When one of my oldest friends who now lives in England wrote to me and said, “hey, we’re going on a three week road trip in Japan – do you want to meet up in Tokyo?”, I knew this was a unique opportunity to hang out in Tokyo with a lifelong chum who I might not see again for another decade.

I took this tour guiding responsibility very seriously – for most people, a trip to Japan can be a once in a lifetime thing, so I wanted to make sure I showed them a good time. This meant helping them book a nice ryokan (traditional guest house) to stay in, taking them for excellent sushi and cold Asahi beer, and experiencing the wonderful and special craziness that can be found in the biggest city in the world.

Luckily, this is easy! Tokyo is such an amazing city, all you have to do is show up and something will be happening. They were only in Tokyo for three nights but we ran into a huge festival, found street performers, explored the markets in Ueno, witnessed a sunrise ceremony at Asakusa’s famed temple, Senso-ji, played drumming taiko games in an arcade, ate street food, slurped soba noodles, and introduced them to the joy of kaiten zushi or the sushi train conveyor belt. Being a tour guide in Tokyo is easy! How can anyone ever be bored or unimpressed?

Happy customers. Want to hire me as a tour guide? 🙂