Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observatory(a panoramic view) - Shinjuku Gyoen National Park - Meiji Jingu Gaien(a famous street lined with ginkgo trees) - Nezu Art Museum(besides exhibits, a wonderful Japanese garden) - Omote Sando(a high-end shopping street) - Ota Memorial Museum(specializing in Ukiyo-e, wood-block printing) - Meiji Shrine
At your hotel
Shinjuku Gyoen
Meiji Jingu(praying for happiness)
Meiji Jingu Gaien and Harajuku(the legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games)
Two wonderful museums(Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, fine arts and Japanese-style garden)
A panoramic view from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Observatory
At your hotel
Tokyo is changing toward the 2020 Olympic Games. Everyone participating in this tour naturally feels both old and modern Tokyo. In Sninjuku Gyoen, Nezu Art Museum and Meiji Shrine, there are still many traditions. However, when you walk along the route, you can see the townscape being changed more sophisticated.
For example, on the way along the route, the new National Stadium(a venue of the 2020 Olympics opening ceremony ) are being constructed. Japan seems to harmonize between traditions and futuristic styles more than ever. You will also be sure to become aware of real development and traditional aspects in Tokyo through this tour.
guide fee, hotel pick-up
- Transportation fee(you and guide)
- Lunch(about 1000 yen to 2000 yen per person)
- Dinner(about 3000 yen to 5000 yen per person)
- Entrance fee(about 2000 yen per person)
We are to walk through the whole route on foot to find out more about Tokyo, so it is good for you to wear light clothes and shoes. The total distance is 8 km(5 miles) , so it is estimated that we are to walk for about two hours. Instead of walking throughout the tour, I will be flexible as to whether to use transportation systems or not.
He has characteristics that tourist guides “must have”
Dear Div I am very pleased to hear you praise my personality, and you enjoyed walking on the shopping streets and through the park. There are many things to see and experience in Japan. I hope you will come to Japan again and we will see each other again. Thank you so much. Hiro
Hiroyuki is an amicable, pleasant guide whose English is good but not fluent. We had some questions that he clearly did not understand. Our trip to Nikko was not a success because Hiro was not prepared with a “Plan B’” in mind for the difficulties that we experienced. The difficulties were not his fault: a national holiday that created horrific problems and delays on public transportation and fog that prevented us from seeing 2 out of 3 sites in Nikko. We are 4 very active senior citizens but standing on trains and especially crammed busses for hours was not pleasurable. We could not even see the landscape. Adding the fact that it was foggy was a recipe for disaster. We finally made it to the ropeway and Hiro seemed surprised that we didn’t want to go up. There would be nothing to see in total fog! The situation was similar with the waterfall area. We did have a nice lunch but by the time we waited yet again for a packed bus, we decided to skip the shrine as it was already 3:30pm. Basically we traveled to Nikko and saw nothing but the train and bus stations! Much of this was not Hiro’s fault BUT much could have been mitigated by him doing the following: 1. Offer an option for private transportation in Nikko via taxi or van for a fee. 2. Check the weather conditions and have a plan for alternative activities. In our case he should have reversed his schedule so that we could have at least seen the shrine in town! He didn’t know about the fog…we don’t know the area but knew there were foggy conditions because we checked the weather prior to departure! We are experienced travelers and don’t stop because of weather! However, fog that obliterated 2 out of 3 sites plus transportation chaos meant an unfavorable experience.
Dear Debra Thank you very much for joining the tour to Nikko. I am very sorry that your precious day was spoiled by bad weather, traffic jams and my bad conduct. Hiroyuki
Hiroyuki was very friendly but sometimes a little hard to understand and we felt that if his grasp of english had been better he would have had a lot of knoledge to impart. The tour was wonderful and we took a lot of photos to remind us of the beauty of this area.
Dear Frans Thank you for joining the tour in the countryside to see waterfalls. I am very surprised to hear that you are very knowledgeable about Japan. I enjoyed accompanying you as a guide. Hiroyuki
Hiroyuki was very flexible and accommodating as we only had a few hours to spend in Tokio. Very nice experience! Wish we had more time to learn more about Japan and its culture.
Dear Carolina Thank you for your good appraisal on my job. I am very pleased that you spent the precious time on experiencing Japanese culture and talking about many things to each other. I am waiting for you to come to Japan again and at that time I would like to accompany you as a guide. Japan is a wonderful country to travel in and it have many things to see. Hiroyuki