As a photographer and videographer in Tokyo, I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with clients from all over the world. Often times, these are people visiting Japan for the first time who want to create a tangible memory of their vacation here. From my experience, more than the famous tourist sites, clients want to be taken to more "authentic" and traditional parts of the city.
Having traveled quite a bit myself (27 countries and counting), I can completely relate. Anyone can Google famous landmarks in a city and find thousands of images and textbook descriptions. While that widespread and easily accessible knowledge is great, it tends to make these places feel less special. When visiting a city for the first time, I want to know where the locals go and what makes this place home to them. To that end, I have always loved free walking tours as a way to see the city from the perspective of someone who lives there.
When I was introduced to Dai, the founder of Japan Localized, I was thrilled at the prospect of working on a video to promote their Tokyo walking tour. I loved the fact that their tours highlighted more "off the beaten path" locations than other Tokyo tours I had come across.
More than a straightforward, "Join our tour and see this, this, and this" approach, I wanted to capture the same feelings that myself and many others have had when exploring Tokyo for the first time. It is truly a city unlike any other, and for me, the first place that felt entirely different from the home I knew.
As the biggest city in the world, choosing which part of Tokyo to represent in the video was easier said than done. We ultimately decided on Asakusa, as it is home to countless local shops and restaurants, quintessential Tokyo sights, and the city's oldest temple, Senso-ji. The video above covers just a glimpse of what one can expect to see on the roughly two hour Asakusa walking tour.
Our "tourist", Nina Cataldo (who is herself a Tokyo native, but great at pretending otherwise), was lead around the neighborhood by one of Tokyo Localized's full-time guides, Hina. Despite the fact that I've come to Asakusa countless times over the last 3 years, I still learned a lot about the area from Hina that day!
Travelling to Japan may be difficult at the moment, but the next time you visit Japan, I highly recommend taking part in Tokyo Localized's Asakusa walking tour, or one of the many other tours Japan Localized has to offer. You truly couldn't ask for a nicer group of people to experience this incredible country with.
Matt Vachon is a photographer and videographer in Tokyo. He specializes in portrait and editorial photography, and commercial videography. Visit his website to see more of his work or to inquire about rates and availability.