Traveling Solo in Tokyo
Two tours I highly recommend!
After years of dreaming, I finally made it to Japan in April 2024! And based on tourism numbers in Japan, I have definitely not been alone in that dream.
Seriously, Japan is hot right now--literally and figuratively. Everyone I spoke to as I planned this trip seemed to say one of three things:
They were also planning a trip
They just went
Or they wanted to go in the future
Even the guy at LAX checking my bag said he was planning a trip to Tokyo soon. According to all the over-tourism stories, what was already a staggering trend pre-COVID shows no signs of slowing down.
The sudden boom in popularity may be attributed to a number of factors:
An increased interest in anime and Japanese culture in Western media
The advent of Google Translate making it easier for foreigners to overcome the language barrier
YouTube and other social media influencers raising the level of FOMO (fear-of-missing-out)
And the fact that everyone who goes comes back saying how much they love it!
I can attest after my short visit to Tokyo, the country is very cool, very friendly, and, in some respects, the foreign utopia we all imagine compared to what we settle for in the west.1
My trip had several personal highlights including visiting my nephew who is now a Tokyo resident, an incredible retro manga and toy mall, and the highly entertaining Small Worlds exhibit to name a few. In this article, however, I am going to focus on two tours I took that were educational, fun, and led by incredibly generous hosts who were perfect for English speaking travelers.
So for anyone thinking of visiting, here are the tours I took in case it helps you in planning your own adventures in or near Tokyo.
Let’s go!!!
Smiley Walk Tour
During the pandemic, I found myself watching a lot of YouTube videos made walking with a video camera on a gimbal for long uncut stretches through the streets of Japan. It was fascinating, relaxing, and almost like getting to walk through a foreign country without actually being there. One of the most popular of these YouTubers is one identified only as Japan Explorer.
Japan Explorer has consistently filmed walking tour videos of Japan for years. Sometimes there is little or no talking other than hearing people on the street. In other videos, he does full interviews in a mix of Japanese and English. He does a good job of finding places foreign tourists may enjoy visiting: nightlife scenes with cute Japanese women, rickshaw rides pulled by cute Japanese women, restaurants with cute Japanese women, famous neighborhoods usually walking with cute Japanese women… (Maybe he’s targeting my specific demographic here?)
Either way, at some point in Japan Explorer’s videos, he introduced an extremely fun and charismatic cute-Japanese-woman who goes by the name Miley. Miley is a former Japanese idol (idol groups are sort of like singing and dancing girl bands), and she also has her own YouTube channel called “Smiley Time.”
Miley quickly became a regular guest star on Japan Explorer’s videos, and it’s not hard to see why. She is a natural performer who is full of energy, humor, and a child-like imagination. For anyone who (unlike me) has not been thoroughly familiarized with Japanese “cute” culture (“kawaii”) or theater people in general, she may come off as what some Americans would call “extra.” To those people I would say: get over it. If you don’t, you might miss out on a truly fun cultural experience in Tokyo by not signing up for a “Smiley Walk” tour.
Since the time I started watching Japan Explorer and Miley on YouTube, they have since gone into business with each other making tour videos and creating fun, interactive walking tours with Miley as your guide. When I saw Miley was doing guided tours on one of the videos, I immediately looked up her website for my trip.
Unfortunately, I was only going to be in Tokyo for about 7 days, and all her tours were scheduled for Fridays while I would be traveling. I did notice she had some previous tours on off days, so I reached out by email. Miley returned my email within a few days, and she kindly replied she would schedule her tour on a Tuesday the week I was there. (Full disclosure, I contacted her a few months in advance.)
For that kind of customer service, I was all in. I had to wait for her to post her April schedule a couple months later before I could sign up, but as promised, she had a tour date on Tuesday the week of my trip. I sent her my money, and I can safely say I have ZERO regrets signing up for this tour.
Miley has several tours. The one I did was touring around historical sites in Asakusa before going to a karaoke bar and a local izakaya for dinner. On the tour, Miley meets you in the afternoon with her friendly photographer, Mr. Harapan, in front of the local Burger King. The tour size is limited to small groups of maybe 6-8(?), so if you are interested, be sure to book early as possible. I can tell her tours are becoming more and more popular.
