'It'll be my great pleasure to prepare a customized tour for you based on your specific interests and requests. I'll also be very flexible about the tour schedule so that you can really enjoy the tour.
At your hotel or place of your request
Some must-see spots if you visit Tokyo for the first time, and/or the spots that you would like to visit among candidate spots I inform you based on your specific requests or interests.
For example, Old/Modern Tokyo, Temple(s)/Shirine, Garden(s), Culture, etc.
At your hotel or convenient place for you
It'll be my pleasure to help you to make your own tour based on your requests and interests.
For one-day tour (about 8 hours) , you and I will select about 2-5 sightseeing spots where you would like to visit within the tour hours.
For half-day tour (about 4 hours) , you and I will select about 1-3 sightseeing spots where you would like to visit within the tour hours.
Some candidate sightseeing spots are following:
1. Meiji Jingu (Meiji Jingu Shine),
2. Imperial Palace Plaza (,and Imperial Palace East Gardens),
3. Asakusa (Sensoji Temple, Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), Nakamise Shopping Street, etc.),
4. Tokyo SKYTREE Town (Tokyo SKYTREE Tower (634m), and a new downtown-style commercial facility) ,
5. Tokyo Tower (,and Zojoji Temple),
6. Ginza shopping street (, and Kabukiza Theater),
7. Tsukiji Outer Market,
8. Japanese gardens (Hama-Rikyu Gardens, Rokugien Gardens, etc.),
9. Akihabara shopping area,
10. Shibuy(Shibuya Crossing, Scramble Square), Harajyuku, and Omotesando,
11. Shinjuku,
12. Edo (present-day Tokyo) Tokyo Museum,
13. Ueno, Ameyoko street , Yanaka downtown area, etc.
14. Tokyo National Museum at Ueno Park, etc.
15. Ukiyoe-museums (Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Hokusai Museum, etc.)
16. Dog Cafe
17. SmallWorlds (a miniature museum at Ariake)
18. teamLab Planets (a museum of tech+artworks at Odaiba)
19.Japanese Culture&Art Experience (Calligraphy, Tea Ceremony, etc.)
etc.
Note 1: Edo (present-day Tokyo) Tokyo Museum is now closed for the renovation. (As of Dec. 2022).
guide fee, hotel pick-up in the Tokyo 23 wards area
1. transportation fee (both you and guide) (Note: Tokyo Metro 1-Day Open Ticket: Adult 600 Yen, One-day Ticket for Tokyo Metro & Toei Subway: Adult 900 Yen, Tokyo Metro and JR in Tokyo 1-Day Open Ticket: Adult 1590 Yen).
You can get latest info by input 'tokyometro ticket 1day' on the Internet.
2. meals
3. entrance fee (both you and guide)
I can also guide you in Okinawa, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Shimane, Hiroshima, Kobe, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Shiga, Kanazawa, Nagoya, Gifu, Nagano, Niigata, etc., if you pay my transportation fee between Tokyo or Yokohama and these places, my hotel fee, and cost of my meals.
A1. Tokyo Metro (subway) and JR(Japan National Railways) are punctual and very convenient for the transportation in Tokyo area. It'll cost about 600 Yen to 1600 Yen per person if you use 1-Day Open Tickets. There are many different kinds of 1-Day Open Tickets.
Following is the site of one of them: English web site about several types of 1-Day Open Tickets of Tokyo metro (subway).
