Professional TOUR GUIDE reveals his BEST KEPT SECRETS of travelling in Japan! l Tokyo Hangout
Everything is worth seeing, but if you tell me like what is the worst itinerary to do if you book a trip to Japan, Tokyo Kyoto, it’s the worst itinerary because it’s they’re the busiest places. They’re the most visited with tourism. Um, do they have cool things to see? Yes, they do. Like I I’m like I said, like visit everything once, but sprinkle in some more rural side stuff, you know? Don’t don’t just do the big cities. Like take a side jaunt somewhere. See a bit of the countryside. Don’t just do the three big cities and then leave Japan because that will not leave the impression of uh what Japan really has. Not an accurate representation of Yeah. There’s so much more to Japan, right? My sister went to Venice like 10 years ago with my mom took her. She’s 10 years younger than me. Yeah. Venice and then they separated. My mom went to some museum and my sister and her friend really wanted to have like a cup of coffee at the center like the St. Marco Square, you know. And then the they had two cappuccinos and then the bill came and it was like €120. Really? Yeah. And then the bill it said like music is €60 cuz some guy was playing the violin or something and she had to call my mom like, “Can you bail us out? I don’t have Wow. So, that’s what I’m talking about when it comes to tourist traps. So, I wanted to ask since you’re a pro, does that exist in Japan? Like a legit tourist trap? Yeah, it does. Shin Shinjuku, but that’s different, right? Do you go to Shinjuku often? Yeah, I know it. Kabuko is there. Yeah, the naughty area, but it’s like Yeah. What are you talking about? Like, tell me more. Um, they actually have intercom. They have a new intercom in Shinjuku. Uhhuh. uh which is so being here only two years I’ve still seen a crazy evolution of the amount of English being implemented into the infrastructure. Yeah. And uh right at the corner of the intersection where you enter Golden Guy. Yeah. They have a speaker and it says beware of touts. Yeah. They will scam you and rip you off. Okay. So just for the viewers, what’s Golden Guy? So Golden Guy is uh one of the coolest places. So, like for people who don’t know, Shinjuku, most locals aren’t going to go there, right? Like most Japanese people are scared of Shinjjuku. It’s like that’s the place like once in their lifetime they’ll go see it. Golden guy is a particular small area there where there’s six alleyways uh really close together. You can’t fit a car. Um I could probably touch both walls if I put my arms out, right? And uh there’s about 200 bars, one usually always one bar on the bottom, one bar on the top of these really small buildings. Uh one of the coolest vibes in all of Japan. Like I’ve been all over for work and it’s so great. I always take my customers to Golden Guy. Um for sure worth a stop if you’re traveling to Japan. But um yeah, really cool place. My favorite bar, uh Bar Lucky. They have all these fermented jars of animals. There’s like a pit viper, a python, uh cockroaches, seahorse, um maybe a couple other. But the cockroaches you can eat, but they’re fried. They’re fermented in alcohol in so they’re fermented in Japanese potato vodka. So, uh I always take customers there to get them to eat cockroaches. Yeah. What’s what’s the place called? Uh Bar Lucky. Giving out your trade secrets straight away. Good luck finding and it’s always crazy busy cuz it’s Golden Guy, right? if if people, you know, they listen to the podcast and they’re like, “Oh, let’s find Barl Lucky.” Like there’s 200 bars there, right? And they’re all different. So, um yeah, but it’s cool. So, yeah. Uh the touts, um usually they’re foreigner and they’ll try and pull you into a bar and they’ll run up to you or usually if you’re a guy, it’s worse, right? Because they usually um have like women they want to offer you. Uh, so when I’m in Golden Guy with customers or in Shinjuku or something, uh, I always keep my women customers with me, so they just leave me alone. Um, Oh, yeah. So, if they see guys alone, if they see guys alone, that’s the perfect target. They’re the perfect target. They’re But is that prostitution or is that like a fake girls bar, hostess bar? What is that? Does anybody know? You know what? I don’t know anybody who ever fell for it. So, the police do raid brothel here. There are brothel. They do get raided, but for some reason, it’s still really popular in Japan. So, I don’t know what the fine line is, like where where do the police draw the line? Where is it not okay? Where is it okay? Like, why? Because there’s Shinjuka still has a ton of it. They still have a ton of prostitution. That’s that’s why it’s called the red light district, right? Um, so yeah, the the touts, they’ll try and uh they’ll come up to you and they’ll be like, “Hey, man. Like, you looking for a good time? like