Begin beside the Sumida River, where your private guide introduces Japan’s remarkable journey from more than 200 years of national isolation to its reopening and modernization. Learn why the Netherlands became Japan’s key European trading partner, how Commodore Perry changed the country’s course, and how this history helped shape modern Tokyo. Across the river, see Tokyo Skytree—the modern landmark you will visit later in the tour.
Receive a clear introduction to Buddhism and Shinto, Japan’s two major religious traditions. This background will help you understand the temples, shrines, customs, and symbols encountered during the rest of your private walk.
Visit Asakusa’s iconic Thunder Gate and discover the meaning behind its enormous lantern and guardian statues. Your guide will also explain the symbolism of Japanese dragons and how their traditional role differs from that of dragons in Western culture.
Walk along one of Japan’s oldest shopping streets while learning about Buddhist symbols and traditional crafts. Discover how ukiyo-e woodblock prints unexpectedly reached Europe and influenced Western Impressionist artists. Your private guide can adjust the conversation to your interests as you explore.
At Senso-ji’s impressive inner gate, examine its guardian figures and enormous traditional sandals. Learn about the surprising similarities between the ways people in medieval Japan and Europe viewed religion, protection, and the unseen world.
Explore Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple and hear the story of its founding. Learn how to pray at a Buddhist temple, what the incense and purification rituals mean, and how Buddhism became deeply connected with everyday life in Japan.
Visit the Shinto shrine standing beside Senso-ji and discover why a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine have shared the same grounds, worshippers, and history for centuries. Your guide explains how these two traditions have coexisted—and influenced each other—throughout Japanese history.
Take a short train ride across the Sumida River, creating a vivid transition from historic Asakusa to one of modern Tokyo’s most recognizable landmarks. The train journey itself takes approximately two minutes, with additional time allowed for walking and boarding. Enter Tokyo Skytree with your private guide and ascend first to the Tembo Deck at 350 meters, then continue to the Tembo Galleria at 450 meters. Admission to both observation levels is included. From high above Tokyo, your guide will help you identify major landmarks and understand how the vast modern city developed. Step onto the glass floor for a dramatic view of the streets below, enjoy the curved walkway of the Tembo Galleria, and take memorable photographs from one of the world’s tallest towers. After descending, the guided tour ends at Tokyo Skytree. You are welcome to remain in the area and explore the shops, restaurants, and local treats at Tokyo Solamachi at your own pace.
The tour was fantastic and very informative. Our guide Yoko was the best guide we ever had. She was very polite and competent. Thank you very much for the great experience!
Our experience has been trurly amazing and fascinating. A tour in japanese history and culture from the walk near the Subuya river to the Skytree. Mr Taka entertained us and gave us a lot of great insights every moment. I really recommend this kind of experience to anyone !
My brother and I had the pleasure of touring with Taka. He told us the history of buildings and what each place means to the people. We enjoyed it and for anyone touring with Taka, you won’t be disappointed.
Taka was a very friendly and knowledgable tour guide. My family and i had a great time on this tour. Highly recommend this tour for families.
Loved this tour and our tour guide, Taka, was extremely knowledgeable and gave an amazing tour. He was very friendly and answered our many questions while showing us around Tokyo and the Skytree. I would recommend touring with Taka!
We had a truly wonderful experience on today’s tour with Junko Yamashita. She is a very attentive, knowledgeable, and thoughtful guide who shared a wealth of historical information in a clear and engaging way. The tour was both informative and meaningful, offering great insights into Japanese history and culture. Junko’s passion and care made the experience even more enjoyable and easy to follow. We highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to better understand the history of Japan through a well-guided and enriching experience.
We had a great time exploring Asakusa and visiting the Sensō-ji and Asakusa Shrine. We also got to experience the Tokyo Sky Tree, with incredible views across Tokyo and plenty of photo opportunities. Our tour guide was Junko Yamashita (Jun Chan) and she was incredibly friendly, helpful and knowledgeable of the local area’s history. We really enjoyed spending the day with her and would definitely recommend this tour. 10/10.
Our guide was called Sue and she was an excellent guide. She was very polite and pleasant. Her English was excellent. She was very knowledgeable and did not rush us and we went at a good pace and also she gave us opportunities to ask questions. The experience was a lot more than we could have hoped for. Sue explained about all the traditions associated with the temples and was very knowledgeable. The skytree experience was amazing and Sue again made the experience unforgettable. We would highly recommend this tour.
