June 2010
Guide: Chinami Nishizawa
Route: Asakusa – Okachimachi & Ameyoko – Ginza

I just wanted to contact you and to thank and complement your free guide service for the very high standard of person you have as a guide. I was most impressed by Chinami, her warmth, her hospitality and her bravery in being prepared to guide someone in a wheelchair.

Chinami is a credit to your service and a great ambassador for Japan. I believe the fact that I enjoyed my visit to your delightful city was largely because of her enthusiasm, time and prepardness to show me a side of Japan that I would otherwise have missed.

Once again I want to thank you and to compliment and congratulate you on being involved with such a wonderful guide service.

Kindest regards

Graham Edwards

May 2010
Guide: Hiroko Kitagou, Yoko Takano
Route: Imperial Palace – Asakusa – Ueno (Tokyo National Museum); Tokyo Metropolitan Government building – Shinjuku Gyoen – Meiji Shrine

My husband, Alan, and I cannot say enough good things about Tokyo Free Guide. Both of the guides met us at our hotel each morning with a plan for the day.Hiroko made sure we understood how to use the subway system and without her I don’t know if we would have figured out we could ride JR lines free with our Japan Railpass.  She arranged for a bus tour for us in the area near the Imperial Palace which helped us get a better idea of our surroundings. We ate lunch near the Senjoji Temple where I had shabu-shabu for the first time and Alan had tempura. We had been reluctant to go into restaurants before this because we couldn’t read the menus but Hiroko showed us what to do and it made such a difference the rest of the trip. By spending time with Hiroko, we learned so much about Buddhist and Shinto shrines and temples. Read the rest of this entry »

March 2010
Guide: Akemi Ito, Chikako Honda
Route: Nikko (Rinnoji – Toshogu – Taiyuin), Kawaguchiko Lake (Nishi-ko, Iyashi no sato Neba, Kawaguchi-ko han, Kaiun no yu, Futarasan Shrine), Kamakura

Ciao,
I am Vincenzo from Italy, and now I’m gonna tell you my japanese experience with Tokyo Free Guide.
I was guided in Nikko by Akemi, , the weather was very cold and it was snowy. We saw the three monkeys temple (that is worldwide famous), the beautiful bridge, and many others temples. We had ramen for lunch, and it was very good! There were many stairs, it war tiring but it was worthed. Akemi planned the route very well and she was very accurate in the explanation of everything we saw. telling me the meaning of every temple and statue. Read the rest of this entry »

March 2010
Guide: Yukie Takahashi
Route: (Day 1) Kamakura; (Day 2) Harajuku – Omotesando – Shibuya

Gracias a Tokyo Free Guide y especialmente a nuestra guía Yukie, que habla español perfectamente, pudimos disfrutar de Tokio mas allá de lo puramente turístico. El primer día fuimos con Yukie a Kamakura, donde vimos esa parte más tradicional con templos increíbles donde se respiraba una paz especial, Yukie nos explicaba cada detalle. Después nos llevó al Bosque de Bambú donde tomamos un té tradicional japones, os lo recomiendo! Y finalmente vimos la estatua del Gran Buda, sólo decir que es IMPRESIONANTE! Para acabar la noche, nuestra guía reservó para cenar en un restaurante de Shibuya donde cenamos especialidades japonesas junto con más amigos de Yukie y para rematar nos fuimos de fiesta a un Karaoke!! Genial!

Read the rest of this entry »

March 2010
Guide: Ryuichiro Hayashi
Route: Tokyo: Shinjyuku Gyoen Park – Kabukicho – Metropolitan Tokyo Goverment Building Observatory – Harajuku (Takeshita Street/Kiddy Land) – Shibuya (Intersection/The Myth of Tommorow painted by Taro Okamoto/Hachiko Statue); Kamakura: Kita-kamakura – Engakuji Temple – Hachimangu Shrine – Komachi street – Daibutsu (Koutokuin Temple) – Hase-dera Temple; Nikko: The world heritage Shrines/Temples (Kegon Falls & Chuzen-ji Lake, under a heavy snow, it was a memorable journey (see the picture with the mexican flag)).

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank to “Tokyo Free Guide Organization” to have given us the opportunity to meet our fantastic friend (guide) “Ryuishiro” Hayashi, we had a great time with him in Tokyo. He is very patient, polite, easygoing and a flexible person. With him we learned a lot about the japanese culture, typical food, snacks/candies and much more !!

Since we got in touch with him before our arrival in Tokyo, he gave us a lot of advices/suggestions which helped us to better arrange our trip around Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima & Miyajima.

