I recommend ending up the day with the night view of the Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo Bay, the most beautiful night view in Tokyo I would like you to see.
We will visit the spots you would like to in Tokyo.I will make an itinerary based on your choices and requests.
(The popular highlights will be Meiji Jingu Shrine, East Gardens and Asakusa with Nakamise Souvenir Shopping Streets.)
Sightseeing spots in Tokyo is widely spread, so I guess we can only visit three or four spots a day.
At the lobby of your hotel in Tokyo
At your hotel or a spot during the tour
You can see one of the most beautiful night view of the Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo Bay.
I recommend ending up the day with the night view of the Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo Bay, the most beautiful night view in Tokyo I would like you to see.
Please choose the spots of your interest and let me know.
East Gardens of the Imperial Palace will take approximately one hour and a half or so.
Asakusa will take more than an hour if you would shop there, too. Tokyo Sky Tree will take more than an hour.
Meiju Jingu Shrine will take approximately one hour.
For shopping, Takeshita Street in Harajuku is mainly aimed for teenagers,
GINZA has one of the biggest UNIQLO shop, Nissan Crossing and Ginza Six,which has an excellent Art book store, and NIHONBASHI is the place for the mature that locals will also do shopping with high quality items, not the cheap tourist goods.
For typical tourist souvenirs, you can get them at places like Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, Solamachi: Skytree town and Akihabara.
About observatory, I will try to include some free ones near the spots we will visit.
Tokyo Sky Tree is 634m high, but a little bit distant from the Center of Tokyo and surrounded by lower buildings, so you might find Tokyo Tower (333m) or TOKYO CITY VIEW in Roppongi more satisfactory to see the Contemporary Tokyo.
If you're interested in roses, I could take you a park (admission free) with beautiful ones.
If you prefer to see streets with good ol' days atmosphere of Japan, please tell me.
We can go to an antique shop where you can enjoy an hour tea ceremony(1000 yen for each person. With 2000 yen for group, you can enjoy the full process.)
(If you're interested in cherry blossoms which blooms during winter, we can see them at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, Hibiya Street, huge Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens, and Ueno Park.)
Guiding fee, hotel pick-up in Tokyo/Yokohama, The guide's Admission fee for Tokyo National Museum/ Ueno Zoo
Transportation fare (You and guide: Tokyo Metro One day Ticket is ￥600, Yurikamome Monorail Shinbashi to Odaiba is ￥330, Water Cruise from Odaiba to Hinode Sanbashi is ￥480, it is OK to use the Monorail round trip, or skip the Odaiba part, the rest depends on your hotel and requests),
meals, snacks, beverages
admission fee
It will be first booked, first served basis, but could you make inquiries before booking?
If you're interested in TOKYO, MOUNT FUJI, or NIKKO, please CHECK the TOURS before you make inquiries.
(Some transportation for Mount Fuji or Nikko might be fully booked if you do last minute booking.)
I could also guide KYOTO, HIMEJI etc. if you will cover my transportation fare round trip from Tokyo.
If you'd like a car chartered, please check the PRIVATE CARS TOUR by yourself.
It's concerned with your budget, so I'm afraid I cannot make arrangements for that, but I will be happy to guide you with the car you chartered.
It's impossible to make quotes without knowing the spots you would like to visit.
Nikko and Mount Fuji are approximately two hours on Limited Express from Shinjuku or Asakusa.
Tokyo is not a compact city, but a huge one.
If you have difficulties with stairs, please tell me in your message. Thank you.
The sightseeing spots are scattered around the big City of Tokyo, e.g. from Asakusa to Meiji Shrine would take approximately forty-five minutes.
I will do my best to visit all the places you request, however maybe we could only visit three or so places a day.
Shopping spots might take much more time, because there are quite crowded and shopping usually takes time.
From JANUARY 1-5, Meiji Jingu Shrine and Asakusa will be JAM PACKED with locals for the New Year's prayers. You will need to wait in queues for hours. I highly recommend visiting other places instead.
EAST GARDENS will be closed from Dec. 28- Jan. ３.
We will basically use Tokyo Metro One day Ticket ￥600, but if you have JR Pass or would like to see the City itself from the train, we will use JR, too, if you would like to. Asakusa, however, is not close to any JR station but only Metro Subway station.
We are supposed to WALK A LOT, so PLEASE WEAR WALKING SHOES.
