Over the last few years , when we travel, my partner and I have really got into walking tours about political/social issues from a local perspective. Some of the highlights have been:
* A tour in Beirut about gentrification, the civil war, and local politics
* One about the untold histories of black life in the New Orleans French Quarter
* The Uncomfortable Art tour in the Tate Britain about the colonial legacy of the gallery and a lot of its work
I really love these because, unlike the food and tourist hotspot tours you’re getting a perspective a lot of visitors don’t get, and one that it’d be a lot harder to discover for yourself while travelling. We try and do at least one ‘alternative’ walking tour wherever we go but I’ve been looking for ones in Japan for 1 month+ trip next year and I’m really struggling to find anything like the above.
I’d imagine Tokyo would be the best best for them, but we’ll be travelling around a fair bit so anywhere would be great! Thank you so much in advance
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10 comments
Not exactly what you asked for but I found this website to be interesting.
https://unseenjapan.com/
I’ve heard the Hiroshima memorial is good
I am going to be touring the Fukushima exclusion zone with [https://real-fukushima.com/](https://real-fukushima.com/) but i want to hear what others find too. I am 100% interested in political/social topics and tours in japan too
how about this one
https://www.japanwondertravel.com/posts/fukushima-disaster-area-tour-2-day-daiichi-nuclear-power-plant
A tad creepy but, Aokigahara or suicide forest – there is a tour that will take you go inside the cave there. This forest is dubbed as worlds most used suicide location , Suicide and societal pressure is huge issue in Japan.
If you understand Japanese or can be accompanied by someone giving you the gist of what’s being introduced, then by all means try [Maimai](https://www.maimai-tokyo.jp/) or the walking tours in [Aini](https://helloaini.com/), pretty much exactly what you’re looking for. There is also [Tsunagate](https://tunagate.com/) that has some “circles” doing such occasional tours (though imho a bit more “amateurish”).
You may try and contact them in advance to see if they have something in English when you’re there.
Thanks for the link, now I can get lost AND learn about politics! #winning
I went on [this](https://www.viator.com/tours/Osaka/Deep-Backstreet-Osaka-Tours/d333-130036P1) tour in Osaka last week that toured through Shinsekai and Tobita Shinchi red light district that I found enlightening. Along the way we had good discussions regarding homelessness in Japan, the impact of organized crime in the neighborhood, and the history as well as current status of prostitution in Osaka. I enjoyed myself and felt that there was a good balance of history and current social issues.
Thank you for sharing! I’m excited to explore the political side of Japan… and hopefully find some good food too 😉
I’m going to recommend taking a tour of the Hiroshima War Memorial as well. On my first trip to Japan I didn’t pre-arrange a tour in advance, but I was able to hop on a group English-language tour just by talking to the folks at the main visitor center there. The whole memorial is quite powerful, and really doesn’t pull any punches (for any of the actors involved). If you plan to go to Hiroshima it’s definitely worth looking into tours and planning for at least ~3 hours for seeing the entire complex (both the outdoor memorials and the inside museum).