Private Ginza Architecture Walking Tour

Yoshi was our guide and it was an absolute pleasure to spend time with him. The tour was everything we had hoped for and was not only fascinating but full of contrasts. The pace was just about right, when we flagged a bit we stopped for coffee and continued our interesting conversation. We expected the architecture to be the star of this walk (and what we saw was quite spectacular) but actually the star turned out to be Yoshi - kind, considered and informative - I could have chatted to him all day with or without a building in front of us. Thanks Yoshi !

Taka was incredibly friendly and informative. We loved the architectural knowledge he had and the opportunity to go inside many of the buildings. We covered numerous buildings. Very much worth the tour!

Yoko was educational and awesome! We appreciate her time and dedication to the tour, would recommend!! My Daughter and I attended and although we are different ages, we both got along with Yoko very well and found the tour really interesting. If you're looking into architecture as a career path i would highly recommend, once again.

Yoko was very accommodating and we learned a lot about Japanese history and architecture. I highly recommend it!

Preferring not to join a big tour group on my first visit to Tokyo, I instead discovered the joys of a themed walking tour with a Showcase Tokyo Architecture tour of Ginza. My guide Yuka is passionate and extremely knowledgeable about architecture as well as Japanese history - and took me to buildings and back alleys I would never have seen or appreciated without her expert guidance. I learnt so much the history of Ginza itself, and about the background and concepts behind some of the iconic architectural gems of the area - both old and new. The Swatch building, with its individual glass elevators taking clients to niche boutiques, the stunning Hermes building, the shimmering Louis Vuitton building, Ginza 6 complex. Yuka shared her deep knowledge of these buildings - how the light is refracted off the LV facade, for example; the “curtain” of 33,000 glass tiles produced in Milan for the Hermes building to make it earthquake proof! Yuka explained the history of Tokyo’s Kabuki theatre, the families of Kabuki actors, and we admired the new high rise tower that is constructed in perfect linear harmony behind it. We also went into narrow back alleys behind Ginza, complete their own tiny Buddhist temples. Yuka is great company, an outstanding guide, a great communicator. I highly recommend Showcase Architecture Tokyo’s Ginza walking tour.

Delightful and informative tour with Mari. We are not trained in architecture but thought this would be an interesting way to experience Ginza. We were so right! Mari gave us an insightful introduction and explanation of what we were seeing, took us inside some great locations that we would likely have walked past, and indulged our particular interest in visiting the Yamaha flagship store where we had a rest at the cafe and got to explore a bit. I’m sure that Mari had much more substance to share than we were prepared to digest, but she graciously tolerated our novice level of knowledge and provided the interesting, insightful, and informative tour we were hoping for.

Ginza is a thriving commercial area with several luxury brands having commissioned world class architects to create statement buildings. Yuki was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. It was a great experience

Ginza has such amazing architecture! Hiring a private guide can find some real delights! Our guide, Taka Yamamura-San, was so knowledgeable and informative! He’s an urban planner who knows Ginza very well and provided great background and history on almost a dozen different buildings and sites. We’ve visited Ginza over 20 times and learned so much more from him than just seeing an interesting building. He also informed us of exciting ideas on how Ginza was evolving for the future. If you are at all interested in architecture, I highly recommend this tour as a great way to enjoy the beauty of Ginza.

Yoshi was a great guide! You get to see a entire different view of the city! Looking up instead of forward or down you can learn so much.

Our guide was wonderful in every respect. She explained everything clearly and answered all our questions. She was a joy to be with.

We had a tour that was both informative and friendly, led by the very knowledgeable guide Yoko. We looked at historical architecture as well as modern architecture. Yoko was very accommodating and a pleasant person. We can recommend the tour without reservation.

A very wholesome and thoroughly enjoyable afternoon - the pace was perfect, Taka-san was very knowledgeable and picked some great places to show us which we would have missed altogether without his expert knowledge. We also requested to visit a different place and he tailored the tour for us on the day, unfazed. He really brought the architecture and artistry of the buildings in Ginza to life for us - thank you Taka-san.

