OskiBear

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Tokyo at the moment, getting ready to head for the evening.

This, being the third trip, I've decided to wander on my own. On one of the earlier trips, I used the JTB tours and found them to be very good. The guides all speak good english.

I find a tour of that nature is good for a quick overview to help you get the lay of the land and then you can go back and focus on things on your own. however, for a short trip, it's great to cover a lot in a short time.

I'd suggest that you look closely at the trips that any of the comanies offer - they make them seem like different tours when really they're the same locations repackaged. also, i'd suggest avoiding anything that involves "shopping" as that's time wasted where you're compelled to shop or kill time as you're a prisoner for 30-45min

also, meals are usually not great - not good local food. instead, usually something to appeal to the wide, varied palates of foreign tourists. 1/2 day tours help you avoid these pitfalls and the fluff but do focus on the key locales.

lastly, tokyo is a breeze - i don't know a lick of japanese but it's completely easy to navigate and everyone is extraordinarily helpful.

have a good time!

Hvr

I did a couple of these tours around Tokyo and had a ball. The first guide was a retired senior executive who spoke near perfect English and loved meeting tourists.

When the tour was finished I mentioned that I was going to the next free tour and he said he was as well. He then asked if I wanted to join him for lunch. I offered to pay but he refused and we had a very good lunch at a fairly cheap but very nice restaurant.

When we got to the next place (he used his rail pass) the organiser assigned me to another guide who was also very knowledgeable.

Well worth the time.

Another poster mentioned holding a map etc and looking lost. Worked for me and I was given very good directions.

One of my best experiences with a local was an old man who saw me in a Tokyo street and ran over to me asking where I was from. When I replied Australia he asked if he could talk to me about it for a few minutes.

He knew a lot about Australia and we had a pleasant few minutes talking about our respective countries.

Cheetah_SA

Thanks for talking some courage into the cowardly lion and for the tips on what to avoid.

I'm looking at the weather now and seems to be a lot of rain forecast for Tokyo next week. And it's cold! Well, by CPT standards.

O Sora

Wow. He is an authorized personally owned taxi driver and government lisenced guide.

Wow again. I googled him and found he guided Bill Clinton.

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:...&hl=ja&ct=clnk (in English; from Hiragana Times archive)

http://www.taxisite.com/clm/column/190.aspx (in Japanese)