Tokyo Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Minoruasai

What Is a Private Tokyo Food and Nightlife Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were visitors from North America, making their first trip to Japan. They had wanted to visit Japan for a long time, and having finally secured about a week, they planned a trip covering Tokyo and Kyoto. Since they wanted to try a variety of Japanese foods, we had okonomiyaki for lunch in Asakusa. While they had often eaten sushi and tempura back home, okonomiyaki was a completely new experience for them, and they loved it, finding it delicious. In my ten years of guiding, I have never once had a guest of any background say they were "not satisfied" with okonomiyaki when I recommended it — it is extremely popular. Also, after lunch, one of the guests mentioned receiving a message asking them to buy a T-shirt. As we happened to be standing right in front of a shop selling T-shirts with designs related to traditional Japanese firefighters ("hikeshi"), I mentioned, "This place has T-shirts with old firefighter-related designs." One of the guests was surprised and said, "Really? I work as a firefighter," which was a remarkable coincidence. They went into the shop and purchased four T-shirts. It was an unexpected but enjoyable moment. Shinjuku Golden Gai was a place the guests had wanted to visit in advance, and among the few open bars, I took them to "BAR Question," where the owner speaks English. They had a lively conversation about Nikka and Suntory whisky, which they also found to be a fun experience. Afterward, I took them to Omoide Yokocho, thinking they might want to stop into a yakitori restaurant, but due to jet lag they became a little sleepy, and since they had a dinner reservation, they wanted to return to the Hotel to rest for a while. So they simply enjoyed the atmosphere before we finished. They kindly said, "It was so interesting to learn many things and gain a lot of knowledge about Japan," which reassured me as we said our goodbyes.

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Tour Report by MINORUASAI

I acquired national guide license in 2014, and I have been doing guide work full fledged since 2016. In my career before starting guide work, I was a business man and made more than 1,000 business trips both abroad and in Japan, and that experience is my foundation as a guide because I came to know so many places both abroad and in Japan. I have been taking care of both group and individual tourists, and the number of foreign guests I have taken care is close to 2,500 so far. I am based in Tokyo, but I can cover guide work in many prefectures throughout Japan. When I take care of foreign guests, my major concern is to listen attentively to them, find out what they want to know and do in Japan, and give them appropriate guiding in accordance with what I heard from my guests. I would like to provide tailor made tour as much as possible for every precious guest who kindly chose Japan as the tour destination.