Also read my other blog Promenade in Chiyoda-ku

You may wonder why the first entry of this blog is dated in the future. It is the only no-brainer method I found to keep it listed on top of this blog. I invite you to also access and read one of my other blogs named Promenades in Chiyoda-ku. I add more new entries there than to this blog here and you can have a more intimate view of what I would call micro tourism, that is walking around the place where we live here, in Tokyo, Chiyoda ward.

Addendum: when I started this blog in 2004, the only no-brainer method to keep the first entrie on the top position was to set its date in the future 2005. Now that 2005 is no longer the future but the present, the above text is now already "passé", but the rest is still valid.

Walking in Tokyo: The Offer

I invite you for a walking tour of specific areas in Tokyo off-the-beaten-tracks. If it is your first visit in the capital, you will easily find your way to such places like Omotesando avenue to check that, yes, all the brand names you can think about are spread all along the place shoulder to shoulder. You will miss the backstreet maize which is still an enchanting place.


You will also find your way to the Imperial Palace garden. But you will miss the external gardens which are in my view far more interesting.


You will walk along Ginza avenue which has less to offer than the Ginza back streets.... The list could go on and on.


What I offer is different. Here are the specs:


- Walks are currently offered in and around Chiyoda ward in Tokyo, a highly urbanized place in one of the 23 Tokyo wards. In Chiyoda-ku (ku = ward), you can find the Imperial Palace, Ginza, the electronic mecca Akihabara, the business district Otemachi, the Tokyo central station and some other main spots of the capital. You can find also many backstage places not described in guide books, and hard to walk alone when you don't know the place.


- Walks are personalized. And I would add tailor made. And if I may add yet another characteristics: I walked the walks many time: they are tested.


- Walks start around 10 am and end around 4 pm. That's six hours. But flexibility is available.


- Walks start as a standard feature from your hotel with a minimum or no usage of transportation other than walking. If you stay at one of the many hotels in Chiyoda ward, walks will be in most cases performed from A to Z on foot.


- A standard walk starts with a minimum of two persons and a maximum of five.


- Things that are not included in the fees: lunch, including your guide's lunch, coffee breaks you may want to take along the path and public transportations that may be used for short distances.


- Walks' objective is to show you a slice of Tokyo daily life and hidden paths of the urban lanscape. These walks are for urban landscape lovers with a keen eye for the unexpected, the quaint encounters, the details that make an apparently banal environment all of sudden strike out as outwardly. There are plenty of such places in Tokyo to discover, granted you are guided. I will guide and enjoy the walks with you.


- Lunch is an important part of the discovery and you will be proposed with non-costly experiences in local restaurants you would probably not think about visiting by yourself.


- Walks are for walkers, of course. Which means that at the end of the day, your mind as well as your feet and legs may remember the experience. Your mind will remember it longer though.


- Walks are available upon reservation only with a 1000 yens non-refundable advance payment through PayPal. If the walk is postponed or cancel due to personal circumstances with your guide, that is me, advance payment will be refunded.


- Walk fees minus advance payment is due at the beginning of the walk in cash.


I invite you to read to my other blog about Tokyo walking experience here. And the other entries in this blog as it expands.

Walk Course Example 1

From Akasaka-Mitsuke to Akihabara


This walk course example supposes that you may be staying in one of the hotels around Akasaka-Mitsuke, like the Akasaka Prince or the New Otani. The walk starts from the New Otani, through the gorgeous hotel's garden and follow a rather hidden track all along the Sotobori garden. We leave the trail sometimes between Ichigaya and Iidabashi stations and sail through to the famous and controversial Yasukuni Shrine, have a look at the main building and garden, and a stop-over for refreshment in an incredibly shabby spot within the shrine that may have not changed for 30 years - except the drinks vending machine. From here, we can gloriously go through the majestic shrine portal down to Kudanshita crossing, or go to more exotic places nearby like the Kitanomaru park, or through the hilly backstage of the shrine that is home of many schools and a few very interesting buildings and very quiet lanes.We may go through the bustling Iidabashi district to reach the slopes of Ochanomizu hill with stone stairs to climb and a few nice vistas on the top. We will see the Nicholai Do byzantine church, two extraordinary contrasting temples, the black Yushima Confucian Shrine and the red Kanda Myojin. From the red one, we will reach via yet another hidden stair the electronic mecca Akihabara, where you will find what you may want to buy, without getting lost. If time and you feet condition allow, we may leave the pretty tiring Akihabara and find our way to the Kanda district from where we will board a train back to Yotsuya station, and a short final walk in the backstage of Sophia university to find back your hotels from an angle you did not expect. The order of this walk can be reshuffled in many variations according to your tastes and expectations that will be discussed prior to the D-day.