come to this bar. You go into the bar, you follow them in the bar. Uh there’s stories online, you can read them of like people getting drugged. They charge their credit card a whole bunch while they’re they’re kind of out of it. They’re not unconscious, but they’re like they’re just messed up. Um or they put hidden fees on the bill like what you were speaking of at that cafe. Uh and then you get your bill and you’re like, “What?” Like this is like Juman, which is like like 700 USD, right? and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, that’s the service fee.” And you’re like, “I don’t have that.” And they’re like, “Well, we’re going to take you to the ATM.” And then they walk you to the ATM. They get their money and you continue your night, right? Damn. Yeah. So, Shinjuku, uh, don’t follow people into a bar in Shinjjuku for sure. Um, if they were Japanese, I would trust it. You know, like you’ve been here two years, right? Like it’s it’s totally different because they have like an honorable code they want to keep up. uh where from what I’ve heard about the touts them always being foreigner and they’re usually like big guys, right? Um is they are hired by like Yakuza. Yakuza. Yeah. Yeah. So they they’re like But it drives me crazy, right? Cuz as someone who has to go through all these different work visas to stay here and like live in Japan like properly, I’m just like, man, why do these guys get to stand on the street and just rip people off and get a visa to stay here? Like it’s crazy. Drives me insane. Maybe you could apply as a tout first and then go into legitimate business from you guys give me a 5-year work visa. Yeah. Permanent res, man. There’s no way. There’s no way. Yeah. Did you So, you’re a professional tour guide. You have your own company. We’re going to talk about that. Um, but did you ever have that happen to any of your customers or are you warning them and they’re following the rules? I always tell them I say like don’t ever follow anyone into a bar. And I tell them I’m like if they’re Japanese like I would trust it like to go have fun, you know? Um it’s still going to be expensive, right? Because that’s if you’re following someone into a bar, it’s more often than not like a guy’s bar or a girl’s bar, right? And what that is is somewhere you pay for the hour to get unlimited drinks, usually like 6,000 yen, so like $45 per person USD. Um, and uh, yeah, unlimited alcohol, but they’re like the guys and girls, whatever bar you choose, they’re like there to flirt with you, you know? Um, so that’s why they’re pulling people in cuz then they people get tips and Yeah. Okay. That’s But that’s kind of like the night life. What about this kind of European style daytime thing? Yeah. where you go like I don’t know to a restaurant in some central square in a European city and then the bill comes and it’s like 60 bucks for French fries. Does that happen in Japan? No. No. Because of the honorable code. Be be fair, you know? Like it’s just like Japan’s fair. Like you go to the airport and the 7-Eleven doesn’t increase water to $6. It’s still a dollar. Holy [ __ ] I never thought about that. But now that you said it, I’m like, “Yeah, yeah. Problem.” I just went to Canada with my girlfriend and uh she found this cosmetic. It’s like this skin cream. In the airport at Narita, it was uh 3,000 yen. And in Canada airport, it was the exact same volume, exact same jar, 7,000 yen. More than double the price in the Canadian airport. And it’s that’s all I think of is like there are in uh fluctuations of prices throughout Japan and they will be in touristy areas. So uh Shibuya restaurants you may be paying a bit more. Um if you go and eat street food in like a Sakusa at Senoji Temple you may pay a bit more for the street food. Um but that’s supply and demand, right? Like if the everything is cheap they’re going to sell out. So let’s up the price 200 more yen. there’s still a million people coming here all the time. We’ll still get profits, right? But then you go to like some quiet place and it’s 200 yen less. That’s still not a big increase. Like a dollar more for street food. Like, okay, that’s fine, you know? And that’s kind of Japan’s limit. Like I think of a cheap bowl of ramen here, 1,100 yen. Gourmet bowl of ramen like 1,400 yen. Yeah. It’s crazy, right? And that’s like the neighborhood will change the price a little bit, but not a lot. Yeah. Yeah, really not a lot. So, yeah, it’s pretty nuts. And like Japan’s fair. It’s just fair here. But what about this? There’s a lot of talk of dual pricing now. Yeah. That there’s going to be dual pricing for tourists now or foreigners. Yeah. Yeah. Is that real? It’s not here yet. It’s not here yet. I don’t know. So, what I The only the only thing that would affect my job that I would notice is like Hegi Castle. So apparently they might be making it so that foreigners are