Monday, 9 November 2026 · By 37 Frames
We’ve been delighted to receive invitations to a few of Japan’s recent openings. With autumn wedding season in full swing, we haven’t been able to accept as many as we’d have liked.
Ten people can feel lost in a ballroom and entirely at home around one table. That’s why the detail we like most about Tokyo’s reimagined garden wedding venue is the size of its smallest room. In this edition we’ve also found somewhere to take both families for dinner, a mountain retreat for just the two of you, and a Kyoto train that slows down precisely when you’d want it to. There’s one change to read before anyone packs the gifts for the flight home, too.
1. Where to gather in Tokyo
Ludens Garden makes room for a wedding of ten
Ludens Garden lists 7 November as the grand opening of its reimagined wedding venue in Tachikawa, western Tokyo. The chapel combines glass, wood and stone. For the reception, En is designed for 10 to 30 people; Ao takes 31 to 80, and Mori 40 to 90.
For your wedding trip: If you have a small guest list, start with En and ask for the venue’s outside photographer and planner terms before putting down a deposit.
Ludens Garden, 7 November opening and room sizes; checked 8 November 2026.
Jardin des Sens Tokyo has a private table for both families
The former Sens & Saveurs in Marunouchi reopened as Jardin des Sens Tokyo on 30 October. Its four private rooms seat two to six each, and two can be joined for up to 14. The room charge is ¥11K per room (about US$70, at ¥158 to the dollar), including tax. One useful detail in the Japanese booking notes: if you bring a special bottle of wine, tell the restaurant when booking and allow ¥6.6K (about US$42) corkage per 750 ml bottle.
For your wedding trip: For a welcome dinner with preschool children, book a private room; for seven or more people in private dining, book by phone.
Hiramatsu, 30 October reopening; Japanese booking terms; English booking terms; checked 8 November 2026.
2. Where to stay, before and after the vows
The Kyoto Marriott opens in Okazaki
The Kyoto Marriott Hotel opened on 1 November in Okazaki, at the foot of Higashiyama, in the renovated rooms of the former Hotel Heian no Mori Kyoto. Heian Shrine, Nanzenji and the Philosopher’s Path are all close by. There are 214 rooms, including suites, with shoji motifs and colours taken from Kyoto ceramics, and seven event rooms for weddings and parties, the largest for up to 270 guests. The nearest subway stop is Keage, and a shuttle runs from Kyoto Station.
For your wedding trip: For an autumn wedding in Kyoto, it’s a quieter base for guests than the station area. For a dinner with both families, ask about the smaller event rooms as well as the Japanese restaurant.
HMI Hotel Group, 4 November announcement; Marriott International, 4 November announcement; Kyoto Marriott Hotel, getting here; checked 8 November 2026.
Aso Retreat HONO brings the mountain into dinner
Aso Retreat HONO opened on 2 November in Minamiaso, Kumamoto. Each of its 17 rooms looks towards Aso’s five peaks and has its own hot spring bath. Beside the restaurant is a garden of edible plants. At ASATO, the kitchen uses Aso spring water and a wood fire to cook ingredients from the mountains and the Kumamoto coast.
For your wedding trip: For a honeymoon night here, leave the evening free for dinner and choose the room for its view and bath; only some room types add a sauna.
Onko Chishin, 2 November opening; checked 8 November 2026.
A whole villa in Atami, with dinner at home
UMITO opened reservations on 27 October for the planned 20 November reopening of Atami The Salon, on Sagami Bay. The two-bedroom villa sleeps up to six. Its opening meal plan pairs a teppanyaki dinner cooked in the villa with a Japanese breakfast the next morning.
For your wedding trip: This is a way to share a seaside stay with close family. If you’d like anyone beyond the overnight party to join dinner, confirm that separately before inviting them.
UMITO, 27 October announcement; villa and dining plans; checked 8 November 2026.
A Shinjuku room where six can stay together
Citadines North Shinjuku Tokyo opened on 28 October in Hyakunincho, a three-minute walk from JR Okubo Station according to Ascott. Its family room sleeps up to six. Most room types have a full kitchen or a washer-dryer; the separate serviced residences are planned for March 2027.
For your wedding trip: For relatives spending several nights in Tokyo, compare the family room with separate doubles and check which appliances come with the room you choose.
Ascott Japan, 28 October opening; checked 8 November 2026.
3. Two train journeys worth planning differently
Kyoto’s maple tunnel after dark
From 7 November to 6 December, Eizan Railway’s autumn timetable has trains slowing between Ichihara and Ninose on the Kurama Line, where the maples are illuminated after sunset. On the weekday timetable from 9 November, the first departure from Demachiyanagi listed for the lights is at 4:30PM.
For your wedding trip: For a free evening with your guests, check the operator’s timetable for your travel date: run times can change, and the lit season can run longer if the leaves hold.
Eizan Railway, Japanese timetable from 7 November; English timetable; checked 8 November 2026.
Shikoku’s visitor rail pass adds reserved seats
On 29 October, JR Shikoku announced a change for ALL SHIKOKU Rail Passes sold from 1 December. The adult three-day pass rises from ¥12K to ¥15K (about US$76 to US$95), and the seven-day pass from ¥20K to ¥23K (about US$127 to US$146). The revised pass includes ordinary reserved seats on eligible trains. It is for foreign visitors entering Japan with Temporary Visitor status.
For your wedding trip: If your guests are extending their trip to Shikoku, price their actual journeys against the pass sold on their purchase date; an older pass does not acquire the new seat benefit.
JR Shikoku, 29 October fare and seating notice (PDF); checked 8 November 2026.
4. Before you check the suitcases
Japan changes how visitors claim tax-free shopping refunds
For eligible purchases made from 1 November, visitors now pay the tax-inclusive price at participating shops. The retailer arranges the refund after customs confirms that the purchaser is taking the goods out of Japan within 90 days of purchase. That makes the order of things at the airport rather important, and our guide to tax-free shopping in Japan walks through it.
For your wedding trip: If the ceramics you bought to take home are in your checked suitcase, keep the bag with you until you’ve completed the customs procedure. At Haneda, do this before bag drop.
National Tax Agency, reform effective 1 November (PDF); Haneda Airport departure instructions; checked 8 November 2026.
Japan’s Region in Focus: Awaji Island, Hyogo
More couples have been asking us about Awaji Island this autumn. In Japan’s oldest chronicles, it’s the first island Izanagi and Izanami made, and at Izanagi Jingu, among the oldest shrines named in them, people still come to a 900-year-old camphor, the meoto okusu, to pray for a happy marriage. The island makes more incense than anywhere else in Japan. It also has Shigeru Ban’s work: the zazen retreat Zenbo Seinei, with its 100-metre timber deck, and since June, THE PASONA natureverse retreat at the northern tip, 57 rooms each with a natural hot spring bath, across the water from Kobe and the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. On the east coast, AWAJI LAGOON SUITES Tenrei is now taking bookings for a planned late-January opening: 25 suites, each with an open-air hot spring bath. Kobe is under an hour away across the bridge, so for a wedding in Kobe or Osaka, we’d keep two nights here afterwards.
Awaji Island Tourism Association: Izanagi Jingu; Pasona Group, THE PASONA natureverse retreat announcement; THE PASONA natureverse retreat; Zenbo Seinei; Hotel New Awaji Group, 8 September announcement; Hyogo Prefecture: Awaji incense; checked 8 November 2026.
