One day in Chiba City itinerary (ending with a baseball game!) Day trip from Tokyo possible!

Kon’nichiwa!

If you’re looking to spend a day in Chiba City doing very-Japanese type things, I have some ideas for you based on things that I did!

Once I got to Chiba City, I started off by taking the unique Chiba Monorail, then spent time walking around to see a temple, a castle, and a shrine.

I ended the day at a Japanese baseball game, cheering on the local Chiba team!

The next morning, I went to a small Japanese garden and had traditional matcha green tea, as I didn’t have time the day before. If you get your day started early, you can make time for it on the same day. I got my day started around noon.

This Chiba itinerary is perfect if you want a mix of traditional sights and a taste of Japanese baseball culture.

 

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Day trip to Chiba City from Tokyo

It’s reasonable to do a day trip to Yokohama if you’re staying in Tokyo.

For example, from the centrally located neighborhood of Shinjuku in Tokyo to Chibaminato Station in Chiba City will take a little over an hour by train.

 

👆 Tokyo to Chiba City map: You can get from Tokyo to Chiba City by train directly in just over an hour. It may be a little longer depending on where exactly in Tokyo you’re coming from and where exactly in Chiba you’re going to. Google maps makes it easy to navigate Tokyo and Chiba by train. See map + directions. (Adjust departure time to give you a better idea.) It will also tell you the train fare. The cost to go to Chiba City by train from Tokyo is around 1150 yen (US$8). It can cost less if you don’t mind a little extra walking through a big train station! Consider it a fun very-Tokyo experience! 😆

 

 

 

Now let’s look at things to do on your own with one day in Chiba! I’ve included the approximate time I did these things, just to give you an idea.

Start: Chibaminato Station

I arrived at Chibaminato Station at around 12:30pm.

 

Your starting point for Chiba City is Chibaminato Station! If you want to walk around outside of the train station, it’s about a 5 minute walk to the waterfront.

 

👆 Tokyo to Chiba City train route directions: You can use google maps to figure out directions and train routes from Tokyo to Chiba. You can look more into each route to further explore the helpful details on the google maps app! See map + directions. (Adjust departure time to give you a better idea.)

 

Chiba monorail to Kencho-mae Station

I arrived at Kenchomae Station at around 12:50pm.

 

The reason we are starting at Chibaminato Station is because this is where you can get on the Chiba monorail!

The Chiba Urban Monorail is said to be the “world’s longest suspended monorail system” so taking a ride on it will give you a unique experience.

Because of the things I wanted to do (temple/castle/shrine), I thought Kencho-mae Station was a good station to ride the monorail to!

 

If you have a suica card or pasmo card, then you can pay for your monorail ticket the same way you do everywhere in Tokyo, by tapping your card through the ticket gate.

When I tapped my icoca card (another type of IC card), I got a loud denial alert. It turns out, this is one of the rare stations I’ve encountered (if I’ve encountered one at all!) that only certain types of IC cards are accepted.

This was not a big deal, as it just meant that I needed to buy my monorail ticket at the ticket machine with cash, which was pretty easy. It was 290 yen (US$2).

 

👆 Ride the Chiba monorail above the streets!

 

👆 Chiba monorail directions from Chibaminato Station to Kencho-mae Station. If you click on the “also at” time, it will give you a list of future timings so you can know how frequent the monorail is!

 

👆 Google maps will tell you the Chiba monorail timings. This is the “also at” expanded out. The monorail runs frequently enough that you don’t need to plan your day out that carefully. Arrive when you arrive and get on the next monorail!

 

👆 As you are walking the streets, you can look down to see if you can spot any cute Chiba manhole covers!

 

Senyoji Temple

I arrived at Senyoji Temple at around 1:20pm.

 

Walking from Kencho-mae Station to Senyoji Temple is about a 20 minute walk (map). I didn’t take any route in particular, but I ended up on some quiet residential streets so it was a nice walk.

I ended up coming through the back, but if you want to enter through the proper way, then you want to enter from the spot in front of the Mitsumine Shrine.

At this entrance is where you’ll see the red nio guardian statues that you don’t want to miss while you’re here.

At the temple grounds you’ll also see the unique-looking ginkgo tree. Take care to notice how the tree branches have grown!

The Senyoji Temple is a quick visit, and it’s free.

 

👆 The Senyoji Temple entry. Look carefully!

 

👆 You’ll see guardians inside.

 

👆 Walk all the way around this unique gingko tree in Chiba!

 

 

Chiba Castle (Chiba City Folk Museum)

I got my first glimpse of the castle at 1:55pm.

 

Walking from the Senyoji Temple to Chiba castle at Inohana Park is about a 20 minute walk (map).

The castle you’ll see in Chiba is a reconstructed version of the original Inohana Castle, which no longer exists. This reconstructed castle now houses the Chiba City Folk Museum.

It’s a quick visit to see the reconstructed Inohana Castle, and it’s free to walk around Inohana Park.

 

👆 The castle you’ll see in Chiba isn’t the original Inohana Castle, but it’s still nice to see! The castle “ruins” are nearby (you can find it on google maps), but there’s literally nothing there.

 

👆 Walking around the castle.

 

👆 On the way to Inohana Park, I passed by Kotokuji Temple and saw these stone statues near the street (map).

 

Myoken Hongu Shrine (Chiba Shrine)

I arrived at Myoken Hongu Shrine at around 2:40pm.

 

Walking from the Inohana Park to Myoken Hongu Shrine is about a 15 minute walk (map). I did find it a bit difficult to figure out where I was actually supposed to enter from, but I found it eventually! I think I went around the block when I didn’t need to.