paying like tourists are paying like four times the price of a local which would be crazy. That would be crazy. Four times. Yeah. Yeah. Because that’s pretty standard in a lot of like Southeast Asia and other countries right where where their salaries are really low compared to Yeah. So I don’t know. Uh it hasn’t hit yet. It’s it’s all talk still. Um the government of Japan, if you don’t know this, I don’t probably they last October they hit their goal of uh 34 million people within a year. So tourists tourists tou inbound tourist. Is that a big number? I have no idea. It’s a huge number. So uh Japan’s population 124 million because it’s been on a decline since 2010. I I just read an article on my way here that’s now 120 million. 120 million. A million people this year. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, it’s been on a decline since 2010. Yeah. The population’s been going down since 2010. So, um, it’s tough. And then you think of 34 million people came here in one year. Inbound tourism. Yeah. That means there’s still a there’s still a population probably of like, you know, 10 million or something like foreigners living here, expats and stuff like that. So that’s like a third of the inbound population is tourism. So good for business, baby. Yeah. So it’s it’s good. But but you don’t know 75% are from other parts of Asia, China and Korea. Of course. Yeah. Because when you say tourists, I always think, oh, Europe. No. Oh, like America, maybe. It’s it’s Asia. Yeah. So it’s I get into I and I teach all this, right? Like I’m Yes. I’m a tour guide, but part of a tour guide’s job, I believe, is to teach people, right? So, um, yeah, you may look at Japan and you’re going places. And a conversation I always have, especially on social media, is uh, jaywalking. And people will be like, “Well, is jaywalking okay?” I’m like, “No, it’s not.” They’re like, “But I see people doing it.” I was like, “Yeah, are they Asian?” They’re like, “Yeah.” I was like, “How do you know they’re Japanese? They might just in normal jaywalk where they’re from.” and they’re just doing it. We can’t, you know, like I can’t tell many Asians apart. I get that. And they can’t tell many white people apart. I get that. And black people like are they from, you know, Africa or Nigeria? Like we don’t know, right? We just we just base everyone off of one skin color in the same pocket, right? And the Japanese do the same thing, right? Um but it’s a part of the culture here. You don’t jwalk. And people are always like asking me, but I saw someone. I was like, you don’t know if they’re Japanese. And if you stand at an intersection 80% of the people are non-jaywalking. So the definition of like culture is like as a collective do majority of people agree on the same act? Yes. Jaywalking is part non not jaywalking is part of culture. But in Canada if you like if you jaywalk same you have like you have to if I wait at the intersection in Canada you’re going to look like an idiot. They think I’m selling drugs right? They’re like, “Why is this guy on this corner standing here doing nothing? What’s his problem?” Yeah. Right. Call the cops. Yeah. Put him in jail. It’s Mike again standing over there. Yeah. Yeah. And what would you say is speaking of like jaywalking, what would you say is like maybe not the worst but the most common type of behavior that you see that tourists have that is maybe not like malicious but just being unaware of like some sort of code of conduct that is which this is crazy. Um the escalators like the smallest thing cuz so in Tokyo we stand on the left hand and we walk on the right. Exactly. And Osaka’s right. You stand and you walk on the left. Mind [ __ ] Kyoto is in between Tokyo and Osaka. No one knows what they’re doing and there’s so much to you just stand wherever and no one walks. That’s fine. I get it. Um, but I have I always have a lot of guests and uh you know they most stand end up on both sides and always tell them like hey like stand on this side and I give them the same speech. Um but a lot of times they’ll end up taking up the whole escalator and all I can think of is like when I’m busy and I need to get somewhere and I want to walk and I can’t I’m like ah baka you know like you idiot. Yeah like let’s walk you know. Um, so I can just hear in my brain like all the Japanese people being like, “You son of a bitch.” Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that’s not such a bad one. But yeah, I I get it. But it’s it’s small, right? It’s small. Yeah. So the other things um probably the worst one actually. That’s all the time. And honestly, I don’t police it too often with my groups cuz my groups are up to like 40 people sometimes. Max. 44 max. Okay. That’s pretty big though. That’s big. You think of like 44, but you see 44 people and like it’s a lot of people. Yeah. And so taking 44 people through the subway, right? Uh they can be loud. And I get that and I tell them I’m like, “You guys are on vacation. When Japanese people go on vacation, they’re loud and they’re enjoying. They’re happy, you know. Um so we do the same thing here.” So I I tell them I was like, “We do have a bit of leniency, you know, but I will let you know if you’re being too loud or disruptive.” Nice. Um, are you ever like sh Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. One one time uh I actually uh I did have a customer like uh clap to get off the train and it was a quiet train. What does that mean? I don’t know. But they’re like, “Let’s go.” And I was like, like I didn’t even think it was an automatic reaction. I was like, “Do not do that.” Yeah. Good, good, good, good. Yeah. Cuz it was just it was loud. It was a loud clap, right? And I was like, “That’s the door’s open. Like, we’re going, you know, we’re walking. It’s okay.” Um, did he apologize? Was really difficult. Yeah. They were just They just didn’t notice. Yeah. They just didn’t notice. Um cuz you get personality. Yeah. And um but no, the big thing is when we sit across from each other because we have big groups, we’ll take up an entire portion of of chairs and they always talk across from each other on the train, which is like really hard for me to constantly police cuz I’m not going to stand up and keep walking up and forth at public train. Um so yeah, don’t do that. Don’t sit across from your friend on the train and just like have a conversation through people. Bad manner in Japan. That’s not cool. Yeah. Talk to the person beside you. It’s okay. Yeah. Yeah. You know. Yeah. So, um yeah, that’s probably the biggest one that I’ve noticed recently. Do you that I mean being a tour guide, I used to be a tour I mean I used to be tour guide in Berlin, but I started off as being a pup crawl guide, which is like the worst type of tour guiding. The biggest group was like 120 people. There were like four of us and stuff, dude. I have some stories about doing pub crawl guides. Oh, nice. Nice. Uh, and where did I want? Oh, yeah. It takes a lot of energy to be a tour guide. Oh, yeah. For sure. How do you keep up? I mean, uh, I love what I do. I don’t feel like I work, man. Really? Yeah. I literally like even if you have like a bad group, if you have like difficult customers, if they’re it’s if it’s embarrassing, cuz it happens. We’ve all been there. Whatever. like very rare do I get I get bad people and I think I think it’s my my style like I don’t I don’t have judgment you know we get different personalities and you know sometimes um you know someone likes San Rio and sometimes they show up and they want to wear Lolita dresses and all these you know do these things but I don’t that’s fine I’ll take you to a maid cafe in Akihabara let’s go have a good time and laugh and smile and I think uh I think because I provide such an inclusive atmosphere when I guide that it helps people just also share non-judgment. That’s great. Um, so when I have someone and they’re quiet on tour and I can tell like this person’s a hardcore introvert and they are really shy and they can’t do many things alone, I will try and look out for them and like at least make sure like, hey, what what are you doing today? Can I give you some recommendations? You know, and uh yeah, I think customers feed off that. And I have a lot of tour guides I know and they tell me like I’m having so many issues with my customers and blah blah blah and they tell me the story and I was like you could have prevented that like 10 steps ago, you know, like why did you why did you let it get that? Do you have any like red lines of what you don’t I mean cuz customers must have a lot of I would need like a scenario. Yeah, you’d have to give me a scenario and I could just tell you how to handle it. Um, but guiding in Japan, like the guides here are bad. Sorry to say out loud, but um, what do you mean? A lot of them are retired. They’re it’s they’re after it’s the retiree job. They just want to like Japanese tour guys. Japanese and foreign, too. They can be good. I’ve seen some good ones. Um, but I I think it’s different just because I I did go to school and get a degree in in tour guiding and tourism. Um, there’s still small things that I see and you know, blocking the train entrance and exit. They don’t group up in the right place. You should never group your group up right at the train gate because now you’re blocking the flow of workers and people who are just trying to live their life, right? That happens a lot. You would be surprised at how often that happens. Um, it’s it’s little little minor things. Um, so yeah, but the Japanese government, I guess what I was going to say is by 2030 they want to have 60 million inbound tourists. So think of how busy it is now. You said you live in Shimoki Dazawa and it’s getting busier for tourism. Double it. Do you