It’s not often we travel without Wylie, but sometimes, especially for short trips it’s just not feasible to fly with him so we needed to find dog boarding in Tokyo. We have a big trip planned in the summer to Africa where Wylie simply cannot come with us for obvious reasons. So the hunt began for a good dog hotel/boarding facility in Tokyo.
Whenever we have left Wylie in the past it’s always been in a home environment. This is the only way we are comfortable leaving him. We used Wooga Dog in Singapore. Barks & Bones in Samui. Doggy Paradise in Hua Hin. So there’s no way we were going to change that and use a place that used cages.
We really struggled to find anywhere in Japan that didn’t use cages. Not only that but it seemed that most ‘dog hotels’ barely even walk the dogs. The majority seem to have them in cages all day and night allowing them to pee and poo in the cage or at best in a small communal ‘play area’. That just wasn’t acceptable for us. Not only that but the prices were crazy!
We were really getting worried we weren’t going to find something and would have to cancel our trip. Then we were recommended Sakura Bace. Thank goodness! This was exactly what we were looking for. Ryo, who owns Sakura Bace was like an angel. He is based in Sakura, an area in Chiba. So whilst not exactly in Tokyo, or even close to our home that didn’t matter to us. What mattered was that Wylie would have a comfortable second home while we travelled.
At Sakura Bace, they have a large enclosed garden area where the doggies can all play together. Ryo has pugs so there’s always doggies to play with. There’s also an indoor play area if the weather is either rainy or too hot. On an evening there are no cages either. It’s exactly what we were looking for.
Prices are totally reasonable as well. For 24 hours it is ¥8,800. Before Ryo can confirm it’s possible for the dog to stay you must go to his place for a consultation. This is to ensure all the dogs get on well together and to go through all of your dogs routines, feeding etc. it gives both parties peace of mind and you get to check out the place too. There’s a fee of ¥9,900 for this and it’s totally worth it so you know everything you need and you have the opportunity to ask questions. As soon as we saw the place and met Ryo we knew this is exactly what we needed and hoped Wylie would be on his best behaviour so he would be approved! Thankfully he was and we got the green light.
Wylie’s first stay was a short 5 night stay while we went to Korea for a visa run (the joys of expat life!) By this point we had a car so to make things easy we dropped Wylie off on the way to the airport. It took about 1 hour from our place in Tokyo to Sakura Bace. From there it’s only 30 minutes to Narita airport so actually it’s really convenient. We then parked the car at the airport whilst we were away. This made it easy for picking Wylie up when we got back also.
For the consultation we actually took the Asakusa line to Yurigaoka station where Ryo picked us up. It’s about a 10-15 minute drive to his place from the station. But taking the car made everything much easier. Parking at Narita was also super easy and quite reasonably priced actually. We did reserve in advance for an extra fee to secure a spot.
During our trip we got so many updates from Ryo via WhatsApp. Lots of pictures and videos so we knew what Wylie and his new buddies were getting up to.
This was an amazing find and we are so happy Wylie got another second family who love him as much as everyone else does ❤️
We’d fully recommend Ryo and Sakura Bace for anyone looking for dog boarding in Tokyo that doesn’t use cages. It’s an amazing environment for all doggos and Wylie cant wait to go back in the summer.
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