My wife and I have a trip planned for this year, I’ve pretty much have everything sorted out but while getting a quote for a private tour from “[All Japan Tours](https://alljapantours.com/)” I decided to contact a different company “[Japan City Tours](https://www.japancitytour.com/)” for comparison.
AJT quoted me shy of $3k per person with a guide, entrance fees to some attractions, accommodations, and transport fees (Train and subway) included.
JCT on the other hand quoted me just over $2k (total) for airport transport and a guide.
From what I’ve found myself accommodations aren’t overly expensive (including the one offered by AJT) but I’m not familiar at all with transportation in Japan.
Has anyone ever used any of these companies before and have any recommendations? I’m including our itinerary in case someone has an idea of what the cost should look like.
Our plan is as follows:
Day 1 – Arrival
Day 2 – Tokyo (Tsukiji Outer Market – breakfast at Sushi Dai / Small Worlds Tokyo / Roppongi Hills – Tokyo City View)
Day 3 – Tokyo (Meiji Shrine / Harajuku – Takeshita District & Omotesando / Shibuya – Shibuya Crossing)
Day 4 – Tokyo (Nakano Broadway / Shinjuku – Kabukicho & Golden Gai)
Day 5 – Tokyo (Akihabara – Anime Stores – Anime Cafes – Maid Cafes)
Day 6 – Tokyo (Ikebukuro – Sun Shrine District – Animate Ikebukuro – Otome Road – Ramen – K-BOOKS Cosplay Pavilion – Sunshine City – Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo)
Day 7 – Tokyo (TBD) Transfer to airport
11 comments
My recommendation is not to use a tour company, unless you want to go before they fully re-open to tourist.
Tour are expensive because you have to pay for a tour guide to be with you all the time.
Just for 6 nights, you can easily find a hotel for less than 600$. Transportation should be less than 10$ a day, total 70$. The two paid activities you have (excluding restaurant) should be less than 50$. I think that that it would be really easy to cover that with less than 1000$.
If you compare price of tour, like Magical Trip offer 2-3 hours tour for 60$ to 100$.
Not being familiar with the transportation system is not an issue, nobody is when they first go to Japan and most people do not use a tour. You only have to get an IC card (Pasmo or Suica) to make payment easier (so you do not have to buy paper ticket each time), then just use Google Maps to know how to move between one area to the other.
I have a few thoughts.
# 1
To the question of transportation, no, it’s not that expensive, especially when considering that you are never leaving Tokyo. You can get a 3 day metro pass for 1500 yen and while that doesn’t cover JR trains, it covers a decent amount of the travel you will do.
I wouldn’t expect you to pay more than $15 a day in transportation, if you really plan your days optimally, it can be $10 a day (or less). A train will cost you between 160 yen to 200 yen (without a pass) and if you take 5 to 7 of those a day, that cost is relatively low. (Again depending on efficiency of planning and assuming no long day trips or bullet train travel as you have above).
# 2
Tour companies essentially price their tours by deciding their profit margin and adding that to the cost of a normal trip if you went yourself. Those tours are are guided and thus you are paying for that person’s time + the profit margin for the company. I know this because I also sell tours, guided and self-guided. It also matters how many meals are included etc.
My self-guided (no tour guide with you) anime tour (of similar length) for example is $1000. If I’m being honest, and you were doing this yourself. Hotel and travel etc could easily be $500 or less a person + food / merch etc if find a hotel that fits your budget etc. You could get it even cheaper quite easily if you don’t care about 3-star hotels etc ($300 a person or less), going solo will cost more as you don’t split the cost of the room with another person, etc.
*Note: the pricing above was for hotel and transportation, not food, entrance fees etc.*
I am just me, so I don’t have to double charge for guide and profit, making my offerings cheaper, but it’s still always cheaper to do it yourself.
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Example:
This hotel is $288 total for 2 people a similar time period in November (that’s only $144 a person) [https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/henn-na-hotel-tokyo-asakusa-tawaramachi.html?sid=563961ebc0a6a21894db7659bf1e3e2d&aid=2193978&ucfs=1&arphpl=1&checkin=2022-11-02&checkout=2022-11-09&dest_id=-246227&dest_type=city&group_adults=2&req_adults=2&no_rooms=1&group_children=0&req_children=0&hpos=1&hapos=1&sr_order=popularity&srpvid=443b6f0b0c2a03b2&srepoch=1658159257&all_sr_blocks=481733725_275500085_2_2_0&highlighted_blocks=481733725_275500085_2_2_0&matching_block_id=481733725_275500085_2_2_0&sr_pri_blocks=481733725_275500085_2_2_0__3990000&from=searchresults#hotelTmpl](https://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/henn-na-hotel-tokyo-asakusa-tawaramachi.html?sid=563961ebc0a6a21894db7659bf1e3e2d&aid=2193978&ucfs=1&arphpl=1&checkin=2022-11-02&checkout=2022-11-09&dest_id=-246227&dest_type=city&group_adults=2&req_adults=2&no_rooms=1&group_children=0&req_children=0&hpos=1&hapos=1&sr_order=popularity&srpvid=443b6f0b0c2a03b2&srepoch=1658159257&all_sr_blocks=481733725_275500085_2_2_0&highlighted_blocks=481733725_275500085_2_2_0&matching_block_id=481733725_275500085_2_2_0&sr_pri_blocks=481733725_275500085_2_2_0__3990000&from=searchresults#hotelTmpl)
This is not a hotel I would use because my customers expect more perceived value, these rooms are small and simple. However, to someone planning their own trip, they are perfectly clean, decent rooms, near a subway and for someone wanting to save money, a perfectly reasonable option that I myself would use if I was in that position.