have any negative reactions from the locals sometimes? Cuz I’ve heard that Japanese people are getting especially like Kyoto Tokyo stuff that they’re getting a little bit pissy sometime. Osaka is the worst. Really? Yeah. Oh wow. I feel bad cuz I’ I have Tokyo versus Osaka is always a thing, right? Yeah. And I love Osaka, by the way. Like Oh, do you? I’m a Tokyo white like through Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Interesting. Yeah. 100% I’m a I live in Tokyo and I’m always like I should have chose Osaka. No, no. Uh Osaka is much more western and people people are uh much more open to just speaking their mind which is cool. I get that. Yeah, I like that. One time I was walking in uh Shinsukai. Have you been to Shinsukai? No. Great. Put it next time you go to Osaka. Shinsukai. My favorite place in Osaka. Shinsukai. What is it? Uh it’s like Doenburur. So Doenburur is the downtown of Osaka. Yeah. It’s where tourist spots. Gross. I hate going there. It’s terrible. go to Shinsakai. Shinsukai is a small dotenbury. The buildings are still 3D with artwork and stuff. It looks absolutely stunning. It’s where uh Osaka’s viewpoint tower is. So, you know, like every big city has like their own viewpoint tower. We have the Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower. We have two. Um they have the Tsutenako Tower if I pronounce it correctly. Um but Shinsukai is this beautiful neighborhood like Doenbury, smaller. They have arcade games and they have food and all these things. I brought some guests there in the afternoon to have lunch and show them it. And I’m walking on the side street. There’s no traffic here because it’s Shinsuka. It’s a walking area, right? And I’m walking towards the main street to find the bus that’s parked. And I hear ding ding ding ding. And it’s a bike bell. And I’m like, “Bro, there’s no one on this road. Like, you can bike around me.” But I, you know, I I walk to the left and I start I’m like, “Where’s this person with this bike belt?” Ding ding ding ding ding ding. And this guy is biking towards me. And I look at him kind of like, “Okay, like I’m out of your way. I’m on I’m on the left side.” And now that I’m I I make eye contact, he’s just like I’m like, “Yo, flipping you off.” Yeah. He like was ringing his bell to get me to look at him just so he could flip me off. Just cuz you’re what? Yeah. Just cuz I’m guessing cuz I’m a foreigner. Like there’s no way he would do that to a Japanese person. He was just some old really old Japanese guy. And usually the the older population in Japan is much more like racist, right? Um, so, uh, yeah, and I just like at the same time now that it’s been a while, it’s like that’s comedy in Osaka, you know, like like hook, line, and sink are like, “Yo, get look here. Look here. [ __ ] you.” You know, and I was just like, great joke. Nice, dude. Um, I’ve been spit on in Osaka. No way. In Dobury. Yeah. That’s next level. Yeah. Changing my camera lens. I put my bag down. I made sure I was not in front of the door of a building. I made sure I was not on a on the road because cars come down this walking street and there was a vending machine and I made sure that there was still space for someone to use the vending machine. I I’m always very mindful, right? And uh I open my bag to change my camera lens cuz I was going to take photos for a customer. And uh this guy comes over and he’s like, “Leave now. Leave now.” And he starts raising his voice every time. And then he spits at me with his gum and I’m just like I just look at him. Did you have like customers? Yeah. Yeah, I had like three customers with me. So, I just like look at him and then I just like cuz I’m like crouched down, right? And he’s like standing over top of me. He’s like missing a bunch of teeth and stuff. So, I just I slowly continue what I’m doing. I just like ignore him. Um cuz like what do you do? And it was That’s crazy for Japan. You know Dobury’s party street? Yeah. Yeah. Where all the clubs and stuff are. It was there. So my whole thought was like I know the neighborhood. This is where like there’s tons of foreigners. Not just that, but like the bar scene always has the rougher crowd, right? Like the late night people usually can have gang association and stuff like that. And for him to in public around like a hundred other people yell at me and spit on me just told me like any reaction would result in me probably having more issues than him in terms of like him having friends around. even if police came then it would be like oh like the the foreigners the issue you know so I was just like okay guys like let’s just go and it was just like that was that was before I was even here a year and immediately you ruined Osaka for the rest of my life like you that’s not a good first impression yeah you immediately like you just ruined Osaka for me and now I tell people that story and I you