Our family’s tour guide was very knowledgeable and delightful, and brought to life the stories behind many of the beautiful facades, interesting buildings, lovely art installations that abound in Ginza. My family thoroughly enjoyed their time with her during this expansive tour of Ginza. Thoroughly recommend this tour for those more interested in exploring this neighborhood beyond just the shopping (which is also amazing, but thats a different tour.)

Our family’s tour guide was very knowledgeable and delightful, and brought to life the stories behind many of the beautiful facades, interesting buildings, lovely art installations that abound in Ginza. My family thoroughly enjoyed their time with her during this expansive tour of Ginza. Thoroughly recommend this tour for those more interested in exploring this neighborhood beyond just the shopping (which is also amazing, but thats a different tour.)

Amazing walking tour around Ginza with the very informative Yoshiyuki who provided a wonderful insight and gave me a better appreciation of the architecture in the area. Would highly recommend.

Tour guide tailored his discussion to our interests. Been to Tokyo many times on business but never got this perspective.

Exceeded expectations. Mari was a very knowledgeable and accomodating guide, and with excellent English. The tour company contacted us ahead of our arrival to ask about our interests so they could customise the tour. Mari has an in depth knowledge of Ginza - not only architecture and history, but also hot spots to eat and shop. Very generous in sharing her local knowledge. Highly recommend this tour.

My husband and I took a Ginza walking tour Monday morning with our exceptional guide Yuka. Yuka's knowledge about Japanese architecture, history, and design was very thorough. She also provided additional insight into Japanese culture. If was great seeing the old and new architectural gems as well as cool tucked away shrines. For anyone interested in architecture, be sure to include a tour with Yuka in your travel plans, it was a very rewarding experience.

My guide Yuki Deleon was a delightful tour guide of the contemporary architecture of the Ginza area. She was knowledgeable, the tour of the Kabuki theatre was especially interesting. At three hours and 12 kilometres it is a wonderful way to see another side of Japanese contemporary architecture. I would highly recommend this tour.

Mari was a fantastic guide. She asked about my interests beforehand and took me to some great spots that would be hard to find on my own. I really enjoyed spending the morning with her and learning more about Japanese architecture and culture. I highly recommend.

This tour was a wonderful was to orient us to the modern architecture and development of Ginza. Don’t be turned off by the high end retail nature of many of the buildings - they were designed by some of Japan’s finest contemporary architects and are visually stunning. Our tour guide Mari was wonderful - knowledgeable, friendly and able to tailor the tour to our interests. I highly recommend Showcase Tokyo!

We had a wonderful tour with knowledgeable and fun Yuki. In addition to showing us modern architecture in Ginza, we also went by some old structures and into Nissan Crossing which was very unique. Neither my husband or I are architects, but we enjoyed learning about an aspect of Tokyo that was a bit off the tourist track.

Yoko was a friendly and informative guide who included a variety of experience. We saw interesting skyscrapers in Ginza, but also the Buddhist temple, kabuki theater, the Outer Market, and two shrines, one of which was s tiny hidden gem between two huge buildings. I would highly recommend both the tour and Yoko to any travelers with an interest in architecture.

Haruka (Hal) was an incredible guide as we walked and explored the incredible architecture of Ginza. She was able to explain the incredible architects of each building and their inspirations in their designs. I would have never been able to experience all of these incredible sites on my own, Hal-San was amazing. Hal is super kind, informative, and knowledgeable of the area, making it an incredible tour. This was one of the best parts of my stay in Tokyo and I recommend it to everyone.

Eriko was an excellent guide and showed us areas of Ginza we never could have discovered without her. In addition to stunning, modern retail buildings, she led us to small historical alleyways that survived the war and now hold Buddhist altars for blessings. Our tour ended up with her recommendation for shabu shabu and sukiyaki lunch, and they were delicious. We highly recommend this Tokyo tour — to see spectacular modern architecture as well as interesting historical buildings. Eriko is wonderful!!!