A2. Following is Information of the admission fee as of January 1, 2018:
1. Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine) - free,
2. Imperial Palace Plaza (and Imperial Palace East Gardens) - free,
3. Asakusa (Sensoji Temple, Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), Nakamise Shopping Street) - free,
4. Tokyo SKYTREE Town (Tokyo SKYTREE tower(645m) (Observation deck at 350m: Adult 2,060 Yen, Observation deck at 450m: Adult: Plus 1,030 Yen) ,
5. Tokyo Tower (333m, Main observatory at 150m: Adult 900 Yen, Special observatory at 250m: Adult Plus 700 Yen (under renewal construction as of January 1, 2018) (,and Zojoji Temple- free),
6. Ginza Shopping street (and Kabukiza Theater) - free (, fee of Kabukiza Theater to see one act of Kabuki plays at 4th floor would be 1000 to 2000 Yen (1-2 hours)),
7. Tsukiji Outer Market - free,
8 Japanese gardens (Hama-Rikyu gardens, Rokugien gardens, etc.) - 300 Yen,
9. Akihabara shopping area - free,
10. Shibuya, Harajyuku, and Omotesando - free,
11. Shinjuku - free,
12. Edo (present-day Tokyo) Tokyo Museum - Adult 600 Yen for permanent exhibition (Note: Temporarily closed until March 31, 2018),
13. Ueno, Ameyoko street , Yanaka downtown area, etc.- free,
14. Ota Memorial Museum of Art (for Ukiyoe) - Adult 700 Yen to 1000 Yen,
etc.
A3. If you are interested in a cycling tour to know Tokyo Culture, you can get info by input 'Tokyo Culture Cycling Tour' on the Internet. The shop of the tour is very near to Sensoji temple at Asakusa.
I can’t say enough about our Guide Shin or the 2 days of tours he planned and took my group on. He epitomizes the Japanese culture, he is friendly, helpful, accommodating and caring. My group could not say enough about him. Shin truly kicked our Japanese vacation off with a bang! When we parted ways on the last day, it truly felt like we were saying goodbye to a friend. For anyone planning a trip to Japan and more specifically Tokyo, please reach out to Shin. I want to thank Shin once again for his professionalism, knowledge and friendliness. Cheers from Expedia Cruises Oakville South!
Dear Mike K., Thank you sincerely for your generous and thoughtful review. It was an absolute honor and pleasure to be your group’s guide on July 23 and 24. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations and the time spent with you and your group. Despite the intense heat and high humidity, I hope the experience was memorable for you and your group. Wishing you and your group a delightful and healthy continuation of the upcoming cruise in Japan. Please give my best regards to all of your group members. Sincerely Yours, Shin (Shinichiro Hazeki)
Shin-go all the way! (as this is appropriately Christmas time) Our one-day tour in Nikko could not have been better. Shin-San took us everywhere, explained everything in detail, and spent more time with us than required. His English was impeccable. Lunch was also a pleasant surprise. The place looked like a cafeteria but we had the best udon in all of Japan here. A good time was had by all. Thank you Shin. Phoebe (write for the group)
Dear Phoebe, Thank you for your wonderful comments. I’m very sorry to be late to add my comments to it because I just finished my guiding jobs this week. I hope your stay in Japan during December 4th to 20th went very well, and now you have a lot of good memories about it. The day with you during one-day tour in Nikko is a wonderful memory for me. Please come back again to Japan any time. We’ll always welcome you. Very best wishes for health and happiness of you and your families in 2024! Sincerely Yours, Shin
We were a group of 14 who hired Shin for 3 days before and after the Tokyo marathon. Shin delivered exactly what we were looking for with little guidance. We came away with a good understanding of Tokyo, its people, culture, architecture, history and sights. It is tough to find a more kind individual anywhere. Although a very diverse group we all thoroughly enjoyed our tours of the city. Shin was very patient with us. If touring Tokyo you can’t go wrong with Shin.
Dear Hugh, Arigato Gozaimasu! I hope you and your friends enjoyed Tokyo Marathon 2023 on March 5th and the stay in Japan. It’s my great honor and pleasure to be a guide for your group. It’s also a very exciting experience and memory for me to cheer for you and other runners of your group at Tokyo Marathon 2023. Thank you for wonderful time and please give my best regards to all the members of your group. Sincerely Yours, Shin (Shinichiro Hazeki)
Meeting Shinichiro became a real window to today's Japan. Very good English (lots of job experience in the USA), really great mutual understanding. Thank you, Shinichiro!
Dear Irene, I hope you returned home safely. Thank you very much for your review comments and wonderful time during our tour from Yokohama to Kamakura on October 14. I really enjoyed it and it's precious memory for me. The book 'At Home in Japan' (about today's Japan) by Rebecca Otowa will be delivered to me from Amazon next week. Very best wishes for health and happiness of both of you. Sincerely Yours, Shinichiro Hazeki (Shin)