didn’t know like I deal with over a thousand people a year and now they if I don’t always tell the story because I don’t want people to have that image. I love going to Osaka for tourism. It has some great spots to see. Um, but now I also think of like it doesn’t feel as safe. It doesn’t feel as welcoming, right? Um, I would recommend a hundred other places before I would say go to Osaka. Okay. You know, speaking of which, uh, most of my friends who come, they do like Tokyo, they go to Osaka, and then they do like Kyoto, of course, and maybe N, and then they go back to Tokyo, then they go home. Yeah. What would you say? Is that a good itinerary or like what’s the number one mistake that people make when they come to I think that’s a fine itinerary. I I I firmly believe you should do everything once and what we call that itinerary is the golden route. So when Japan was first developing hundreds of years ago that we had the main cities in Tokyo, Kyotoaka and um that’s just where a lot of development has happened. a lot of cool things are there. For a first time traveler to Japan, you’re gonna want to see that, but then you’re gonna realize there’s much other cool things that you can view. Uh cuz you’re going to see it’s really crowded and a lot of people end up at the end of the trip and I’m like, “What was your favorite thing?” And they’re like, “That quiet place you took me to the countryside, the nature walk in Hakone that I do. somewhere somewhere that’s calm and just like authentic or rural side Japan. Nature is super underrated here. Traditions are still intact and the uh architecture is different, right? And I think a lot of people don’t like Tokyo um after they travel because they think it’s so busy. I’m like, well, it’s the largest metropolitan in the world and there’s a lot of concrete. I get that. But there’s so many things to do and so much beautiful things to experience here in Tokyo. I think Tokyo is a great place. Um what I what you said about you have friends and they do Tokyo Kyoto Osaka and whatever and then they fly back out of Tokyo. Don’t do that. Book separate flights. Fly into Tokyo or Osaka and then you just fly out of the opposite. So fly into Tokyo, fly out of Osaka. It’ll save you like a hundred bucks on the Shinkansen. You won’t have to get a second Shinkansen. Book separate flights. This is like that. That’s like trade secrets now. Okay. Mike, what’s uh how can people get in touch with you before we forget? Uh landmarkleends.com. Yeah. Yeah. We’re going to include the link in the YouTube description. You have a Instagram account as well. Yeah, we have an Instagram. We have a website. We’re not done, by the way. Just so we don’t forget. No worries. Book with Mike. He knows everything. Look at this. I’ll search you guys out. Yeah. Awesome. Um what’s like Okay. The the experience you had in Osaka. I I have a similar kind of not experience but uh feeling now when it comes to Kyoto. Okay. I’ve just been there once and I was just No. Yeah. Yeah. My family came to visit. They love Japan. They didn’t like the big cities that much and we particularly in Kyoto. We had a miserable time. We were just standing in Gon like like packed like sardines with we saw like one geisha at night and a tourist immediately came and like flashed her in the face and she just screamed and went inside somewhere. All the restaurants were either fully booked or they they didn’t want to take us cuz it was six people. There’s a lot of signs if you don’t speak Japanese [ __ ] off. Basically, so you know I couldn’t take my family to any restaurant after like 6:00 p.m. So at the end we’re just eating in front of a kabini like egg sandwiches and stuff. Okay. And my parents were like, “Okay, the temples are nice, but it’s kind I don’t want to be a I’m sorry, but and I’m super into Japanese history and everything. It’s fantastic, but kind of like if you’ve seen two temples, you they’re the variety is not as crazy, you know?” So, I’m like, when friends ask me, should we go to Kyoto? I’m kind of like, maybe there’s other places, but I don’t know. What do you think? 100%. Also, people were really not that nice. I have to like I get it because there was so many tourists, but my experience was that people are kind of like just like just eat and [ __ ] off. Like don’t really Yeah. Don’t I have really good hospitality. I think it’s the area. I actually don’t go to the Gillion anymore. Uh I totally get it. The last company I worked for, we we used to stay in the Gillion and I was in the Gon all the time and it was cool, but the vibe is different because it’s that more traditional atmosphere and I think that they’re sick of people being rude with the geishas and stuff. If you go more towards like the Kusima side of Shijodori, which are the Shijou is the main street on in Kyoto, uh there’s still tons of restaurants down there and I always have