We loved the flexibility and professionalism of Mari showing us the pearls of Ginza with her personal touch, the very open communication about her country, the people, fashion and food. Visiting buildings and getting historical insights was very interesting as well as getting to know community planning over the years. We went back again here and there and feel we know so much more now than before. Fantastic tour! Fond memories! We got a true essence of Ginza! Thank you Mari!

We were 2 people, first time in Japan, Mari was our guide and we really had a great time! She was amazing! It was really nice to talk to local guide and we really enjoyed it.

We had a wonderful time with Eriko! She is a super knowledgeable guide and a very nice person! We learnt so much about Ginza architecture from her! She also showed us all local spots for shopping and stayed longer than the planned tour time! We highly recommend her and hope to see her again during our next visit to Tokyo! Excellent tour! Aleks, Billy and Tom

Best tour I have been on in a long time. Haruka was magnificent. Great overview of historical context and insight into contemporary culture. Not just a walking tour.

Yoshi was very patient with us. We knew little about architecture, but he helped us learn quite a bit.

We had Yuka as our guide. She designed the tour specifically to cater to our interests in the stories behind the architecture. She has done the research and was able to take us through the history of the buildings - the transformations and the people responsible for those transformations.

Our guide Yoshi really did go in detail and showed us some hidden gems at Ginza area! The selection of buildings is also a good balance of traditional Japanese & contemporary

We had Yoko as our guide. She was both very personable and professional. Her knowledge of the areas and the related history added to the experience. We went off the beaten path to sights and sites that we could and would never have found without her. Even though it rained the entire tour it did not diminish her enthusiasm or our enjoyment as being with her was like seeing a rainbow during a storm. Thank YOU Yoko!!

I had an excellent experience with Yoshi on the architecture tour. He was patient with my questions and a great guide all around. He had terrific insights and gave me interesting bits of knowledge. He was informative and had a good sense of humor and I found myself laughing a lot, which made it so fun. Really glad I went. I would recommend it to anyone.

Aki is an excellent and knowledgeable guide. He showed us to some marvelous places we never would have discovered otherwise. It was interesting to learn about the concepts and ideas behind some of Ginza’s modern architecture landmarks. We fully enjoyed our tour!

Yoshi went above and beyond a simple walking tour of Ginza. He was very kind, courteous, and patient with us as this was our first visit to Japan. Yoshi is very knowledgeable and went out of his way to show us several architectural marvels around Ginza. Would highly recommend.

Ms. Makoto was an excellent guide. She immediately catered the tour to my interests. Ms. Makoto was also somewhat adventurous. During the tour we visited several hidden gems, one of which house a distributor of fine seaweed and tea, Ms. Makoto was more than happy to clarify translation questions for me, which ultimately led to a brief yet enjoyable tea tasting (compliments of the distributor). You will surely develop a new appreciation of Ginza during this tour - well worth your time no matter what level of architectural background you might hold.

I really enjoyed this afternoon tour of architecture and details in the Ginza area — I would certainly recommend this tour to other people interested in design and the built environment.

We had a private walking tour of Ginza with Yoco. In fact, it was supposed to be private architectural tour around Tokyo, which turned out to be private walking tour around some nice areas around Tokyo. We started with the Honwanji temple, which is a beautiful Buddhist temple. There was a mention of the fishermen's colony, during the tour around Honwanji, which ignited my interest and we rerouted to the fishermen's market- although it was not part of the original tour itinerary. Yoco was bright and took us to the inner market, some shrines around the market and a knife shop- that caters to some of the best chefs in Tokyo. None of these were part of the tour, but Yoco was very keen to accommodate our requests. This was followed by a tour of the Kabuki theatre. We also managed to catch a glimpse of a Kabuki performance. We finally did some architectural tour around Ginza main avenue. I will definitely recommend this tour. Yoco was friendly, honest and had insightful.

We had a lovely afternon walking through Ginza and earning more about the buildings and the culture and history attached to each of them. Yuka our guide was wonderful, she not only explained the history behind the buildings but their cultural significance making the tour far more interesting and insightful. Thanks Yuka!!! The 3 hours just flew by. Would highly reccomend this one!