The trip was very good and the guide excellent. Pity the weather was a bit of a let-down. Otherwise satisfactory and a knowledgeable briefing
Our guide, Taka, provided us with a fascinating tour of Asakusa with a focus on the history of the area. While the highlight of the tour was the Skytree Tower at the end of the tour, his sensitive incorporation of our praying at the Buddhist Temple and Shinto Temple were quite meaningful to us. At the end of the tour, we felt we were saying goodbye to an old friend. We strongly recommend this tour and our new friend, Taka!
Excellent tour. Sue (the guide) was very knowledgeable, kind and always willing to go beyong with any question I had. Fully recommend this tour, otherwise, I would have missed many details about the place and meanings that the Japanese people put behind many things.
My guide Keiko was very knowledgeable. I could tell that she had spent a lot of time researching Asakusa and skytree tower to give me a fabulous tour.
The tour was very nice and Keiko was an amazing tour guide. The tour help us to understand more about the Japanese culture and history.
The tour was very interesting and perfectly organized. We learned a lot about the history of Asakusa and had a great afternoon with our wonderful guide Keiko.
Sachi was a fantastic guide who provided a tailored and informative experience. A great wealth of knowledge as well as a lovely person. Highly recommend!
We really enjoyed the tour of Akasusa. Machiko is an excellent guide! The best tour we had in Tokyo. We learned and had fun
Considering the weather was very wet & cold .., it was an amazing walking tour , with a wonderful, informative & knowledgeable tour guide , Aki ..,, who spoke in English through a headset .. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the different site’s & understanding more of Japanese culture .., The Skytree Tower offered great views of Japan ( through the clouds) .. We ‘ thank Aki’ 🙏🏻 😀 for making this a very memorable tour for us .., & recommend to anyone who is wanting to know more history around the Asakusa area .., 🌟
Ms Yoko is a professional and knowledgeable tour guide who is so kind, patient and lovely. We enjoyed our tour. We learned much about Japan history, culture and traditions during our tour. Highly recommended.
We booked our Asakusa & Skytree tour prior to our arrival to Tokyo, not knowing that it would be raining cats and dogs on that day. Nevertheless, thanks to our fantastic tour guide we had a great day exploring the Asakusa area and the skytree. Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave a lot of interesting information. The tour was held in English, which was spoken perfectly well by our guide. Thank you!
The guided tour was fantastic thanks to Yasu-san's explanations and lead on the journey. - we were on time at the starting point but there was slight change on the location. I quickly chat with tripavdisor's operator and they could help deliver my message to Yasu-san that we are close and we will be there in 5 min - Yasu-san introduce us to the azaming stories on each and every corner of the journey in perfect english and we could understand better about Senso-Ji temple as well as Japan's history of both the acient and the modern - The view from the Skytree was beyond imagination expecially the clear sky and right timing of afternoon trip could make a perfect period of the jouney, marking a stunning sunset in our memory. Thank you so much Yasu-san for the guide I really appriciate it (and sorry for the late booking 🙏)
Our guude was fantastic and really knowlegeble. I think its the best case experience to discover Tokyo first time without passing 10 hours with a guide. Really good experience. Again Thanks from Eric and Jeannine
Yasu did a great job helping us start Tokyo off right. He offered ideas and we tailored a walk about the temple and historic Asakusa before heading to the SkyTree. Once there he was able to help us get a reservatoin for lunch after our tour. Thanks so much!
Thank You Yazu for being a patient and awesome tour guide. We enjoyed the walking tour and the magnificent views @Skytree.
We highly recommend this very interesting visit also thanks to the valuable directions of Mr Taka
Great tour. Mr Taka great guide! Very prepared guided us through the visit of the temple district and then the sky three
Our tour guide was a very nice man named Yasu. He showed us the surroundings for 2 hours, explaining the origin of the place, certain traditions and the importance of many buildings. In our group there was a slightly slower participant, but that was very much taken into account. Our questions were always answered and the SmallTalk was also quite nice. The good English of the guide was very noteworthy here. The subsequent exploration from SkyTree was gigantic - the view was fantastic. Unfortunately it was very crowded, but that was due to the holiday time. All in all, we can highly recommend the tour and hope that others have a great time with this tour in Tokyo. Tanja + Bernhard Rau
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