Tokyo in Half a Day: Shiomi Station & Hatchobori Station — Guide Masa

Title: What Can You See on a Private One-Day Tour of Tokyo? A Licensed Guide's Report on Asakusa, Akihabara, and Shibuya

Body: The guests were two families visiting Japan from North America, all traveling to Japan for the first time.

Three days earlier, they had arrived at Narita Airport and taken a taxi to their hotel.

The day before, they had visited TeamLab.

Today, after this tour, they planned to go and watch a "sumo show."

Tomorrow they planned to visit Disneyland, and from the day after, they would travel to Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka, returning home from Kansai Airport.

They said, "We'd like to visit the main spots in Tokyo."

It was a sunny but somewhat chilly day for the tour.

From Shiomi Station, we first headed to Asakusa.

Despite it being a weekday, there was a large crowd.

We started from the front of Kaminarimon Gate. I explained about "Sensoji Temple and the history from Edo to Tokyo," "what the five-story pagoda is for," "what Buddhism is," and "the difference between Buddhism and Shinto."

We took commemorative photos at Kaminarimon, in front of the five-story pagoda, and various other spots. We strolled leisurely along the Nakamise shopping street.

There were questions such as "What are the main religions in Japan?", "How many Buddhists are there in Japan?", and "Besides Buddhism, what other religions do people follow?"

There was also a question: "We see many people wearing kimono within the temple grounds — do you have to come to the temple in kimono?"

We moved on to Akihabara.

I explained about "the history and current state of Akihabara."

The guests were all fans of Pokemon, and bought large quantities of Pokemon goods and T-shirts as souvenirs.

We moved on to Shibuya.

We actually crossed the Scramble Square. There were questions such as "How many people gather here at the busiest times?" and "Why did it become so famous?"

We also took photos in front of the Hachiko statue. They said, "We've seen a movie about Hachiko."

At Starbucks, they bought mugs as souvenirs.

There were comments and questions such as "Tokyo is so clean throughout the city, with no litter on the ground," "The public restrooms are clean," and "There are no trash cans on the streets — why is that?"

I saw them off at Hatchobori Station, where we parted ways.

Click here for more details: Tokyo Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide

Tour Report by Masa

Guiding career:
Guide work started in July 2022. A guide focused on FIT compliance.
FY2022 results: 17 cases, FY2023 results: 97
Destinations: Various places in Tokyo, Hakone, Kamakura and Nikko
As a recent group travel record, in October 2023, we have a track record of guiding a group of 33 people from Singapore to Narita Airport transfer plus sightseeing in Tokyo.
Self-introduction:
In the past, I was stationed in Canada, the United States, and Mexico as an expatriate of a Japanese bank for over 11 years.
Since I have been mainly involved in the financing business in the United States for a long time, I think I am able to provide interpretation and translation services related to business and finance.
I am a certified CPA in the United States.
In addition, for three years from April 2016, I will be engaged in Japanese-English translation work (part-time), and I can also handle translation work.
Although I don’t have a qualification in Spanish, but I think I can handle day to day conversation in Spanish without any problems.
My hobby is trekking and from time to time, take a walk around mountains near Tokyo like Mt. Takao, Tanzawa, etc. I think it is possible to provide tourist information here as well.
Since April 2015, I have been working as a Tokyo Metropolitan Tourism Volunteer and Tokyo Metropolitan Disaster Prevention Volunteer.
One more, I have a separate house near Asuka Village, Nara prefecture, and I stay there for a total of about 30 days every year and have been enjoying sightseeing personally in the vicinity. Therefore, I think in the Kansai region, especially in Nara, Asuka, Yoshino, Koyasan, Kumano Kodo, etc., where I think I will be able to tour guide with confidence.