We had an amazing walking tour of the Ginza area with our local guy, Kayuki. She was so informative and pointed out so many interesting buildings for us. We could never have learned this much on our own just walking around. I highly recommend this tour with Kayuki. It was very hot when we did the tour but we would zip into air conditioned buildings that had significant interest. My husband and I both loved this tour! Thank you Kayuki.

I was not expecting a personal tour! I thought that there would be a few other people participating. Yuka, my guide, was friendly and welcoming; the perfect host - interesting and informative. Despite the inclement weather, I gained an insight into the changing urban landscape in a unique area of the city of Tokyo. We visited some unusual buildings and even a secret shrine! The time just flew by and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone with an interest in architecture and Japanese culture.

The Ginza walking architecture tour with Yuki was absolute stunning. She knows a lot about art and architecture and showed us some of the most important buildings in the area and gave us a lot of interesting information. Very very recommended!!!

We were a group of 20 architects attending 3 of showcases walking tours in a course of 3 days. We did the Ginza, the Omotesando and the Ueno tours with Aki, Yasuo and Yoshi, our wonderful and talented guides, who were helpful, kind, very informative and super flexible. Each of the tours were an amazing experience where we have learnt a lot about Japanese architecture, culture and the hidden treasures of Tokyo ( wouldn't like to write any spoilers here, but the tours are full of little surprises that helps one to create a better understanding of Japanese culture and customs) We had a really great time discovering Tokyos extraordinary architecture, thanks to our guides, and I can say everyone in our group really enjoyed our walks and were truly impressed. We really feel like we got a great overall image of Tokyo, and we can not wait to come back Japan! I can only 100% recommend Showcase tours, and I can't wait to join their upcoming tours next time i'm in Japan!

We had a great time in joining the Ginza Architecture tour. Our tour guide Mira is a knowledgeable and friendly person. She showed us around those unique buildings, some are with hundred years history and some are trendy style. We were not only admiring the exterior of those buildings, but also were brought into some of them. During the tour we know more about the architecture and the history of Ginza. We believe that if we didn’t join the tour, in our memory Ginza is just a commercial and shopping area as other areas. But now we know that Ginza is a unique place. I would highly recommend this tour.

Met the tour guide near Tsukiji fish market started the tour and it was lots of fun and very informative about the history of the areas and buildings all over Ginza. We were also able to go into some buildings and interact with the features of the buildings as well as admire them.

Things that this tour included: 1. The coolest elevators that I've ever seen 2. A tour of a former apartment building now filled with miniature art galleries 3. A trip down back alleys to a hidden Inari shrine 4. A quick history of Japan's cafe culture 5. Making high-fashion and architecture feel accessible 6. Recommendations for great (and affordable) tonkatsu in Ginza I have no background in architecture and no training in any fine art. This was an incredible experience. Yuki was phenomenal: patient, knowledgeable, and so enthusiastic that I hardly noticed that I was wearing a full suit in near-90 degree Tokyo heat. My group bundled the Ginza tour with the Nakagin Capsule Hotel and both were really wonderful. I speak Japanese and live in Tokyo, but getting to tour with the Showcase team really felt like visiting a whole new city. Strongly recommend to anyone who wants to feel like they're being let in on an amazing secret that's hiding in plain sight (and who wants to learn a lot about and experience some incredible spaces).

I happen to be very fascinated with architecture and went on this tour with my mother. By the end of the three hours I had not only learned an incredible amount about the architectonics of many beautiful high-rises in Ginza, but walked away with a much better understanding of the area's unique history and culture as well. It was a very informative tour led by a great tour guide, Kihara-san. I highly recommend it even if you aren't passionate about architecture.

I highly recommend the Nakagin capsule tour to anyone who is interested in architecture. The guide, Matsubara-san has much experience and knowledge, and also she is very friendly. Hopefully I could attend other tours like Harajuku & Omotesando tour, Ginza tour or their new Koganei tour as well.