Tour Itinerary
- 09:00 Met in front of Starbucks at the Shibuya Scramble Crossing, and departed for the route confirmed through prior email correspondence. Shibuya – Meiji Shrine – Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observatory – Imperial Palace – Sensoji Temple.
- 09:40-10:50 Guided them to the Shibuya Hachiko statue, then took the Yamanote Line to Harajuku. Guided them through Meiji Shrine. By chance, we came across a fire drill at Meiji Shrine, and the fire brigade arrived and sprayed water toward the main hall roof as part of firefighting activities. Since there were also 6 children with us, they were delighted by this unexpected event.
- 11:10-12:10 Moved to Shinjuku via the Yamanote Line, and explained Tokyo from the south observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
- 12:40-13:50 Got off the subway in front of the National Diet Building, and guided them from the National Diet Building main gate ⇒ Sakuradamon ⇒ Nijubashi ⇒ Nijubashimae Station.
- 14:50-15:10 Guided them through Sensoji Temple. When I asked if I should accompany them back to Shibuya Station, they said, "We'll walk a bit more on our own from here," so we parted ways at 15:10.
What Is a Private Walking Tour of Tokyo Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Meiji Shrine and the Imperial Palace I guided a group visiting from North America. During the tour, we encountered two unexpected events that delighted the guests. The first occurred when we visited Meiji Shrine, which happened to be holding a fire drill that day. Many of the shrine priests, along with a fire brigade, were mobilized, and we were able to watch an actual firefighting exercise being carried out as part of the drill. Water was sprayed from about six hoses all the way up to the roof of the main hall, and the younger members of the group were absolutely thrilled. They were even able to take commemorative photos with the fire trucks. The second unexpected event happened when we got off the subway in front of the National Diet Building and walked up to the surface toward the front of the building, where we came across a large number of police officers and plainclothes officers. Thinking that perhaps a state guest was arriving at the Diet, I asked an officer, and was told, "The Emperor will be arriving at the Diet shortly, so we apologize, but we are restricting traffic. Please wait on the left side of the road in front of the building until His Majesty arrives." There were nearly 100 people there holding Japanese flags in both hands, and we joined them to wait for the Emperor's limousine to pass. About five minutes later, the limousine carrying His Majesty, who was waving toward us, passed right in front of us and headed to the Diet. The guests were overjoyed by this. After that, I guided the group from Sakuradamon toward the area in front of Nijubashi Bridge. Remarkably, as we were taking photos there, a police officer again approached us and said they would be restricting traffic and asked us to move to the other side of the fence. We were told that the Emperor, who had made his greetings at the Diet, would soon be returning. We waited about ten minutes here, and once again were able to see the Emperor waving toward us as his limousine returned from the Diet and headed to the main gate. One of the guests captured a perfect video and was delighted. It was the first time in my guiding experience that I happened to encounter His Majesty while he was on the move, so I was surprised as well, but incredibly it happened twice. Combined with the encounter with the fire brigade, the guests were extremely happy. All sorts of things can happen on a walking tour, but in any case I was glad the guests were so delighted. They also planned to explore Tokyo on their own over the following two days, so I explained how to get to various places they might find interesting, even ones we did not visit, and they were satisfied with that as well.
Click here for more details: Tokyo Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide
Transportation cost per person
| No. | Transportation | Route | Fare |
| Section 1 | Train | Shibuya～Harajuku | 150JPY |
| Section 2 | Train | Harajuku～Shinjuku | 150JPY |
| Section 3 | Subway | Shinjuku～National Diet Building | 600JPY |
| Section 4 | Subway | National Diet Building～Asakusa | 0JPY |
| Total | 900JPY | ||
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.
Aug 1, 2025
8
898kendrap
Great first day in Tokyo!
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Asai, our tour guide, made our…
Aug 1, 2025
8
898kendrap
Great first day in Tokyo!
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Asai, our tour guide, made our first day in Tokyo so memorable and enjoyable! He shared his knowledge and love for the city as he showed us around. We now understand how to navigate the train system, and he even left us a list of how to explore other areas of the city by train. Our tour was a fun way to get acquainted with this amazing city!
Jul 14, 2025
Anette_V
Perfect
Viator review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Our guide Minoru Asai was very friendly and knowledgeable about culture,…
Jul 14, 2025
Anette_V
Perfect
Viator review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Our guide Minoru Asai was very friendly and knowledgeable about culture, history and
society. He picked and showed us more than We expected. Also he was good Company for
both me, my husbond and our son aged 22.
Jun 30, 2025
liammL2246HL
Amazing experience
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
We had an amazing private tour with Minoru Asai! We…
Jun 30, 2025
liammL2246HL
Amazing experience
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
We had an amazing private tour with Minoru Asai! We loved seeing all of the sights on the tour and Minoru was extremely knowledge about all things in Tokyo and else-wear in Japan. We were able to adjust the stops due to the heat (it was up to 35C!) and Minoru had great suggestions for things to check out. Highly recommend!
Jun 26, 2025
394milesd
Excellent guide making an excellent day in Tokyo
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
A perfect day, tailored…
Jun 26, 2025
394milesd
Excellent guide making an excellent day in Tokyo
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
A perfect day, tailored to our needs (and the weather) and delivered so attentively by our guide Minoru Asai. He was in contact in advance of the day to understand our interests, and advised us on practicalities and remained flexible throughout the day as required. His knowledge, and passion, for the history of Tokyo made the day! Could not have asked for more.
