Are personal tour guides in Tokyo and Kyoto work the cost?
 

I am on my first trip to Japan with my 14 year old daughter this June. I neither speak nor read Japanese. I am wondering about whether or not to engage the services of a personal tour guide for us for a day or part of a day in Tokyo and Kyoto. I am ambivalent because,I don't generally enjoy even brief guided tours of historic sites... however Tokyo sounds to be such a sprawling place , with many different train and subway systems.
I would love to hear people's advice.
Thanks, Louisa

I'm not sure anyone else can readily answer whether they are worth it to you, since it's such a personal decision.

For me, the cost of the specialist food ones I considered for both Tokyo and Kyoto was just too high, so I decided against and didn't regret my decision.

Others here have booked both general and food-specialist guides and very much enjoyed.

I used a Goodwill guide in Fukuoka - you pay a small fee to cover their travel to come and meet you/ get home plus you cover whatever meals, drinks, transport costs you spend together during the tour period - not very high in our case and well worth it to cover more ground in a short period. But Fukuoka is much smaller than Tokyo!

We used Goodwill Guides throughout Japan and thought they were a great deal. We had a few different ones in Tokyo, as there are a couple of networks that cover different areas. There are also Tokyo Free Guides.

I think in all cases, they matched us up with guides that were close to our age and matched our interests.

At the very minimum, you might want to look into them, as they give you an opportunity to interact with locals and sightsee at the same time.

(Kavey, I am about to contact the Fukuoka network for our upcoming trip.)

I had a good experience with a Welcome guide in Kyoto:

https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...on-over-kyoto/

Didn't use one for Tokyo, but it would be a good idea. There are multiple organizations, just search on "global greeters" and 'welcome guides".

We did a Tokyo Free guide and she was fantastic! You can book ahead of time and ask for an English speaking guide, and they will email you to ask what you want to see and put together a half or full day itinerary with you. Great to do on your first day to learn how to use the subway. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.tokyofreeguide.org/

As the name suggests, there is no cost. You are just expected to pay for their subway fare while you are together, and their lunch if you have lunch together. We also brought a small box of See's candy, which she appreciated. In my opinion, more than worth it.

Cover my costs and feed me See's candy and I'll help you out too.

Note that in Kyoto and Tokyo, you can also find university students to guide you at some of the tourist sites. Dunno if this is organized or not. But because google exists, you can find out.

We (her majesty and I) were approached at Nijo Castle in Kyoto by a pair of collegians because they wanted to practice their English and in exchange for our time allowing them to do that, we got the guided tour. We offered to buy them drinks at the end (it was a bit warm that day) but they politely declined.

There are a TON of resources on how to use Japanese transportation, so if that's your driver, don't fret it.

And considering Tokyo's size and concentration of aural, visual and olfactory inputs, you or your guide will need to pick an area or two.

We neither speak nor read Japanese and had no trouble puttering around either Tokyo or Kyoto.

I'm another poster who was very well satisfied with the few volunteer guides with whom I worked.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/tr...deservice.html

I can understand your trepidation -- I remember mine! -- but I found it extremely, surprisingly, and wonderfully easy to negotiate Japan on my own with no more than a word or two of badly pronounced Japanese. ("Thank you" was, of course, the most important. :-) )

You'll find a ton of information here:
http://www.japan-guide.com
(Just one small word of warning: I found the estimates of how much time it would take to visit various things to be substantially less than I wanted.)

The best maps I found in advance of my trip were in the long-out-of-print (but still occasionally available) <i>Japan Solo</i>.

BTW: If you cover MY costs, you won't even need to feed me See's candy -- so I think I just outbid BigRuss! :-)

I suppose some of your decision will be influenced by how much time you have. If you don't have much time, you will need to be extremely efficient so a guide would help.

We found that Kyoto is very easy to get around with a map. No guide needed.

Tokyo was a bit harder because of the way the streets are named. We found whole areas with the same street sign on every corner and going both ways. One help is "you are here" maps on a lot of corners. Needless to say it took a lot longer to find places on foot. We probably would have benefited from a guide in Tokyo but we pretty much stayed around the Tokyo station since we were only there for a couple of days.

