Sep 8, 2024
A culture in a walking tour - Michelle is an excellent guide, friendly, passionate about Japanese culture and good an open to share and listen to our queries and curiosity about Japan. The food outfits she took us to were wide ranging and unique.
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Sep 8, 2024
Kichijoji with Mairi - The highlight of our 3 day stop over in Tokyo was our day with our super guide Mairi in a suburb we would never have discovered. Mairi took us around the real Tokyo away from the tourists. We went into the truly authentic bars and eating places that you simply wouldn't find independently. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone remotely interested in discovering the real Tokyo
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Aug 31, 2024
An Amazing Experience! - We had such a lovely time on the Kichijoji Food Tour. Elly was amazing! She is very kind, friendly and knowledgeable. We had such a great time that we went back to Kichijoji to experience some of the foods a second time! Our favourite experience was meeting the owners of the businesses. Our favourite foods were the croquettes from Satou and the puffer fish. A very fun and worthwhile experience! Thank you, Elly
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Aug 6, 2024
Small Town = Big Eats and Unforgettable Memories! - I've been on many food tours, this was by far the best and most memorable! Michelle (our superb tour guide) expertly led us on a wide variety of food experiences from raw blowfish, to an outside yakitori bar, to nine types of miso at a specializer miso curator and a rice cracker store with a 92 year owner! Each experience was unique and authentic. I didn't feel like a 'tourist' but more like visitor in someone's home town. Michelle was very attentive (and funny!), often checking in to see how we were doing and sprinkling our afternoon with interesting facts about Japanese culture and traditions. After being in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo proper, it was nice to escape the city (and tourists) to see how true Japanese people live and navigate in a smaller suburb.
I highly recommend this tour, and if you can, get Michelle as your guide! She's a gem!
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Jul 23, 2024
Highlight of Our Trip - This tour was the highlight of our trip to Japan. Our guide did a fantastic job taking us to unique places that were still approachable for a broad audience. I had taken a similar tour with CB in 2016, but was nevertheless delighted and surprised by the tour- the best parts remained the same, but there were many new items. I'll definitely look to repeat this experience the next time I'm in Tokyo.
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Jul 22, 2024
Amazing tour to learn Japanese culture through food - The tour and our guide Michelle, were fantastic and well exceeded my expectations. After being in the crowds and glitz of Tokyo, Kichijoji was a marvel - an authentic liveable city without massive crowds. Michelle had lived and raised a family in the area so truly knew the city. The food was awesome and plentiful so arrive hungry and dont make big dinner plans. I was so impressed with variety ranging from local specialties, common festival foods, and rare artisen experiences all truly unique to Japan. The highlights for me were meeting several food artisens and learning the traditions handed down and still followed; experiencing foods that were on my bucket list but never would have figured out how to access; and learning etiquette in how to be polite and show gratitude. It was an extremely memorable day! Thanks Michelle.
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Jul 18, 2024
Excellent tour! - This was a highlight of our trip to Japan and Dennis did a fantastic job helping us get to know Kichijoji and some of the amazing people there.
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Jul 8, 2024
We sampled some of the traditional delicacies available in the area; the whole thing was really enjoyable - Great tour; great guide; really interesting and food was yummy. The neighborhood was one of my favorite places in Tokyo and we are unlikely to have found it without the tour( and I’m not a tour person!). Highly recommend!
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Jul 6, 2024
Excellent tour guide, worth the money - The tour was well worth the price. Small group, personalized/customized stops. Ken was very knowledgeable, engaging, and highly personable and conversational. Even one person in my group who “doesn’t like tours” had a fantastic time in this one! I will try to book their other tours in the future in their other cities if I have the chance.
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Jul 5, 2024
One of the best things we have ever done in Tokyo - absolutely not to be missed! - This tour was definitely the highlight of our trip to Tokyo. The small group format was perfect, Dennis, our tour guide, was fantastic - easy going, incredibly knowledgeable, and clearly had a great personal connection to the various family businesses that he takes you through. Highlights were the opportunity to meet and hear of the personal stories of the family businesses - particularly the family that still produces traditional rice crackers, and the miso tour and tastings of a miso trader/producer and now restauranteur. These are all experiences that are simply not accessible to a casual visitor/tourist - highly recommended, and indeed, not to be missed.
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