Tokyo Great Tours — Local services in Tokyo

My husband and I took a canal tour and had a good time overall. We had access to kayaks, paddles, and PFD, but we were disturbed that we didn’t receive any safety training or information on how to use a kayak. I have kayaked a bit before, but my husband had never tried. I assumed that the tour company would provide basic training about paddling (starting, stopping, turning) and waterway etiquette, but we didn’t receive any such information other than a cursory request to “stay to the right on the water.” If we’d known, we would have watched some kayak videos ahead of time. On one hand, it is nice that everyone could get in the water without laboring over safety lectures. Kayaks are intuitive in that way. On the other hand, we found the lack of training problematic in the Tokyo canals, which are utilized by numerous motorized boats that could cause harm to kayakers. In the smaller canals, you can expect to find jet skis and private fishing boats, and the larger canals include dinner cruise boats and the waterbus, all headed for Tokyo Bay. It is important to follow the “rules of the road” when entering the canals, yet we had no knowledge of how to control our kayaks or basic waterway etiquette. My husband and I were put into a tandem kayak even though we expressed repeatedly that we did not want to use a tandem kayak, but the tour operators claimed that we had no choice. We went along with it because my husband really wanted to try kayaking. I was surprised that I was placed in the front of the tandem even though I weigh more and have tandem kayaking experience. Generally, heavier/experienced people go in the back since that person controls the boat. When I questioned the tour operators about the seating, they dismissed my questions without an explanation. I can only assume that this was a kind of sexism, that the man has to go in the back? Maybe similar to the sexism that lead them to put a man and woman in a tandem on the assumption that we were a couple just because we made the reservation together. Once we were on the canals, one of the tour operators kept trying to get close to talk to us and kept bashing their boat against ours and then apologizing by saying something along the lines of “Oh, I just can’t steer these boats very well.” Please practice steering the boat if you are supporting a guided boat tour. At one point, one of the other tour participants decided to shoot across the group perpendicular to the direction of motion. We were following the river, but he suddenly came from the side and cut in front of us. He had his head turned and hadn’t looked before darting forward. My husband had no idea how to stop the boat - not that we could have stopped a heavy tandem in the short time we had to react – and we ended up running into the back of the other kayak and submerging it, dumping the rider into the water. The tour operators told us to apologize, which we did to keep the peace, but then repeatedly dismissed my husband’s concerns about not knowing how to control our kayak and requests for instruction, essentially telling us to apologize and just figure out the boat ourselves. There is no reason that the other participant should have been travelling perpendicular to the direction of motion, nor should they have been shooting between other kayaks sideways without looking for oncoming “traffic.” This is the exact behavior that should have been addressed in a waterway etiquette meeting. On the other hand, my husband and I didn’t notice the other boat coming towards us, so we had our own responsibility when it came to lack of situational awareness in that moment. Overall, this tour was fun and the canals were interesting. We are glad that we participated, though we won’t be returning given the overall lack of consideration for boat safety/etiquette and lax attention when participants expressed concerns about boat...

I had the most amazing running tour today with Chihirio. She looked after me during the entire run to make sure I was comfortable (it was a very hot day). She took me on the most beautiful tour around the city exploring some popular tourist areas as well as some local areas you wouldn't normally see. We had a lovely time and had a lovely chat the whole way around. She is very knowledgeable about Tokyo and also gave me some great recommendations of places to go visit/eat afterwards. The perfect combination of running and touring! Thank you so much I hope to come back one day!

Additional post November 2025 I did a running tour (route A) with Chihiro in may 2024 and had such a good time that I decided to do another tour this visit in Tokyo and I did route B with Mirei and Chihiro. I highly recommend both tours, Chihiro and Mirei are amazing guides, told me so much about Tokyo sites and Japanese culture and made sure I had a great time, we visited so many spots you wouldn't normally see as a tourist. A highlight again on my visit to Tokyo. It was lovely to get a run in with such great company. I couldn't recommend this more! We went at a nice conversational pace and stopped off at so many cool places! Thank you so much, hopefully I will come back...

The full day cycling tour of the Tokyo Toilets (Route I) was one of the highlights of our trip! If you are a fan of the movie "Perfect Days," or if you love architecture, this is the tour for you! The guides were very knowledgeable and prepared, and took good care of us - this is definitely a professional tour company. Our Tokyo City bikes were incredibly comfortable and easy to pedal - so much so, I would love to own one at home. Although we biked through the Shibuya area and adjacent neighborhoods, I saw completely different streets & sights than what I saw when I had previously visited these neighborhoods by foot. Towards the end, we stopped for a bento box picnic lunch (salmon or chicken) in Yoyogi park, and it was a beautiful day. At the end of the tour, we all shared a beer and some snacks back at the tour office.

I would recommend this tour to people who have some biking experience (you need to maneuver around people on the sidewalks and also ride in bike lanes on the street, which people may not be comfortable with if they do not ride bikes in their everyday life). People who are comfortable biking a total of 15-20 miles will do fine on this tour, as there are many stops and not...