Five reasons why you should book a local guided tour with Magical Trip

Looking to dive deep into Japanese culture? Sign up for one of Magical Trip’s day tours, which take you around some of the capital’s most diverse areas. Walk around the historical neighbourhood of Yanaka where you’ll visit everything from the Nezu Shrine to heritage landmarks that have been around since the Edo era. If you’re a foodie, opt for a gourmet walking tour around Togoshi Ginza, Tokyo’s longest traditional shopping street where you’ll sample local favourites like karaage fried chicken, taiyaki fish-shaped cakes and more. For fans of anime and gaming, you can sign up for a game-centric tour, where you can geek out for a day in Akihabara and even visit a maid café. If you’d like to explore the city on wheels, there’s even a bike tour through the backstreets of an old Tokyo town.

Get a taste of Tokyo’s vibrant nightlife with Magical Trip’s range of exciting evening adventures. Want to try out karaoke but don’t know where to start? Join a karaoke night tour and sing your heart out in Shinjuku. For liquid courage, you’ll start off with a drink around Shinjuku’s popular Omoide Yokocho before belting away tunes for the rest of the evening. For those interested in clubbing, there are local scensters ready to take you out to one of Tokyo’s hottest clubs and DJ bars in Shibuya. Foodies, you’ll be glad to know that there are evening food tours too: try a sushi-tasting tour in Akasaka or the Shinjuku classic food tour showcasing the must-eat dishes in town.

Magical Trip’s most popular tours include their bar-hopping experiences. Don’t miss out on meeting other like-minded travellers while hitting the town for a night of eating and drinking in local izakaya. A lot of local izakaya can be quite intimidating for foreigners, so it helps to have a local guide help you order and bring you through these gastro-pubs. Visitors can choose from a night in either Shibuya or Shinjuku, where you’ll visit hidden bars and pubs that make up Tokyo’s lively food and drink culture.

Not in Tokyo? Not a problem. Magical Trip also offers fun local guided tours in other areas around Japan, including Osaka, Kyoto, Kamakura and Hiroshima. Try a foodie night tour in Kyoto; relax amongst the natural surrounds of Kamakura; or bar-hop around Hiroshima’s and Osaka’s liveliest neighbourhoods.

What’s more rewarding than making new friends who can share their love for Tokyo with you? With Magical Trip, you’ll meet other travellers as well as friendly tour guides who are ready to show you the best of the city. With over 40 different local tour guides in Tokyo and 80 across Japan who are able to speak Japanese, English, French and Chinese, these tours are more accessible than ever before.

The Magical Trip website even profiles all their local guides, complete with reviews and additional information, to help you choose your tour. If you want a specific guide, there’s an option to check that person’s schedule. On our past Magical Trip experiences, we had an enjoyable karaoke night with Mana in Shinjuku where she helped us break out of our shell before singing with the rest of our group. If you've ever wanted to try singing a Japanese song, Mana is the perfect person to help you out. We also had the opportunity to meet Rina on our eating adventure through Togoshi Ginza; she was friendly and the tour was insightful. Throughout our walk, Rina was able to share the best food items to eat in the area as well as some interesting history of Tokyo's historic shopping street.

Interested in booking a tour? Check the available tours (with prices) on the Magical Trip website here.