Now he has 6 good friends in Mexico. Read the rest of this entry »

March 2010
Guide: Senichi Nagai
Route: Tsukiji – Akihabara – Asakusa – Tokyo Tower

On our recent trip to Tokyo we decided to try the TokyoFreeGuide service, and what a great service it turned out to be. The TokyoFreeGuide service you get is exactly what the web site information describes, there are no surprises or problems.

The best part of our trip was the good fortune to have Senichi Nagai as our guide. Not only was he a great guide, but he is truly a wonderful person to know. Senichi speaks fluent English which made our time with him easy, efficient and fun. We discussed the things we wanted to see and do, and Senichi planned each day’s itinerary for us and right on schedule every morning Senichi arrived at our hotel with the day’s itinerary ready to go. And each day turned out to be an exciting, fun filled and fulfilling experience. Read the rest of this entry »

January 2010
Guide: Senichi Nagai
Route: Ueno – Yanaka – Shinjyuku – Harajyuku – Shibuya

We had some email contact with our guide before we arrived in Japan and we were eager to get to know him further. Senichi-san met us at our hotel in the Akasaka district, a considerable distance from his home. He had carefully prepared an itinerary that included shrines, temples, gardens, some of the older part of the city and a lunch restaurant. We walked and took public transport to the various sights and the entire time Senichi-san made sure we were able to understand all of the things we saw and did. He was considerate and knowledgeable and very kind to two gaijin new to his country. We had a most enjoyable day together. A particular highlight was the Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens which we found both beautiful and peaceful, but everything about the day was a pleasure. Thanks to TokyoFreeGuide.com, which we wholeheartedly recommend, and of course our new friend Senichi Nagai, for this terrific experience.

December 2009
Guide: Ayako Shimoda; Tomoko Shiraishi
Route: Rikugien Garden ? Hamarikyu Garden ? Asakusa; Ebisu – Shinjuku – Harajuku

– Ayako Shimoda guided me in December 2009

I asked Ayako to help me see some Japanese gardens, she was an
excellent guide and took me to 2 Gardens in Tokyo (Rikugien and
Hamarikyu) as well as a Temple we also took the River Boat on
Sumidagawa River. It as a wonderful and very well planned day and Ayako was a pleasure to have as a guide, her English was also excellent. I would sincerely recommend her to anyone looking for a Tokyo guide

– Tomoko Shiraishi Guided me for a day in December 2009

I wanted to see some photography Galleries in Tokyo, Tomoko Shiraishi planned an excellent day and we visited many small out of the way galleries as well as the larger ones, we also visited a Flea Market Tomoko went to a lot of effort to plan a very full day of visiting galleries that would have been impossible to find on my own

More photos: http://www.photo.net.au/gallery/Japan/

January 2010
Guide: Katsue Shinomiya; Noriko Murakami
Route: (Day 1) Shinjuku – Ginza – Asakusa – Akihabara; (Day 2) Sinjuku – Harajuku – Gaiennmae – Kokyo – Odaiba; (Day 3) Tokyo Daibutsu – Ikebukuro – Ryogoku

We my family had a great time in japan. we (rafael, Clelia and Tato) have done a wonderful trip to Japan in January 25-2010
we are not descendants of Japanese but we had a curiosity to know a developed and organized country. were delighted with this country. but I confess that what made the difference was to have the support of the guides Katsue and Noriko. … They are wonderful people, and we particularly like being able to be with them.
We would like to congratulate the “free guide” service. especially Katsue and Noriko.

Clelia, Rafael & Tato

January 2010
Guide: Souei Takahashi
Route: TFG’s New Year’s Party @ Kiyosumi Garden

We would like to thank the Tokyo Free Guides for their amazing generosity and kindness in hosting us at their New Year’s Party. We had booked a free guide, the charming Mr Takahashi, for an afternoon tour and luckily the date coincided with the Free Guide’s New Year Party. It was fabulous, with traditional games and food to try and even kimonos to try on in a beautiful teahouse in a Tokyo park, not “park” like here “beautiful gardens” would be a better descriptor!! All the free guides were delightful, it is so much the best experience of travel to meet the locals and the Free Guides are so enthusiastic about their country and culture, we learnt so much and got so much more from the rest of our trip thanks to them. I cannot recommend their service more highly if you are interested in meeting some locals who can give you a real insight into Japan. I very much hope to meet up with them again sometime!!!!

Fiona
Australia
(travelled with husband and four children January 2010)