Walk Course Example 2

From Iidabashi-Kudanshita district to Ochanomizu and back. This one course assume that may stay in one the hotels close to Kudanshita or Iidbashi like the Metropolitan Edmont, the Grand Palace, or the Tokyo Dome Hotel. This course goes through the Koishikawa Garden, part of the Sotobori garden along the Kanda river, through the Yasukuni Jinja shrine, the Kitanomaru-koen garden and the hill of Ochanomizu and its surrounding temples. It is a pretty green course with multiple landscapes and vistas.

Walk Course Example 3: Greens and Temples Quest

This walk will start with a visit to the beautiful Koishikawa-koen Japanese garden close to the Tokyo Dome and the Tokyo Dome Hotel. The contrast with the garden and the the big white egg of the dome in the sky is dramatic, but once you turn your back at that huge eyesore, the garden itself is of absolute beauty. From here, we will head to Tokyo University campus through large avenues and back streets in the charming Hongo district with a keen eye to small hidden temples. We will enter the university campus through the elegant Akamon (red gate) and arrive at the Sanshiro-Ike, a silent and somewhat mysterious pond and garden right inside the campus. We will leave the campus by a the back door and pop right into the large Shinobazu pond of the Ueno Garden. We will have a look at the shrines (not at the Zoo, unless you really want to...) visit the large park and the Tokyo National Museum. We then will leave the park and pass through the bustling Ameyoko market street. We will then leave the Ueno district and walk along steep slopes to reach the Yushima Tenmangu shrine. Our final destination will be the the red Kanda Myojin and the Yushima Confucian Shrine near Ochanomizu. If time and energy allow, we will have a final look at spots on the Ochanomizu hill.

Walk Course Example 4: Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum & Kichijôji

This is a full one day trip in the Western outskirts of Tokyo.

The Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is one of those secret places far outside Tokyo center even unknown by long time residents and locals. Located on a 7 hectares land in the middle of a larger park, this open air museum has gathered and preserved since 1993 some 27 houses and homes of various architectural styles from around Japan. It is a real time trip adventure and an opportunity to visit various homes, including farms buildings of many eras. We will board a train on the central Chuo line for a 45 minutes ride - an still be in Tokyo. A short local bus will leave us at the park gate where we will spend a few hours and have lunch as well. We will go back to the train station and stop at Kichijoji after a short 15 minutes ride back in the direction of Tokyo downtown.

I left my heart in Kichijoji, for this is a favorite district of mine that combines a bustling but still human-sized shopping district with a mix of old and perpetual new on one side, with a huge and beautiful park on the other side of the station. We will mix both for intimate walks in small back streets and relax in the park. Dinner in Kichijoji is an interesting option before going back to central Tokyo.

Why you should consider Me as Your Guide in Tokyo

An English speaking French guide in Tokyo? Come on! This must be a joke!

Frankly speaking, it is not a joke but reality. i have been living in Tokyo for 20 years, walking and cycling a lot, with a taste for the backstage alleys rather than the famous spots (there is much to see in famous spots' backstage too!). I have 15 years of journalism, translation and interpretation, an MBA, ideas in marketing and online business strategy, and a taste for slightly unusual things in the daily life.

What you won't get: a historical description of the places we will go through (well, only some). I am no official tourist guide myself, and I would not use the service of a professional guide either. Not that they are incompetent, far from it, but because I am not looking a for a historical walking conference, but for the historical artifacts mingled in contemporary daily life, glimpses at the unusual buried into the usual, a taste of what the locals eat rather than luxury restaurants (good to from time to time though). I am looking at spots of green in the urban landscape and avant-garde buildings in otherwise boring districts, hidden alleys and anonymous shrines and a Japanese sweets shops doing business for more than 100 years (there are some). You will be offered the opportunity to experience the city from the ground and human level without worrying about where to go from A to B and back. Contentment guaranteed.