We found plenty of people that speak English so no trouble there.

In Kyoto, lots of people rent kimonos for the day, your daughter might enjoy this. We also went to a geisha dinner at Gion Hstankaka. It was great talking with the geisha and seeing them close up. Food was interesting and very Japanese. http://www.gionhatanaka.jp/maiko/index.html

Enjoy your trip.

<<BTW: If you cover MY costs, you won't even need to feed me See's candy -- so I think I just outbid BigRuss! :-)>>

Beware the vendor who sells services too cheaply . . . Quality does demand a slight premium. ;-)

The only Japanese I know is arigato and unagi and shinkansen. There may be 10-15 other words I can say. There are zero I can read in the local writing. And I'll be danged if I can understand a bloody thing the extremely courteous cashiers chirped at me when I paid for transactions at small stores and Vie de France, etc. We got around Tokyo and Kyoto with no real problems. And happily, we're set to go back.

We traveled without any use of guides in Japan and had a fine time. We got lost in Shinjuku, but I understand that is a badge of honor among travelers. Despite the language difference, we had a wonderful time and saw/did/experienced what we had hoped to in Japan.

"We got lost in Shinjuku, but I understand that is a badge of honor among travellers."

That just made me laugh out loud, Kathie. I wear my Shinjuku badge with pride.

weeza, I have had no experience with guides in Japan, but we are at this moment in Matsumoto on our second do-it-yourself visit to Japan. The only thing I would add to the comments above is that there is a lot of English signage in airports, train stations, subways, etc, and that people here are willing and gracious in helping you find your way, even if you have not a word of Japanese and they have no English.

I am sure you will have a great trip. It is am amazing country.

@ BigRuss: ;-)

Tokyo has almost no named streets. Seriously. Here's a description:
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/tokyo/250120

Guides have their place, and can save you a lot of time, especially when navigating in an unfamiliar place. A lot of what I do is allow people to have more time to do the things they want and less time messing about with getting lost. Having a volunteer guide is an affordable way of doing it, but they might not suit your personality, and make sure you get them to show you what you want.

As an example of the benefit detailed knowledge, I was interested to hear someone yesterday (a hotel staff member - local to Kyoto) recommending a bus from Kyoto station to Kinkakuji when a better option is subway to Kitaoji and then bus or taxi (much faster).

Re Patrick's point: The suggested may depend on the circumstances though... for me the bus-only option would be better as I find stairs difficult - not impossible but difficult, so try and minimise how many I need to use in a day. Plus the bus-only is a lovely way of seeing Kyoto neighbourhoods as one passes through... whether the small gain in time is worth the extra faff on that one is surely a personal opinion rather than an example of poor local advice?

But I totally take your point that a guide can certainly save time faffing around, getting lost, not sure where to go to get tickets and all those kinds of things.

I would say worthwhile to try and organise what your tour covers in advance, and with a goodwill, if you can send across a ROUGH idea of what kind of places you want to see and what touring style you have, they can match you with someone appropriate.

I am a solo traveler, professional guides are generally well out of my price range, and I am grateful for the volunteers. I have occasionally used a professional, and I have occasionally been on group tours, and I can vouch for the fact that there is no guarantee that a professional guide will suit my "personality".

Getting lost isn't always a bad thing, lol (think Venice), but in any case I agree with Kavey, as fastest isn't always best either. The tube is almost always fastest in London but I often take the bus anyway to enjoy the view. When I was in Kyoto I was limping, and I absolutely hated the subway.

These days, with the maps apps available for smart phones, getting lost is going to become rarer, as will needing help with public transport.

<<We got lost in Shinjuku, but I understand that is a badge of honor among travelers.>>

Carrier pigeons get lost in Shinjuku. I think the apps will also say "I have no idea where you are."

We got lost twice.

Do I get two badges?

