Arigato Travel / Arigato Japan Food Tours — Attraction in Tokyo

We’ve had the distinct pleasure of scheduling two tours with Arigato Travel during our stay in Tokyo. When working with a tour company, especially when booking online, you may expect a bit of a disconnected experience - this is not the case with Arigato Travel. Arigato Travel offers bespoke tour experiences that offer guests unforgettable moments - their tour guides are welcoming, knowledgeable, kind, and gracious. (They even make sure to take photos of you and your group while on the tour, so you can really just disconnect and enjoy!) The review that follows is a bit long, but I think it offers a look at what you can expect when booking with Arigato Travel. Thank you, Arigato Travel!

Our most recent tour, the Shimbashi Hidden Gem Food Tour, which was led by Lucas, was one of the absolute best parts of our trip. Lucas expertly handled the ins-and-outs of Shimbashi and started the tour out strong with some very yummy bites. I don’t want to spoil the fun so I won’t get into too much detail about the food, but my husband and I talked about it all the way back to the hotel - we were able to try a number of different and very delicious foods at places that were only frequented by the “salarymen” of Shinbashi.

Lucas really made the tour for us. He was engaging, knowledgeable, kind, prepared, friendly, and took the time to explain things and answer my questions. He explained everything we ate and drank and made sure we tried the very best at every restaurant we visited. He was so, so lovely - it really felt like an old friend was showing us his favorite hidden gems in Shimbashi. Lucas made us feel welcomed, comfortable, and at ease the entire length of the tour. We enjoyed his expertise so much that we considered booking a THIRD tour with Arigato Travel while in Tokyo! (Unfortunately, we ended up not having the time, but we will definitely be searching out another tour with Lucas when we return to Japan again soon!)

We also had the pleasure of embarking on the Best of Shibuya tour with Melissa earlier in the week. Melissa took us to so many delicious and yummy restaurants all over Shibuya - we were able to sample a ton of different foods, from sushi to ramen to some other unexpected surprises along the way! Melissa was very informative and provided a lot of incredible context for the foods we sampled. I can’t believe we tried so many different things in such a short period of time!

I also need to give a big, big shout out to Nikka on the Bookings Team. We had originally planned to go on both the Best of Shibuya and the Shinjuku Golden Gai Tours. Nikka noticed that the tours had similar offerings, and to make sure that we had a diversity of experience, she recommended that we try the Shimbashi Hidden Gem Food Tour instead. She went above and beyond to make sure to stay in communication with me about our bookings and made everything hassle free. (I also have to say THANK YOU to Nikka for helping us communicate with Lucas when we were going to be late! Both Nikka and Lucas were so very kind and gracious about the situation, and they really helped ease the anxiety about the situation. Very, very thankful that they made what could have been a very stressful experience something incredibly manageable - it put our...

Tokyo is a city that awakens early, and nowhere is this more apparent than at Tsukiji Market. Once home to the world’s largest fish market, Tsukiji remains a vibrant hub of culinary delights, where the scent of grilled seafood mingles with the sharp tang of wasabi.

Our food tour with Arigato Travel began at a cozy coffee shop near Tsukiji Market, where we met our guide, Jacob, along with the other members of our intimate five-person group. To kick off the morning, we sipped on a seasonal sakura latte, a subtly floral and creamy drink that set the tone for the day ahead.

From there, we strolled through the Outer Market, where Jacob gave us a brief but fascinating history of Tsukiji. Originally established in 1935, the market was the beating heart of Tokyo’s seafood trade until the wholesale operations relocated to Toyosu in 2018. Despite this shift, Tsukiji remains an essential stop for food lovers, with over 65 fish vendors and countless specialty food stalls still thriving in the area.

As we entered the market, the first thing that struck us was the sheer vibrancy—the air was filled with the sizzle of grills, the rich aroma of soy sauce, and the chatter of vendors expertly slicing fresh fish.

For our first sit-down meal, Jacob led us down an unassuming alleyway to a small, family-run restaurant. It was the kind of place you’d never find on your own, but it was exactly where we wanted to be. The five of us squeezed around a table and shared a spread of crab innards, grilled fish, and intestine soup—dishes that may not be for the faint of heart, but were deeply flavorful and incredibly fresh. It was clear from the start that this tour was made for adventurous eaters.

Jacob then took us deeper into the market, where he hand-selected ingredients for our second sit-down meal. Watching him navigate the stalls with precision and expertise was mesmerizing—he knew exactly where to find the best uni (sea urchin), eel, puffer fish, toro (fatty tuna), ikura (salmon roe), and buri (yellowtail). It was like watching a chef curate the perfect meal in real time.

With our seafood treasures in hand, we made our way to a nearby rooftop, where we set up for a DIY chirashi (scattered sushi) picnic. We each got to assemble our own bowls, layering silky slices of fish over fluffy rice, topping them with fresh wasabi and soy sauce. The combination of the breathtaking Tokyo skyline and the unbelievably fresh seafood made for an unforgettable experience.

We ended our rooftop meal with the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever tasted—a simple but perfect palate cleanser.

No Japanese food tour is complete without dessert. Our final stop was at a taiyaki stall, where we indulged in freshly made fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet red bean paste and custard. Crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside—it was the perfect way to end our journey through Tsukiji.

If you’re visiting Tokyo and want an authentic, immersive, and delicious way to experience Tsukiji, I can’t recommend Arigato Travel’s Classic Tsukiji Breakfast Tour enough. From the expertly curated food stops to the deep cultural insights, this tour is a food lover’s dream. Just make sure to come hungry—this is one market experience you won’t...

Had a wonderful time going on a food tour of the Shimbashi area in Tokyo. As might be expected in such a massive city, the food explored covered various different regions of Japan in a small area!

Our host was Jacob, who is from Israel and is fluent in English and Japanese! He is clearly passionate about Japan, has travelled extensively throughout it, and has a wealth of knowledge about Japan, Japanese culture, food, festivals, everything. He made the group we were in feel very welcome - there was myself and my partner, and another couple. My partner and I are at the end of our holiday in Japan, and the other couple were essentially on a layover in Tokyo heading elsewhere, but Jacob was able to work with that and make it relevant for everyone.

We spent about three hours going around some of the small alleys in the area trying various Izakaya and restaurants. Jacob was very accommodating to our food and alcohol tastes and had various recommendations based on them. We tried: panko covered beef, chicken, sausage, onion and aubergine with something similar to Worcestershire sauce; a chicken restaurant highlighting fare from Hokkaido (and some sashimi for me, I love sashimi!); a ramen house that use shrimp as a base for their ramen, which is quite unusual but pairs amazingly well with the basil oil provided; a sake stop to sample an array of sake from dry to sweet - a real hidden gem really not visited by anyone other than local Japanese people and it involves standing around tables - no seats provided! I guess if you can't stand and drink you shouldn't be drinking...; and then a dessert of various fillings in fish pancakes (red bean paste, custard etc.). All the food was delicious so would definitely recommend arriving very hungry!

Throughout it all Jacob shared his knowledge and was really accommodating. That was the thing that impressed me the most - we and the other couple booked through a third party so he knew nothing about us food preference wise. He was able to work with the various requests on the fly and work with the restaurants to ensure our wishes were met.

Thanks Jacob! Highly recommend!...