Highheels or sandals might give you a hard time. There is no cab services in the Japanese Gardens or Ueno Park :-)
Or if you don't want to, please make sure to tell me so, but Meiji Jingu Shrine would be an hour walk at least, anyway.
East Gardens will be closed on Mondays and Fridays and the Tokyo National Museum will be closed on Mondays except National Holidays.
There is BAGGAGE INSPECTION at the entrances of East Gardens and the Observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Please let me know the places that you would like to visit and what you're interested in, so I could include places matching your interest.
We had a lovely guide in Tokyo, Yoko, who was with us for two days. Her English was impeccable. The first day she took us to the main shrines Meiji - Jingu ( where we saw several wedding parties) and Senso-ji along with teaching us how to navigate the metro and train system! We wanted ramen for lunch and Yoko delivered! We found Yoko easy to be with and full of energy - she gave information easily without having to prompt her. She never wearies of questions either! We were familiar with the shogunate eras but she was able to fill in all the blanks for us without drowning us in facts and numbers as well as our “knowledge” of the yakuza from “Tokyo Vice”! We enjoyed her so much we asked to book her for a second day while she guided us through the Imperial Gardens. She not only knows her history but also the names of plants and trees to help understand the beautiful gardens. We mentioned that we wanted to buy a knife and go to the Tsukiji market. She mentioned a free event at the Anakusa Cultural Tourist Center where we were able to see geishas perform traditional dances and one of the 6 houkan ( male counterpoint to the geisha) left in Japan. In order to attend the event I had to cancel my tickets to the Yayoi Kusama museum and Yoko found a different time that I could repurchase my tickets so that we could do it all. She reworked our schedule so that we could do it all!! She took us to a nice restaurant for lunch that was superb and a favorite of locals. She was so helpful with information regarding other things we had planned and would readily share travel information and other ideas for our remaining days in Tokyo! If only we could have had her travel to Kyoto with us too! My husband and I highly recommend Yoko but I warn you - you better have your walking shoes on or you will not be able to keep up with her!!
Martha san, thank you so much for writing such an incredible review. I deeply appreciate both you and Robert san enjoyed Japanese culture and cuisines so much. I had a great time talking with both of you. I also wanted to show you interesting spots in Yanaka besides Yanaka Ginza so sorry we ran out of time. As you often have a business trip to Japan, I will hope I can show you around the gorgeous, artistic World Heritage Nikko some day soon. Thank you again for such a lovely heartful review and your generosity. I hope you have a nice flight back to the States.
We had a great time with Yoko, it was an action-packed day with a combination of history, architecture, and fun. Yoko is very knowledgeable and planned a great itinerary. While I won't go into too much detail of our itinerary--she hit all the points we planned and was flexible in including some fun stops--including the free view of the city, rainbow cotton candy and even dropping us off at the sushi restaurant at the end of our day. We are a family of 4 with two kids 11 and 9, she balanced our itinerary so that it was both fun and informative. When booking recommend doing it earlier in your trip--she has some great tips on travel, saving money and other sights. Highly recommend!
Thank you so much for a great review, Adel san！！ I was impressed that you'd like to have the educational part for your lovely kids. Connor and Audrey. I was wondering if Connor could walk thru the Meiji Jingu Shrine when he complained about walking another hour but he did it!! It was such a lovely day meeting all of you. I was amazed with Audrey not only being cute but smart like her parents. The kids seemed to be too young to enjoy the sushi yet but I was happy to share the moments enjoying the huge cotton candies and the fun day together. I'll be looking forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you again for the great day and a wonderful review.
Yoko met us at our hotel and showed us the historic areas of Tokyo like we requested. She was very informative and her English is better than most people in the U.S.
Wow, thank you for your prompt reply. It was fun meeting you and your family. The mom and daughter quiz competition was highlight of the day. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay. Thank you again for the lovely day, Yoko
This was my wife and mine first time in Japan and Yoko was phenomenal. We did a full day tour but that included lunch and some beers with plenty of opportunities to take great photos. Yoko is very friendly and nice and did a great job teaching us about the history and culture through the day but in a very friendly and conversational way. Highly recommend Yoko!
I appreciate your great review, Hubert san. I had a great time with you and your lovely wife Brittany san. It is my first time talking about retirement and health care over Asahi Extra Cold at that restaurant. It was so interesting talking with both of you. I started to watch "Tokyo Vice" and looking forward to watching Episode 7 of Season 2 tonight, which broadcast is a little delayed compared to the States. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip and come again in the future. Thank you again for the lovely day, Yoko