Last night, I guided around Shinjuku night to a American mother-daughter pair who came to Japan on a cruise ship . A few weeks ago, they requested me to be their guide directly through my website, and we exchanged emails several times to create a plan for last night.

When I asked them why they sent me an email, they told me that they had been introduced by a friend who had also visited Tokyo on a cruise ship about a half year ago and whom I had guided. So, although it was a short tour, I made more detailed preparations, such as having them eat at a very ordinary yakitori restaurant that not many tourists go to, and then just passing by the yakitori street in Omoide Yokocho, which is full of foreign tourists. Also, yesterday was unfortunately drizzly, so we couldn’t expect to see a view from the observation deck of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, so I quickly re-examined the area and added a new place to the tour, a place in Shinjuku Central Park where we can look up at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building from the ume plum blossoms and Kawazu cherry blossoms.

Whenever I guide a guest, I always give them a small bag containing an origami crane and my business card, as a token of my gratitude for our “once-in-a-lifetime encounter” and in the hope of meeting them again. This time, my guest showed me a photo of the bag I gave them six months ago and said, “A friend showed me this and I sent an emailto you,” which made me very happy.

Of course, this time too, I ended the tour by giving the mother and daughter a bag with origami cranes.

Visit winter Japanese garden

Yesterday, I guided a family of four from New York to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace and Koishikawa Korakuen. This time, they had applied for a course to tour Japanese gardens after they watching my profile on a registered Canadian travel agency. They are very interested in Japanese gardens and horticulture, and enjoy gardening in their own gardens, planting Japanese maples in them. I had a great time showing such guests around. Unfortunately, the peak of the autumn leaves had passed, but they still enjoyed the garden, with its red and yellow leaves still remaining, and the passing of autumn and the arrival of winter.

Japanese gardens landscape

Looking down on the garden from a high vantage point, I explained how the evergreen and deciduous trees, both large and small, are skillfully arranged to create an attractive landscape, and explained why evergreen plants such as pine and bamboo are so popular with Japanese people, while explaining about craftman’s skill on straw snow hanging and New Year decorations. I think they enjoyed a unique way to enjoy a garden in winter. All the photos, except for the lunch photo, were taken the day before during the preliminary inspection.

All of my outdoor work for this year, both paid and unpaid, is now finished, and I’m feeling a little like it’s the end of the year (although I still have a lot of desk work left).

Looking back on this year, there were periods when I couldn’t get any work and I got anxious, and then I got infected with COVID-19 and had to quickly ask for a replacement guide, so I experienced the hardships and sorrows of being a self-employed person, but overall I think I was able to manage my time in a relaxed and enjoyable way.

I’m thinking of not scheduling too much outside work like a guide until around mid-January, and instead spending some time relaxing and doing desk work like organizing accounting and finance-related work and improving my website.

It’s a little early, but I hope you all have a happy holiday season and new year.

This tour was organized through Tours by Locals.