great hospitality down there. they’re still always booked, so making reservations is super important ahead of time. Um, yeah, I’m I agree with you. Like, do I like I like Kyoto and I I love how Kyoto has a lot of restrictions in place to keep it authentic. So, uh, you’re only allowed I think it’s 33 m. Buildings cannot exceed 33 m. So, I didn’t know that. That’s why there’s no like skyscrapers. That’s why there’s no skyscrapers. So, it makes Kyoto feel small. and all of the streets are narrow for walking and stuff. So, Kyoto just feels small and traditional, but it’s crazy busy, right? Um, yeah. So, in terms of like, should you go to Kyoto? Yes. I think everyone should go once so they can see the fun temples, Fushima Anari, King Kako Gi’s Golden Pavilion. Um, people go to Kiomizu because there’s that traditional old school neighborhood around it. That’s It’s cool. I get it. The They have restrictions there where you’re not allowed to have any neon signs. You’re not allowed to have any overhead wiring to make it stay traditional. Um so you just walk through there and it’s a blast in the past and I get it, but it’s busy. It’s crazy busy. Go to um go to Canazawa. Yeah. Go to Canazawa. It’s north it’s an hour hour and a half north of Kyoto. Um it has uh the Omicho fish market. It has its own geisha district, entertainment district that’s smaller and no one’s there. It has an old samurai housing district that is incredible to walk. I haven’t even been there. It’s in It’s phenomenal. It’s It’s spectacular. It’s only uh an hour and a half or two hours. Not as touristy, I imagine. Not as touristy at all. No, it’s it’s super lowkey Canawa. Um and uh at at Landmark and Legends, we actually loop it together. So we still want to offer the big three uh Kyoto um Osaka, Tokyo, Osaka, but what we also do is we offer a trip where we go north and we go through Nagano over to Canazawa and then back down through Kyoto. So you actually get to experience more of the low-key towns and the rural countryside before going back to the big cities so that you can actually see a stark contrast of uh different different places in Japan. Um which still have tourism but it’s just not nearly as busy. It’s not nearly as What would you say is the most underappreciated thing in Japan that’s worth seeing maybe for you personally? You’re asking me to like give out the secrets now. Um, no, no, it maybe it can be in general. Maybe you can be like, “Hey, it’s nature. You know, check out you don’t have to give us like your favorite spots.” Yeah, it’s okay. It’s okay cuz it book with book with Mike. Look, this is him. If you book with him, it helps spread out the tourism, which we want. You know, people people think about like, oh, like I don’t want to give up my secrets, but realistically, if we do that, the tourism is not going to be as concentrated anymore. M. So for me, it’s still a really touristy place, but people go to Hiroshima to Miaima Island, which is the Is that the art? The Itsukushima shrine. It’s the big shrine in the water. Um, you never been there? No. Okay. So, people go there and they go to the Itsukushima shrine, which is great. It’s a shrine. It’s It’s on the water because they used to not be allowed to live on that island like a thousand years ago. And uh they built the shrine on the water because they were never entering the land to go pray. Um so that’s what the Isukushima shrine is for. You go through the Tory gate by boat on the water. Not nowadays, but you used to. Um but what people don’t know is a slight walk up the hill. It’s like a 10-minute walk up the hill. There’s a temple called Daisho Inn, and it’s phenomenal. there. The railing has these drums on them that you spin and they uh have a sutra on them. I’m pretty sure it’s the heart sutra if I remember correctly. So you run your hand up them and you spin them all on the way up and now it’s imparting the heart suture in your life which is the most popular sutra basically in Buddhism in Japan. Um so it’s a fun activity and then we ring the bell to you know notify of our respectful entrance and then we go and in the basement of uh the first temple building um on the right side you can do a pilgrimage um there’s I think it’s 44 temples they have pictures of the body satva under the basement but it’s pitch black so you can’t see anything and you just feel the walls while you walk through and see these pictures of these bodhis sata in the basement. Uh and then we go up the hill and there’s another suture railing. Um and then the very top of Daishoin there is a temple uh located to uh or dedicated to Kobadashi which is one of the most famous uh Buddhist monks in Japanese history. He uh brought Shingan Buddhism to Japan from China and he created the Shikoku 88. Are you familiar with that pilgrimage? Yeah. So 88 temples. So Kobadashi. My dad wants to do that. Really? Yeah. So you can go and