Jiu Jitsu Gym Near Me in Aoyama: Carpe Diem's Original 2007 Dojo

Carpe Diem HQ Aoyama Dojo lets you watch any class without an appointment, and your first full class is free with a rental gi and towel included. The dojo is on the first floor of 4-26-16 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, eight minutes on foot from Omotesando Station. Visitors from other academies pay ¥3,000 for a day and must book ahead, and every price on the dojo's fee page includes tax.

Director Yuki Ishikawa writes on the English page that he opened his first dojo in 2007, and Aoyama is that first room. It is still the headquarters of a Carpe Diem network that now includes Shibuya, Jiyugaoka, Setagaya and Fukagawa in central Tokyo, so the name on the door here is the original rather than a franchise.

Day to day the mat is run by manager Tomoshige Sera, a black belt whose listed results include first place in the pro under 76.9kg division at the ADCC Japan Tokyo Open in 2025 and a win on ONE Friday Fights 76. Brown belt Asuka Tokito, the 2026 JBJJF All Japan Open lightfeather champion, also teaches, which tells you the competition side here is current, not historic.

The timetable is divided by experience. There is a White Belts Only class, a Basics class, a Regular class and a No-Gi or grappling class in rash guard and shorts. Sparring is never compulsory, and the instructor running the class does not spar; they stay off the rotation and supervise, which is a rule many beginners only discover after a rough first week elsewhere.

Kids classes run four days a week, taught in English and Japanese, and the English site lists instructors such as Jason Cottrell and Gilhan Bae alongside Japanese coaches. The Japanese homepage is currently running a kids enrollment campaign that gives the first 20 new children a free gi and belt, so expect weekday afternoons to be busy with families. For an adult who does not speak Japanese, the bilingual coaching team is the main reason to choose this room over a neighbourhood dojo.

The free trial is once per person and can be any class on the timetable. Arrive ten minutes early and bring a T-shirt to wear under the borrowed gi; the dojo supplies the gi and towel, so you need nothing else. Change rooms and showers are on site with soap and shampoo provided, which matters in Aoyama, where you may be heading straight to dinner.

If you are only curious, take the dojo up on its open offer to watch first. Observation needs no appointment, and ten minutes on the bench during a Basics class shows you the pace better than any website. Members bring their own gi, towel, rash guard and spare underwear and also arrive ten minutes before the start.

On Japanese public holidays the dojo switches to a fixed short timetable: a Regular class at 10:00, another Regular class at 11:30 and a white belt class at 13:00. For a visitor in Tokyo on a holiday weekend, that 13:00 white belt slot is the friendliest entry point of the day.

Our honest advice is to skip the 10:00 holiday class on your first visit. It is a Regular session built for people who already know the positions, while the afternoon white belt hour is pitched exactly at newcomers, and the coach will spend that hour on the basics you actually need.

Monthly plans are ¥17,600 for Fulltime and ¥14,300 for the 8 Days plan, which allows up to eight visits a month. Students from junior high to university and kids aged 5 to 12 pay ¥13,200. The one-time enrollment fee is ¥11,000; the English page labels it per month, but the Japanese page makes clear it is charged once.

Visitors from non-Carpe Diem academies pay on a sliding scale: ¥3,000 for one day, ¥5,000 for two, ¥10,000 for a week and ¥25,000 for a month, and they may be turned away without a reservation. Members of other Carpe Diem branches pay ¥1,000 a day and need no booking. Gi rental with towel is ¥1,000 per use, and a towel alone is ¥100.

Private lessons are priced by instructor. An hour with Tomoshige Sera costs ¥15,000, or ¥50,000 for four, while Jason Cottrell, Fumitoshi Ishikawa and Gilhan Bae charge ¥11,000 an hour, and Asuka Tokito ¥8,500.

Members who hate carrying a wet gi home on the Ginza Line can rent a gi-wash and private locker service at ¥11,000 a month for a small locker or ¥13,200 for a large one. The Japanese page notes that this service currently has a waiting list, so ask to be added on your first day if you plan to join.

The Nezu Museum at 6-5-1 Minami-Aoyama is the natural detour after a morning class. Its Japanese garden drops down a slope behind the galleries, with stone lanterns, a pond and tea houses tucked among maples, and it feels far quieter than the shopping streets of Omotesando.

If the museum is closed, walk the back lanes of Minami-Aoyama toward Omotesando Station instead. If Aoyama's timetable does not fit your day, the Carpe Diem Shibuya branch on the second floor of 1-26-26 Higashi, Shibuya is the closest sister dojo, and the Jiyugaoka branch in Meguro is a short train ride further on the Toyoko Line.

Carpe Diem HQ Aoyama Dojo, 4-26-16 Minami-Aoyama, 1F, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Eight minutes on foot from Omotesando Station. The pages we checked publish no phone number; contact the dojo through its web form or its LINE account, @834jhfvk. A dojo etiquette sheet is posted at every branch, so read it on the wall before your first class. Free observation is possible any time, while visitors must reserve. Members can pause for ¥2,000 a month instead of cancelling, which suits people who travel for work. Kids train in English and Japanese four days a week.