Private guide in Tokyo

[jdvmd]

Can anyone recommend a tour guide for our family of four (all adults) in Tokyo? Looking at a half day perhaps of the major sites. English speaking.

 

[jkgourmet]

There are several goodwill organizations in Tokyo that provide volunteer guides.  We used several of those organizations in Japan very happily.  

 

https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/list-of-volunteer-guides/

 

In tokyo, we used this one for two half day tours.  http://www.tokyofreeguide.org

[jdvmd]

Thanks so much, jkgourmet!

[SoBaycruiser]

Since the Goodwill volunteers can’t accommodate all requests in peak times, you might try TripleLights.com.  

 

 

[jkgourmet]

4 hours ago, SoBaycruiser said:

Since the Goodwill volunteers can’t accommodate all requests in peak times, you might try TripleLights.com.  

 

 

Or Tours by Locals.  We were happy with their services in kyoto.

[Northern Aurora]

We highly recommend TripleLights.  We used a TripleLights guide for two of our five days in Tokyo last fall, and he customized the tour for the two of us matching our interests.  We covered so much ground in Tokyo, and he really kept us moving.  Fortunately we had scheduled a day on our own between the two days we spent with Yuki as we needed the rest!

 

And a quick comment regarding the free guides -- there have been mixed reviews through the years.  Apparently at times you get what you pay for.

[jdvmd]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

We highly recommend TripleLights.  We used a TripleLights guide for two of our five days in Tokyo last fall, and he customized the tour for the two of us matching our interests.  We covered so much ground in Tokyo, and he really kept us moving.  Fortunately we had scheduled a day on our own between the two days we spent with Yuki as we needed the rest!

 

And a quick comment regarding the free guides -- there have been mixed reviews through the years.  Apparently at times you get what you pay for.

TripleLights seems like they might fit the bill! Thanks so much for the recommendation! Which tours did you book specifically?

Did you have to pay for an assistant in addition to the driver? Or was a guide provided as well?

[sippican]

Here's another endorsement of Triple Lights. You'll get to choose the guie that seems to be the best fit for your needs.

[Northern Aurora]

On 4/30/2019 at 11:57 AM, jdvmd said:

TripleLights seems like they might fit the bill! Thanks so much for the recommendation! Which tours did you book specifically?

Did you have to pay for an assistant in addition to the driver? Or was a guide provided as well?

 

 

The TripleLights website has photos, bios of their guides and reviews.  My husband was assigned the task to select a guide, and he choose Yuki.  Yuki has a science background and actually lived for awhile in the US.  In any event, my husband and Yuki corresponded by e-mail, and Yuki designed a day for us which matched our own interests.  So it wasn't a "canned" tour, but one designed for us.   After reflection we decided to book another day with Yuki, so he modified our first day and added a second day.  Fortunately we had a day "off" between days as Yuki really had us moving.

 

He met us at our hotel, and we were off.  He lent us transit cards and knew how many yen we needed to load onto them.  We used the efficient Tokyo metro to move through the city.  His fee was $30 (or so) per hour for up to 5 people (if my memory is correct, as there were just two of us).  At some of the attractions we paid his entrance fee in addition to ours.  And we also purchased his lunches.  Given how much we saw and the personalized tour we thought it was an incredible bargain.

[Miaminice]

we just got back last week from our second Japan cruise... and we are already planning our third for 2021.

 

On both our cruises we used Triplelights.com and Toursbylocals.com. 

Both are great but Tours by Locals have a better cancelation policy plus a return to ship guarantee.

 

For more info on Japan look at the travellogue of our first cruise: 

http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

 

Or the report on our last cruise:

 

[Floridiana]

On our last trip, we had Ted, Tadasu Ohbu. www.tadasu-ohbu.com and ohbu@f5.dion.ne.jp in Tokyo. Ted knows the city inside out. I can highly recommend him. This was for our land trip after the cruise. 

[girljerk]

AirBnb is also a great resource for different types of tours. They have everything from cooking classes to bike tours. We booked a bike riding tour of Shinjuku for an upcoming trip to Tokyo. 

 

Sherri

[Kylie]

On 7/14/2019 at 6:47 PM, Floridiana said:

On our last trip, we had Ted, Tadasu Ohbu. www.tadasu-ohbu.com and ohbu@f5.dion.ne.jp in Tokyo. Ted knows the city inside out. I can highly recommend him. This was for our land trip after the cruise. 

 

Thanks for the recommendation!   Just what we were looking for!

 

[DONNAKG]

On 5/4/2019 at 6:25 AM, Miaminice said:

we just got back last week from our second Japan cruise... and we are already planning our third for 2021.

 

On both our cruises we used Triplelights.com and Toursbylocals.com. 

Both are great but Tours by Locals have a better cancelation policy plus a return to ship guarantee.

 

For more info on Japan look at the travellogue of our first cruise: 

http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

 

Or the report on our last cruise:

 

hi Miaminice-

We are going on a Princess cruise to Japan & Busan.. On our Vietnam cruise the staff had all of us surrender our passports and handed out landing cards. Just wondering if this was your experience also??

thanks

Donnakg

 

[Miaminice]

10 hours ago, DONNAKG said:

hi Miaminice-

We are going on a Princess cruise to Japan & Busan.. On our Vietnam cruise the staff had all of us surrender our passports and handed out landing cards. Just wondering if this was your experience also??

thanks

Donnakg

 

 

No! It‘s mandatory that you have your passport on you in Japan - passport, not landing card. Some other Asian (e.g. Vietnam, can’t remember if so in South Korea) countries do the landing card thing. Passports are collected and landing cards are distributed. When the landings cards are returned, passports are returned. Not Japan though...

Edited August 22, 2019 by Miaminice

[DONNAKG]

THANKS FOR THE INFO!!!!