What you will get: explanations on things around put into context, no Japanese bashing, but at the same time no blind love for everything Japanese (I am no geisha). You will also get the envy to come back, I am sure of that.

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As I am writing this sales pitch lines, let me tell you what happened this very morning. I had a business appointment with a friend of mine who came at around 10 am at the Kudanshita crossing close to the Yasukuni shrine. He was visibly overworked (on Monday!) and close to exhaustion. We stepped into a Starbuck coffee shop when he told me he already had at least two coffees that morning and would probably throw up on the third. I proposed we leave Starbuck and have our meeting instead in the close-by Kitanomaru garden, in front of a pond, in the cool air, the impressionist foliage and mostly nobody in sight. He visibly enjoyed this escaped in the middle of a hectic business day (me too by the way).

New Offer: Short walks for the Business Person

Planning ahead how to spend a half day or more of free time during your business stay in Tokyo may not be an easy task. But if you can plan ahead and want to release some stress, I have an offer for you: short walking tours of 2 to 5 hours to refresh, see the city from a different angle than the meeting room, mingle with locals for a meal your Japanese partners would never invite you too (the cheap kind of highly enjoyable lunch they will have when you leave...), and more. Tours are tailor made to your needs and location. You will get refreshed and recharged, with a few anecdotes to tell to your gawking Japanese partners the following day.

Walk Course Example 5: A day at the sea

Zushi Beach on September 2004
Originally uploaded by Lionel Dersot.

This is an invitation to leave Tokyo for a full day of walk and relaxation by the sea in the nearby Zushi town, close to Kamakura. This trip is totally off the track, a secret plan I reveal only a few details here. Zushi is one hour away from Tokyo station. We will pass Zushi charming and bustling small main shopping street and maybe buy food for lunch or stop-over at a local restaurant. Next stop is the sea and a choice of walking trails around the C shaped Zushi beach to enjoy the breeze and the view from various angles. Swimming is optional but feasible any time of the year, for the courageous only. A wetsuit is currently required and locations are available nearby. We will end up at a near-by old and charming hotel just for the sake of having dinner - and a Japanese bath if you want - in a unpretentious Japanese inn, then go back at night with a taxi to the Zushi station for our one hour trip back to Tokyo station. The same one day trip can be combined with a second day trip to Kamakura which is the next station.

Here is another blog entry I wrote about our family experience in the same spot on Summer.







The Summer beach swimming season in Japan ends on August 31st. No more life guards on duty, no more "umi no ie" (Sea Houses) where to get a shower and a locker for a whooping JPY1500. In risk adverse and cleanliness obsessed Japan, these may be the two practical reasons to postpone family Summer sea-swimming until next year. But basically, it seems that the real reason why you don't go to the sea starting from September 1st is simply that ... well .... because you don't go to the sea at such time of the year.

We went to the sea the other week-end, as we did a year before. Our destination was Zushi beach, one hour trip from Tokyo station. We had a secret plan for securing a shower in the evening - actually we got a full real Japanese bath. As for life-guarding, we did the job ourselves and took care of the children. The sea was literally crowded with windsurfers, that is active sea-lovers for whom the season runs almost year round. A few kids were playing close to the water, but only we - queer "gaijin" (foreigners) - and some Japanese friends were having a good time in the still warm water and nice waves sustained by a strong wind.
As usual, the ecclectism of apparels around was stunning at such time where the season is changing, that is in calendar's terms, not in terms of weather condition. One woman clad in swimsuit was basking under the somewhat clouded sky but would not dip a toe in the tepid water.
Some people leisurely walking along the beach were clad in typical autumn fashion despite the temperature approaching 30 degrees. We had dinner and a bath at our secret stop-over inn five minutes walking clad in wetsuits from the beach and went back to Tokyo early evening in an almost empty train. It was a delicious day at the sea in September.

Special November Bargain

Walking in Tokyo, guided tours off-the-beaten track, has a bargain offer for testing the business model. Simple: 3 tours are free on November, granted my availability and the weather condition which should be fine. November is usually a very nice period of the year in Tokyo, perfect for walking. A little rain won't stop the braves and umbrellas are cheap. These 3 free tours are only for walks in Chiyoda ward around Akihabara and Ochanomizu. A typical walk is described here.
Read the surrounding entries, send me a mail for details or start a conversation by leaving a comment.