The Best Spots in Chūō Ward, Tokyo,According to an Expert
Atsuko Kusano
Chuo City Tourism Association
We promote activities that leverage Chuo Ward's abundant tourism resources to enhance its appeal through tourism development, thereby contributing to regional revitalization and the creation of a community that inspires pride and affection.
- web site
- https://www.chuo-kanko.or.jp/
- address
- Kyobashi Plaza 3F 1-25-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku
- telephone number
- 03-6228-7907
Tokyo Great Tours
Yukiko Koezuka, CEO of Alive and Kicking Inc., which operates Tokyo Great Tours, was originally a banking professional with experience in foreign exchange dealing, corporate sales, and working at an overseas branch (Hong Kong). She later served as CEO of several subsidiaries of a business hotel chain. In 2006, she started her own business, launching guided cycling tours for inbound tourists. The catalyst came from a business partner, who also serves as a guide today, sharing that “bike tours are popular in Europe, and a company in Kyoto has started bike tours for Japanese people.” This was around the time the Koizumi administration launched strategic initiatives aimed at increasing foreign visitors to Japan and enacted legislation to realize a tourism-oriented nation.
Tokyo Great Tours now offers kayaking and running tours in addition to cycling tours. The principle remains tours that safely and enjoyably explore various parts of Tokyo through outdoor activities without engines, guided by tour leaders. Guides prioritize the safety of guests, primarily foreign travelers, while moving along predetermined routes. At sightseeing spots, they are expected to provide uniquely crafted explanations. Many guides bring sketchbooks they’ve created themselves on tour. Like traditional picture-story-show performers who once visited parks to read to children, they flip through these sketchbooks while narrating their explanations.
Representative Koezuka is a licensed interpreter-guide. However, since the “Revised Interpreter-Guide Act” enacted in 2018 allows unlicensed individuals to provide paid interpretation services, more people seem to be raising their hands to try guiding tours for foreigners. At Tokyo Great Tours, they promote their tour business under the banner of “Guide First” rather than “Customer First.” This stems from the belief that “if the guide isn’t having fun, the guests certainly won’t either.” Depending on the tour size, most cycling tours operate with two guides. Even novice guides learn the routes by shadowing senior guides and listening to their explanations at each stop, gradually acquiring the necessary knowledge, skills, and the ability to consider and respond to guests’ needs.
The reason they started kayak tours after cycling tours was apparently because they realized, “When cycling around Tokyo, I was surprised to find how many canals there actually are.” Around that time, they decided to move to a building along the Kayashima River canal in Kayabacho, and that’s when they began tours launching kayaks from the building’s back entrance. One guide shared that a guest from Paris once mentioned the Sumida River is a sister river to Paris’s Seine. This led him to learn that the Central Bridge spanning the Sumida was designed by a Parisian architect. Similarly, a guest from Germany revealed that the Eitai Bridge was modeled after a bridge in Cologne, Germany, and designed with a heavy, imposing structure. Perhaps it’s because communicating with visitors from around the world allows guides to deepen their required knowledge and truly experience its joy and essence. Tokyo Great Tours had a warm, friendly atmosphere that welcomed and put everyone at ease.
Tokyo Great Tours
- address
- 1-3-2 Shinkawa, Chuo Ward, Tokyo
- telephone number
- 03-4590-2995
- web site
- https://tokyogreattours.com
