July 2010
Guide: Ryuichiro Hayashi
Route: Tsukiji fish market – Ginza – Asakusa – Akihabara; Tokyo Metropolitan Government building – Harajuku – Shibuya – Odaiba
My name is Maricel Lustre. A few weeks ago, I wrote to Tokyo Free Guide requesting a free tour. TFG assigned a wonderful tour guide to us named “Hayashi Ryuichiro” also known as Ichiro-san for short.
My family and I would like to thank Tokyo Free Guide for giving us Ichiro-san. He is very professional, punctual, knowledgeable and was able to save us money by using wise transportation. We enjoyed all of the places we visited but we had lots of fun in Odaiba. We also loved dining at Ganko. We are very happy in having Ichiro-san as our tour guide. Our14 year old son loved him! Ichiro-san was very patient with him. Our son could not stop talking about him. We learned so much from Ichiro-san. It was our first time to tour Tokyo and our experience was very memorable. Thank you very much Ichiro-san for showing us Tokyo. We feel very fortunate in having met you because in doing so we have gained a friend. Read the rest of this entry »
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
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 »
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: Akemi Ito and Tomoko Matsubara
Route: ＜Kamakura＞ Komachi street – Tsurugaoka – Hachimangu shrine – Kamakuragu shrine – Egaraten shrine – Sugimoto temple – Shakado Kiridoshi – Hokokuji; ＜Tokyo＞ Akihabara – Yanaka – Asakusa – Kagurazaka
Tokyo Free Guide,
Thanks again for providing me great volunteer guides!
Akemi Ito provided me with an awesome tour of Kamakura. I was so impressed how she knew a lot of the area’s history and all of the sites. She showed me so much of the natural beauty of Kamakura.
Tomoko Matsubara helped to design a tour of the “old” and “new” Japan, taking me to Asakusa, Kagurazaka, Yanaka, and Akihabara. We even met some geisha in Kagurazaka. She is really friendly and I had so much fun.
I can’t say enough about my guides. They were the best. Both guides communicated with me a lot before my trip so that they could research and make suggestions. I had such a great time and have been recommending TFG to everyone! This is the second time I asked for guides from TFG and I will continue to do so in the future!
Thanks again TFG, Tomoko, and Akemi!
Pam
USA
November 2009
Guide: Chikako, Senichi Nagai, Takako, and Miyuki
Route: Omotesando – Kagurazaka; Tsukiji – Ginza – Akihabara – Yanaka; Hamarikyu – Asakusa – Kappabashi; and Shinjuku
On behalf of my husband and myself we want to thank Tokyo Free Guide and our guides, Chikako, Senichi, Takako and Miyuki for a wonderful experience touring Tokyo in early November. Each of the guides was outgoing, fun, informative and dedicated to seeing that we had a very positive experience. I could go on at length about how we enjoyed each guide, but suffice it to say that the Tokyo Free guide service, and our specific guides (Chikako, Senichi, Takako and Miyuki) made our trip to Tokyo tremendously memorable. Thank You!!
Lisa and Bob Tourek, Wexford Pennsylvania USA
September 2009
Guide: Yukiyo Itahana
Route: (Sep.19) Shinjuku – Kagurazaka – Akihabara – Asakusa – Ginza; (Sep.20) Harajuku – Yoyogi Park – Asakusa; (Sep.25) Ginza – Shinbashi – Odaiba
I heard about the Tokyo Free Guide website very close to our travel date, but decided I would give it a try & write, even though it was past the suggested date that I should write by. Within a couple of days I received a reply by email directly from Yukio, a 68 year old retiree. His English was very good, & he was available for us to meet the morning after we arrived in Tokyo , which was great for me. I later wrote him to say that perhaps our group might be a bit bigger than I originally thought. I was traveling with a modern dance company, we were performing at the Aoyama Round Theatre. When they heard from me about Yukiyo they were all very excited & everyone wanted to join! Yukiyo’s response by email: “Welcome, welcome. The more the merrier.” I knew I was going to like him.
Yukiyo met us at our hotel lobby, after introductions & giving him a small gift I had brought with me (a beautiful photo book of Tel Aviv) we headed out. We did all the regular tourist stuff the first day- the observatory in the Municipal Government building in Shinjuku, Akihabara, Asakusa, Ginza . It was so great being with Yukiyo, having him teach us how to use the metro, how to order food in restaurants, & just the great conversations we had with him. At the end of the first day, even though we had only agreed to that one day, he offered to meet us in the morning & continue our exploration of Tokyo . Read the rest of this entry »
September 2009
Guide: Koji Yamada
Route: September 20th: Hamarikyu Garden- Asakusa – Ameyoko street in Ueno – Akihabara (electric town) – Yakitori in Yurakucho; September 21st: Odaiba – Tsukudajima – Nezu – Yanaka
Dear Tokyo Free Guide
We want to thank Koji Yamada for being our guide in Tokyo on September 19th and 20th 2009. He was a wonderful guide and showed us popular areas like Asakusa as well the back alleys of Nezu and Yanaka. He explained about these places in clear English and really enhanced our appreciation and understanding of Tokyo’s history and culture. He also taught us a few useful phrases in Japanese. Not only did he show us and tell us about the real Tokyo but also taught us how to use the subway so that we could explore on our own. Whoever said “You will be lost in Tokyo,” didn’t have Koji for a guide. In addition, he showed us inexpensive and authentic places that we would never have found by ourselves. We highly recommend Koji as a guide.
All the best,
Don Gabor and Eileen Cowell
