Tokyo in Half a Day: Tawaramachi Station & Ginza Station — Guide Masa

Title: What Can You See on a Full-Day Private Tour of Tokyo? A Licensed Guide's Report on Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, and Ginza

The guests were a group visiting from Europe. It was everyone's first visit to Japan.

The group arrived at Haneda the previous morning via a connecting route and took a taxi to their Hotel. The previous day, they had explored Asakusa.

This visit was part of an 18-day trip to Japan. After spending four days in Tokyo, they planned to travel to Hakone, Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Hiroshima before returning home from Kansai Airport. They were also planning a day trip to Nikko two days later.

Today, the group expressed a wish to see cherry blossoms. The tour took place under alternating sunny and cloudy skies, in fairly warm weather.

We first headed to Shinjuku.

Since the group very much wanted to buy a "Welcome Suica Card," we first visited the Ekitabi Concierge at Shinjuku Station.

After this, we went to Shinjuku Kabukicho. We walked around to see the "3D Cat Billboard," the "Godzilla Head," and "Omoide Yokocho," and then visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observatory.

We made a full loop of the observatory, and the group remarked, "We can see how vast a city Tokyo is. It's far larger than London."

After this, we moved on to Harajuku.

Meiji Shrine was full of visitors. I explained about Shinto, the torii gate, Emperor Meiji, and why sake barrels and wine barrels are displayed. There were questions such as "What kind of religion is Shinto?" and "How does Buddhism differ from Shinto?"

We came across a wedding procession, which the group photographed enthusiastically. The day happened to fall on an auspicious day, and many weddings were scheduled to take place.

We took a break at "Forest Terrace Meiji Jingu."

We also strolled through the very crowded Takeshita Street.

We then moved to Shibuya. We actually crossed the Scramble Crossing. 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 and walked through Shibuya Center Gai.

After this, the group asked to be taken to Ginza. Along the way, there were comments and questions such as "The level of crowding is completely different in the back streets just off the tourist spots," "Is it not allowed to talk on the trains?" "Tokyo is so clean throughout the city, with no litter on the ground," "Which public restrooms are clean?" and "There are no trash bins on the streets. Why is that?"

I saw the group off at Ginza 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.