*Note: I just did a quick search and picked a low cost place without vetting the convenience of location, just proving a cost point.*
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# Big Caveat
The caveat is that you cannot currently travel alone. So you are stuck buying a tour. I would personally wait until you can travel without a guide, and then easily build it yourself using their itinerary.
Nothing on that itinerary of theirs requires special access or knowledge expect perhaps navigating golden gai. That is doable, but can be uncomfortable to figure out etiquette, get into a place etc. But you could easily hire an airbnb experience for a specific tour of a place.
Edit: formatting / clarification
I’d be curious to a few things:
Are you seasoned travelers? Are you older?
​
I ask, because all of your destinations are very easy to visit without a tour guide. But, some people just like them for one reason or another. Whatever reason you have for wanting a tour guide might help decide which company is better for you.
So how do these work in general? I’m in the same boat with tickets plane tickets mid-october that I really want to keep even if we have to do this tour guide.
Do the guides have to be with you at all times? Are there some packages that just kind include some basic itinerary and accommodations but otherwise just let you do your thing?
I saw this on the JCT site:
> One of the most important rules for travel under the ERFS system is that everyone must travel with a tour leader and give the tour leader their phone number when traveling. The reason for this is that the tour leader has a mandatory requirement to know where all customers are during their free time. Of course, the tour leader is also there to answer all your questions, make your trip as smooth as possible, and to help you enjoy your time in Japan as much as possible!
Kind of sounds like they just need to know where your are?
I really dont want to repeat the same thing, but please consider postponing this trip untill japan its fully opened for tourism
Its just sad to see first timer experience japan this way its not just about the money its about the experience too
Also I’ve noticed your a bit skeptical about the train system, THATS SO NORMAL from a first time visitor but the really fun part is getting lost while looking for your train 🤣
Keep in mind that at this point only tours that are approved are those that are operating, as far as I understand. A custom tour with just yourself, wife and a guide is unlikely to be approved.
These tour groups are not what I would want for my own Japan trip, but please tell us about your experience with this tour, I’m sure a lot of us would be interested in reading it.
I’ve traveled all over the world (American) and the most difficult train or subway system I have ever used is in New York City. As long as you have Google maps and Internet, you’ll have no problem with public transportation in Tokyo. Everything is in English.
In New York, I couldn’t understand why the train changes platforms depending on the day, or even time of day. It was difficult also having no electronics signs on most platforms, nor Internet access down in the Subway. I also couldn’t understand why whole Subway stations were closed on weekends. Crazy crazy
I don’t want to talk you out of your trip, but I think one of the charms of Japan is all the little things you’ll find just walking around. Something you won’t find on a guided tour. One of the highlights of my second Japan trip was randomly finding a sign advertising an art gallery in a random apartment/office building (not sure what this place was used for). We walk in and a guy comes out speaking pretty decent English. He asks what brought us in, why we’re in Japan, and where we’re from. He then called 2 other guys out from the back room and they were happy to meet us. We bought some of their glass figurines they made and they gave us each a family size bag of cheese puffs. It was such a pleasant experience l, and even after 5 years, I still think about that almost every time I think about going back to Japan. I suggest waiting until you’re free to travel without a guide, buying a JRpass, spending the first 2 days getting used to everything, then take that jrpass and go wherever you want and make your own memories.
I’ve worked with InsideJapan tours and they’ve been very helpful and quick to respond. They have pre-planned tours but also make personalized itineraries and they have all local guides. They might be able to help sort out what you need or even just point you in the right direction.
They’re current operating in Tokyo and Kyoto and so far their tours seem to be going well. There are *no* crowds, so it’s the perfect time for people with personal space issues to go. My husband and I plan to travel in November and fingers crossed restrictions ease before then. If not, we’ll still have a great time. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to make it back to Japan again post-Covid to experience the “real thing”, if that happens to transpire during either of our lifetimes.
It made me sad at first to see people say that it’s not worth seeing Japan now. It’s my husband’s favorite place and I’m really looking foreard to seeing it with him. When we started planning this trip 3 years ago, I was also very much looking forward to sending my mom post cards and picking out little souvenirs for her to fawn over when we got home because she too loved Japan and Japanese culture. Now I wonder if it’s worth the trouble to smuggle some of her ashes onto the plane with me. Probably not.
Bottom line is, we’ve waited long enough and at this point, we’ll take what we can get, guide or no guide. And I hope you and your wife have a wonderful, exciting trip. Here’s hoping this is just the first of many trips for both of us!
Tokyo is not open to private tours. Tokyo opted out of any guided tours even while partially open last I saw. You may want to look into that further.
But I believe it’s only a few select cities participating In even allowing guided tours.