My husband and I used Backstreet Guides for our first day in Tokyo (on the recommendation of a Fodor forum fan!) and our guide Mayu was well worth it (it was somewhat under $100 apiece). She was quite young too, which I think your daughter would love. We started at 9 am (it was high season and a weekend so there were 10 of us but it didn't feel like too many), went full speed until between 5 and 6, and saw more sights more efficiently than we ever would have without her. She showed us how to use the public transportation which was a helpful primer. She explained how to purify ourselves before going into a temple. She had arranged reservations at a sushi restaurant in late morning at the fish market, which was great because it was a Saturday and very busy. She also took us to a lovely local
Noodle house for a late lunch that we all loved. All this was included in our ticket. But most helpful was that we could ask her in English questions about local culture. Your daughter might love to have a few kid questions answered! For example, we asked her about face masks and she confirmed that some people wear them because they have a cold and some people because they don't want to get one -- but she said she also wears one sometimes when she doesn't feel like putting on makeup! In short, she was a real person who spoke great English, and a fun resource. I booked a couple of months in advance for Backstreets during Sakura. I tried to get in on a sake tasting tour in Kyoto a couple of weeks before arriving and they were booked.

You seriously do not need a tour guide or to join a tour group. There is nothing better than the freedom of going where you want, when you want, and for how long you want. You just need to do your research and plan your itinerary so you are going to see what you are most interested in.

If you get hopelessly lost, it is better to find some older school or college age students and *write out* your questions in simple words. Japanese are still very poor at speaking English but are often glad to help you out if you lose your way.
Carrying a business card or paper with your hotel's address on it can also be a big help.
Many large and medium size cities in Japan have a tourist info office at the main rail station - USE THEM! You can get free maps and other useful info. And have a back up plan. Stuff happens - someplace is closed, the weather sucks, you suddenly find someplace better you'd rather see. Know the opening/closing times of places (some stop admittance 30 minutes before closing time), plus each morning check the weather forecast and plan accordingly.
If you really need a guide though, you can try:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/tr...uides_a-n.html

Tokyo free guides:
http://www.freetoursnetwork.com/#!japan/c173s

Kyoto free guides
http://goodsamaritanclub.org/

We were in Japan with kids last summer and I used Chris Rowthorn private tours in both Tokyo and Kyoto. Now while I do not like group tours, I do like private guides, and hence, I'm very critical if they are not up to par. I usually hire them when I'm pressed for time, in a city where I can't easily jump in and out of cabs, when a city is sprawling, when they can help get you into must-see places that have long lines for admission otherwise and/or when a particular sight is of such historical and cultural significance that I want an extra perspective on it from a professional.

I found the guides a Chris Rowthorn to be great. I loved that we went by foot or subway, I loved the lunch stops, and I liked that they were flexible. There were many days that we saw everything on the punch list and some days that we didn't as we wanted to linger. And most importantly, they were very knowledgable. We did not use them all the days we were in Tokyo and not always full day, but by the time we began to explore without a guide, especially for some of the quintessential wacky things that Toyko offers for teens, we were comfortable in the city.

In Kyoto, the guides were beyond helpful. We only gave Kyoto five nights and four days, with one day going to Nara. There is no way we could have seen everything on our list without a guide. Again, loved the temperament and knowledge of our guide in Kyoto. We knocked out all of the must see temples with the guide and experienced some really good food and then did all of our add on activities that we booked on our own. I found Kyoto to be an easily navigable city and we used the subway and jumped in cabs.

We did not use guides in Hiroshima or Miyajima and for us that was a good choice.

I think the tours were extremely reasonably priced as well, but that is subjective I know. You can find more at
http://www.chrisrowthorn.com and there are a lot of reviews on trip advisor.

Lastly, I must say I used the concierge at my hotel prior to our arrival more for the Japan trip than any other trip I have taken in the world. They were so extremely helpful in booking restaurants and experiences (cooking classes, cat cafe visit, crazy nailss, etc) prior to our arrival. And of course, onward train tickets were ready at check-in and the fabulous luggage forwarding was taken care of. They really made the overall trip seamless with their gracious service.

Have a great time. It's fantastic.

My understanding is that there is a no tipping policy in Japan. Other than a small gift, is tipping appropriate for a free tour?