Here’s a run-down of what we did on my tour:
Walking Tour with History of Tokyo, Asakusa, and local Shrines and Temples
Right from the get-go, Miley makes it clear she is not your average tour-guide. Miley arrived dressed in her signature ninja attire to start the tour and brought with her a few plush companions which you may recognize if you’ve watched her videos. These characters were sometimes voiced by Miley and made appearances regularly in many of our photos. She also made sure that all of us were armed on the tour with squeaky samurai swords.
Miley walked us along the river where she gave us historical information about the city and some facts about buildings in the area. If you are shy about being in photos, you will be forced to get over that very quickly because Miley LOVES taking photos with you.
Mr. Harapan’s camera probably uses up many gigabytes on every tour because every new location brings new photo opportunities. The entire neighborhood of Asakusa is built for tourists and features some really impressive historical architecture and charming Japanese streets and alleyways. The temple grounds also have some impressive gardens and statues about which Miley gives lots of interesting information.
Karaoke: Japanese History Lesson or Does Miley Just Like Singing?
After leaving the Shrine/Temple grounds, we wandered into the surrounding neighborhood toward a karaoke bar. This place offered private rooms for karaoke, and before starting, we were all encouraged to get ice cream and drinks (alcoholic or non-alcoholic.) I should mention that aside from the alcoholic drinks here and at dinner after, Miley included all the food in the cost of the tour. Some of us felt a little uncomfortable with this as we wanted Miley to get the most she could as our guide, but she assured us it was all inclusive. (If you want to pay Miley a bonus, you can do so by buying drinks at the bar later.)
The karaoke was a fun time. If you think you are not a karaoke person, you are by no means obligated to sing, but after spending a few hours taking pictures with Miley, any of your inhibitions about being silly will most likely be thrown out the window. Our group had a blast singing songs, and Miley entertained us with her full rendition of the Japanese Pokemon theme song.
Izakaya Dinner and Making Japanese Omelets at the Table
Next came dinner at a fun spot I had actually seen Miley and Japan Explorer visit in one of their videos. Like in the video, we each cooked our own omelet on a stove at the table which was an interesting if somewhat nerve wracking experience under the pressure to successfully fold your omelet with chopsticks. In addition, Miley ordered everything for us off the menu which was helpful as I would have had no idea what to order. All of it was delicious, but I’m sorry I don’t remember more about what everything was. (I’m not much of an expert at food, sorry. Rest assured, if you are, you will absolutely love what Japan has to offer.)
Miley’s Bar
After dinner, the tour is officially over. You can go to your next destination, or, if Miley has decided to work at her bar that night, you are invited to walk the bar for drinks. As a barfly in my home city of Chicago, the latter option sounded perfect for me, especially since I was flying solo on this trip.
As you may also discover, Miley has a host of regular visitors at the bar, both locals and returning tourists who show up for fun drinking and visiting. Aside from the people on our tour, I got to meet some other regulars who were from Japan and countries all over the world.
As a special treat, I also got to meet the mysterious man behind the Japan Explorer YouTube! He intentionally never shows his face or gives his name on YouTube because he works for a company in Japan, and he doesn’t want his videos to cause conflicts with his company’s conservative work culture. It was fascinating, though, to meet face to face with the person who had introduced me to so many sites in Japan through his videos. I could tell he not only has a genuine love for Japanese culture but also people in general which I think really comes through in his videos.
Miley continued to entertain us all night with her games and exuberant personality which sadly turned into her detriment. By the end of the night, she had given so much while entertaining all her guests that she started to lose her voice. I felt sorry for my new friend, but I think it was a testament to how committed she was to showing her guests a good time.
So thank you for your kind sacrifice, Miley-san. I had a great time on your one-of-a-kind tour of Asakusa!
