people have bought this woodland plot by plot to protect it, and each saved plot is numbered as a "Totoro Forest." You walk Totoro Forest No. 1, hear how it was saved, and learn to spot the birds and plants that live here. Then visit a small Shinto shrine few tourists find, look out over Lake Sayama, and finish with fresh matcha and local Sayama tea at a family-run tea shop, a stop past guests call a highlight. Cherry blossoms in spring, deep green shade in summer, red and gold leaves in autumn: a quiet day in nature, one hour from central Tokyo. Kurosuke House: see it and take photos from the front gate. Going inside is not part of this tour.
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Country: Japan
- Wildlife: birds, plants
This trip is operated by a local operator and is booked and paid for on Viator, not on Your Naturalist. Your Naturalist does not operate or sell it, and the dates, prices, inclusions and cancellation terms are set by the operator and shown on Viator. The booking link on this page is the referral link of an affiliated travel advisor who is the founder of Your Naturalist, and that advisor is paid a commission on bookings made through it. Your Naturalist is not paid a commission on this trip.