The Myoken Hongu Shrine, also called the Chiba Shrine, lets you experience a classic Japanese shrine with vivid red gates and a small calm pond. Look for the small white inari fox statues!

The Myoken Hongu Shrine is a quick visit, and it’s free.

 

👆 You can walk through a red torii gate at the Chiba shrine.

 

👆 It’s a nice small area to walk through.

 

👆 You can see little inari fox statues.

 

 

 

Canal to see monorail

Since I had not actually yet seen the monorail from street level (or outside the station), I went in search of street level views of the monorail!

When I was riding the monorail, I had seen that we were going along above a canal for part of it, so I decided to walk towards the canal. It’s about a 5 minute walk from the shrine to the nearest canal.

The monorail timings are frequent enough that it won’t be long before you’ll see one pass above you! You can check google maps if you want to know the exact time it’ll leave the nearby station.

You can look at google maps to see the route of the monorail and walk to it (map).

 

👆 The Chiba monorail is said to be the “world’s longest suspended monorail system” and you can ride it as a day trip from Tokyo.

 

Train from Yoshikawakoen Station to Kaihimmakuhari Station

I arrived at Yoshikawakoen Station just before 3pm. I went out of the south exit of Kahimmakuhari Station at just past 3:30pm.

 

Depending on which part of the canal you go to, you’ll either be closer to Yoshikawakoen Station or Sakaecho Station.

Going to Yoshikawakoen Station will give you a few extra minutes on the monorail on your way back to Chibaminato Station!

From Chibaminato Station, you’ll transfer to a JR line.

 

Food at Plena Makuhari shopping mall

Since I was going to a baseball game in the evening (and because it was the train station for my hotel), I got off at Kaihimmakuhari Station, which took about 30 minutes from Yoshikawakoen Station (map).

Just a few minutes from the train station is Plena Makuhari shopping mall which has a few food options.

My pre-game cheap food was Japanese-style Italian food at Saizeriya (reviews). I love the unlimited olive oil to put on bread and in minestrone soup with rice fill me up.

It was the first time I had seen a robot deliver food at a restaurant!

 

👆 A robot was moving around the restaurant delivering food.

 

Mihama-en Garden

I didn’t get around to doing this on my “one day in Chiba City” day, and I did this the following morning.

 

The Mihama-en Garden is a small garden that makes for a nice leisurely stroll. It’s 100 yen (less than US$1).

You can quickly walk through the garden in like 10 to 15 minutes, or sit on the benches and stay awhile!

You’ll want to stop by the visitor center that’s right near the entrance outside the garden so you can get a souvenir stamp, as well the official garden brochure.

You can also buy fish food to feed the koi carp that are in the pond at the garden. As I passed by a pond, it seemed like the koi came up alongside me with their mouths open. It felt like they were expecting me to feed them. Were they hungry?! 🤪

The other big thing to do at Mihama-en Garden is to stop at the teahouse! You’ll be served traditional matcha green tea, and there are even instructions in English on how to drink it the proper way. This is an additional 900 yen (US$7).

If you’re going to the garden towards the end of the day, you’ll want to be aware of the closing time, which is 5pm. For the matcha, you need to show up to be served before 4pm, and you can stay at the teahouse until 4:30pm. The opening time for the garden and teahouse is 9am. The teahouse is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. (The garden is open every day.)

I think this can be a perfect activity to do before a baseball game! You can walk from Kaihimmakuhari Station to Mihama-en Garden (10 minute walk), and then you can also walk from Mihama-en Garden to the baseball stadium (10 minute walk).

 

👆 See traditional Japanese garden landscape at Mihama-en Garden in Chiba.

 

👆 It’s a nice easy stroll through the garden.

 

👆 The koi fish (carp) opening their mouths wide as I was walking by. You can buy fish food at the visitor center just outside the entrance. (Don’t feed the fish your own human food.)

 

👆 You can also get a souvenir stamp at the visitor center.

 

👆 Drink traditional Japanese matcha green tea at the Mihama-en Garden tea house!

 

👆 You’ll get matcha and a Japanese sweet.

 

ZOZO Marine Stadium for Chiba Lotte Marines baseball game!

I went back to my hotel (the APA Tokyo Bay Makuhari) to rest for a little bit, and then I walked over to the baseball stadium. I entered the gates just before 5:50pm for a 6pm game. Ideally I would have been there closer to 5:30pm so I could comfortably get settled in my seat before the player introductions!

 

It’s about a 20 minute walk from Kaihimmakuhari Station to ZOZO Stadium where the Chiba Lotte Marines play baseball (map).

 

The biggest excitement of the day is going to a Japanese baseball game at ZOZO Stadium to cheer on the Chiba Lotte Marines!

Even if you’re not really a baseball fan, it’s something you can have fun with as a Japanese cultural experience.

You’ll want to sit in the cheering section of the Marines so you can join in for some of the cheering!

They do have dedicated cheers/chants for each player, but you don’t need to know the whole chant in order to get involved. Once I figured out the player’s name, I just joined in the chanting for that part! Being a participant in the chanting made it more fun!

There are plenty of food options inside and outside the stadium.

 

👆 The train station near the baseball stadium is Kaihimmakuhari Station. Once you exit the train station, look for the cute little mascots! You can walk 20 minutes from the train station to the stadium, or there’s a bus to get you closer.

 

👆 I went to a baseball game in Chiba. The cheering section was fun!

 

 

If you are an MLB fan, then you might appreciate going to this game even more, because Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki was with the Chiba Marines. He also pitched a perfect game at Zozo Marine Stadium.

Going to a game at Zozo Marine Stadium is just one of the ways that you can see baseball in Japan! There are 5 baseball teams in the Tokyo area… and more across the country! See how to buy Japanese baseball tickets.