Check out Miley’s tours, videos, and Japan Explorer’s videos below:
Kamakura Nature and Culture Tour
When searching for a day trip that is a little outside of the bustle of Tokyo, you will see the seaside city of Kamakura come up a lot. I looked at several day trips that were usually an hour to three hours by train outside of Tokyo. I settled on Kamakura mostly because I love the ocean (“umi” in Japanese), and as the capital of the shogunate’s first military government during the 12th century, it also offered several ancient historical temples and sites.
I wanted to make the most of my limited time, so I signed up for a tour which was under $100 US (which I think was too little for what I ended up getting.) The trip ended up being about 1.5 hours by train from where I was staying in Asakusa. This did not include multiple mishaps where I got on trains going the wrong direction and one unexpected delay when the train I was on was suddenly out of service and I had to transfer to another one.
Fortunately, I was able to contact my guide who kindly waited for me to arrive a few minutes late. As it turned out, I was her only guest on a Wednesday, so I basically got a tour for several hours with a private tour guide.
The guide’s name was Ruki (for short), and she was such a nice and knowledgeable guide. I am linking the tour I used, although I am not sure it uses the same tour guide every time. Either way, I liked everything I got to see on this tour, so I think you should still get a good tour even if Ruki is absent.
For fair warning, this is a HIKING tour—meaning you will be hiking on some steep trails through the hills surrounding the town. If you are not comfortable doing some work, you may want to choose a different tour. However, if you want to take in some nature, and see some great sights looking out over the town to the sea, this hike was perfect. After spending a few days in the city, getting to enjoy the sounds of local birds and the smells of trees and flowers was quite a treat.
Ruki also took me to a few local shops that sold food and snacks and introduced me to some of the shop owners which was very charming. We made stops at about five shrines and temples during the day. As I learned while visiting, Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples are often built right next to each other to accommodate everyone.
All the shrines and temples were dedicated to individual spirits such as water, rice, and safety. It was cool to see how locals would visit them as regular stops during their week which seemed a very calming way to take a break and recalibrate from the stresses of everyday life. At the temples, Ruki would share information about the history and religious beliefs of Japan.
One of the highlights was visiting the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura. It is a giant bronze statue which was supposedly built sometime in the 13th century, and it is the second largest Buddha in Japan. (You can even go inside it if you want, but honestly, it’s not much on the inside but really dark and awkwardly trying to squeeze past people coming in and out.)
Walking through the local neighborhoods was very fun for me. Ruki and I got some local treats that are made in the shops there, and one of my favorite parts was riding the famous Enoshima Electric train that runs through the city. It is perhaps most famous for a shot in the opening of a popular anime (Slam Dunk) which features the train passing a crosswalk with the ocean in the background.
However, the best part for me was standing at the front of the train behind the conductor. Ruki told me this was her five-year-old son’s favorite place to stand because his dream was to be the train conductor someday, and I will never argue with a five-year-old’s dream of being a train conductor.
My legs were dog tired by the time we made it to the last stop which was the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. The shrine is Massive and sits at the top of a huge staircase on a hill. From the top, it looks out over a long road that runs from the bay to the temple. The road was built by the first Shogun, Minamoto no Toritomo. It is straddled by three massive “torii” gates which are impressive sights to say the least.
All in all, this tour was by far one of my favorite parts of the trip, and Ruki did such a great job of giving me a little glimpse into some of the rich local culture Japan has to offer. I highly recommend it:
Sterling Martin is a writer, artist, and designer living in Chicago, IL. His background includes drawing, writing, theatre, teaching, improv & sketch comedy, and whatever else he can get his hands on to be creative. You can find him on the internet at:
Instagram: @sterfest.art
Website: sterlingmartin.design
Cara: sterfest@sterlingmartin
Threads (well, I’m on it): @sterfest
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I’m not going to blow smoke up your butt (or water if I were one of those fancy bidets) and tell you everything in Japan is absolutely wonderful. Japan has its own laundry list of problems just like every other country (i.e. difficulties in the work culture, flaws in the educational system, a weak economy, etc.) Visiting Japan as a traveler you can just focus on all the cool parts, though. Sort of like getting to enjoy a fun weekend with your nieces and nephews after which you can leave them with the parents to deal with the hard stuff. (Sorry, sis.)