Shibamata is a small and old downtown with a temple and beautiful Japanese gardens, located in the east end of Tokyo. You will find the nostalgic lifestyle of ordinary people in 1960’s. The town is not stylish nor modern, but full of atmosphere of Japanese traditional neighborhood life.
At your hotel in Tokyo
Pick up at your hotel or anyplace you’d like.
Walk along the street to Shibamata Taishaku-ten temple from the nearest station and see the local sweets and food shops. You can reach the temple in 10 min. The whole area shows the atmosphere of traditional busy downtown in 1960’s.
Taishaku-ten is a temple known for its beautiful Japanese garden and engraved Buddha stories on the outer walls of Taishaku-do inner shrine. The admission is 400 yen per person. You can go-around the garden by walking through the outside corridor with roof.
Yamamoto-tei, a traditional Japanese-style architecture built in 1920s. It was once used as the residence of the wealthy president of a company. You can see the inside of the house and the beautiful garden through “engawa” (a narrow wooden deck along the edge of a house facing the garden). Admission 100 yen. You can also have tea and sweets in the Japanese style tatami tea room.
We can have lunch at a restaurant nearby as you like. There are noodle, tempura rice-bowl restaurants, etc.
You can visit Tokyo Skytree or Asakusa in less than 30 min. I will take you there if you’d like.
At your hotel or anyplace
Guide fee, hotel pick-up, guide’s transportation fee
Your transportation fee (about 1,500 yen per person), lunch (about 1,500 yen per person) and admission fee for you and guide
If you stay in the central area of Tokyo or Chiba, I will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel or anyplace you like.
We will take public transportation and walk a lot so please wear comfortable shoes.
This is a flexible tour you can change places to visit upon your wish. I will make an itinerary customized for you, so you can fully enjoy the city with your limited time.
This is a private tour, you can change the route according to your interest, condition or the weather during the tour.
In this tour, we will take public transportation and walk a lot so please wear comfortable shoes. If your group has someone who prefers not to walk a lot, please let me know.
And if you have someone with allergies or dietary restrictions, please let me know in advance.
Our 6 hour-tour with Shiaki was exactly what we wanted. Customized to our every need and requirement. A job well done
Thank you Evert, for your review! I sent my reply on the message site so please see it.
We met Chiaki in our hotel lobby and reviewed our plans- we had initially booked a tour of the fish market but decided to shop for gifts instead since it was our last day in Japan. Chiaki was kind, flexible and accommodating. She planned the most efficient route given our priorities and we set off- she is very knowledgeable about the entire Tokyo transit system and we wished we had met her earlier in our trip! She suggested extra stops along the way that had authentic items such as paper goods and local foods. She helped us find a specific item and facilitated the tricky process to secure a tax free purchase at a department store. She kept it real by ensuring we were mostly on time and had the opportunity to end our tour in a park to unwind a bit. We highly recommend Chiaki!!
Thank you Jami-san, for your fascinating review! Because I heard from you, now I know you and Anne didn’t lose your way to the hotel, didn’t miss your flight and safely got back home. I’m glad to know that. I can imagine you are very tired and even so, you took time to post such a fantastic comment! Thank you so much. We spent a wonderful time together, finding that we followed the same Nakasendo trail and found beauty in the same little stone statue! Please come back to Tokyo in the chestnut season again to enjoy Japanese sweets. Please say hello to Anne! Thank you again and take care!
We found Chiaki so very friendly she went out of her way to ensure we did all we wanted to - Chiaki’s English is excellent even understanding our jokes. Chiaki has great knowledge of Japanese culture and we saw places we would never have found ourselves. Chiaki is a fantastic guide and we have no hesitation in recommending her to you.
Dear Marie, thank you so much for your kind words! It was such a pleasure guiding you and Steven. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my tour and that I could help make your visit enjoyable. I had a lot of fun spending a day with you. And the soba lunch was good! Oisii! Thank you for your recommendation! I hope that you travel to England safely and smoothly! Thank you again!
I'm always reluctant relying online reviews especially when I flew 14 hrs to get there. Im glad I did and Im glad we got connected with Chiaki. She is awesome we brought my 83 year old mother in law and Chiaki not only gave all the history etc. but held her arm much of the time, sheparded her around and made changes on the fly like saying it's too hot for her at the next site let's do this instead. Bottom line if your sitting on your couch in the states planning a trip to Tokyo and your bringing your parents and you want a low key, not rushed experience she's the one. 5 stars all day
Hi Mark, thank you for your fantastic review! I’m glad to know that you enjoy my tour! I’m also spending a joyful time with you and your family. Your mother-in-law is a wonderful person to talk with and I admire her. Thank you so much for booking me as your guide for such a long and precious journey. We have one more day together and I’d like to make it a comfortable and enjoyable experience. See you at 9:30 tomorrow at your hotel! Thank you again!