below this temple you can go inside and they have I think it’s like,250 lanterns hanging on the ceiling all lit up with the 88 statues for each of his temples. Uh and it’s just like all these things that you can do in that little area of Daisho and and plus a 500 statue Jes um Jesuit garden. So, you walk through this garden and there’s 500 Jesus statues with their aprons and stuff. It’s just phenomenal, right? Like, it’s such a cool place. Uh, and it’s very interactive. You get to see a lot of things and it’s not busy. It’s not busy. Wow. It’s my favorite place. Anytime I I have a tour that takes me down there, I tell my customers like the one thing you guys should do with me this tour is go to Daoen. And it’s not on the itinerary because I also am a subcontractor for a big company. Um, so we when I do their tours, uh, it’s not included because no one knows about it. It’s secret. Giving us straight up gold. Yeah. Yeah. Straight up gold. Yeah. And then the other thing is, um, Tokaido Road in Hakone. Mhm. I’ve been to Hakone once. Yeah. So, uh, do you know what the Tokaido road is? No. So, whenasu when Tokugawa was Yeah. He created five highways to help people bring rice back to Tokyo because that was taxed back then, right? They were taxed in rice. Cool. Cool. So the Yeah. So the daimo had to bring this rice by horse and carriage to Tokyo. And uh so he made highways to help it go faster. And he put checkpoints on them so they could get their papers checked. And uh the Tokaido highway went from uh Tokyo to Osaka and it went through the mountains of Hakone. So there’s actually um they call it the old Takaido road right beside Lake Ashi. So you can actually walk down the road and when they made the road they planted Japanese cedar trees and now those trees are still there. They’re like 400 years old and you you can’t you you need like four people to fit your arms around them. It’s incredible. And you just stand there on this road and you’re just like wow. Um there’s a there’s a road right beside it. So you just hear buses and stuff go by, but I love taking people there because it’s a huge part of the history. It’s a why why Hakone is is where it is. Like the Takaido road went through a which means they needed shops and vendors and you know people there to accommodate for people traveling to Tokyo. Um and yeah, it’s cool and just seeing the trees that big. I don’t know anywhere else where there’s like an old growth forest in this area. Like I just honest shining through. I want to book a tour with you right now. I’m like, “Holy [ __ ] You’re very well read as well about this stuff.” I see you got a bunch of books on Japanese history over there. I was like, “Oh, Mike is doing some reading.” Yeah. Yeah. I I No [ __ ] Yeah. No, I’m uh respect. I’m like I love Japan. Like I can’t like I can’t even explain like how Yeah. Let’s talk about this cuz you’ve you’ve been a tour guide in other countries before like Canada. You told me Southeast Asia went to school in Canada. Tell me about how how did you make your way over to Japan and ever since I was a kid, I just thought the presentation of samurai and their culture was so cool. Like that’s all I knew about Japan. Yeah. I was just like, “Ah, cool. Six samurai.” And I love the Last Samurai, Tom Cruz, let’s go. Yeah. And I love Ninja Turtles, all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. just they’ve always their culture has always permeated in Canada and the western world right um so I had worked for someone when I was uh in Thailand and they had started a travel company and uh they asked me to work for them for like five six years and I went to school and I was like no I had I was busy you know I was in Canada trying to have a regular life all of as a tour guide no uh in school as well as as doing stuff I so that was when I went to school for tour guiding I had left Thailand land. I finished working for them, went back to Canada, went to school, did a gap year, went back to Thailand, did some work there, all these things. But when I finished, it was like four or five years later, all my commitments came to an end. And this guy messages me. He’s like, “Yo, you want a job?” Guy from Thailand. Yeah. And I was like, “One condition.” He was like, “You send me to Japan.” Oh, he can send you anywhere. Because they had it was one of their destinations, right? So I was like, he was like, “Deal.” But have you ever been to Japan before that? Never. Never. So it was like that was my ticket that was because from Canada it’s on the other side of the world like for me to go back to my hometown is it takes you like 72 hours an 8 hour it was 8 and a half one flight and then our second flight was 5 hours it was like you know usually 14 hoursish um total trip so it’s far um but I got paid for right so I was like hell yeah but he sent me to Bali first because it wasn’t high season here yet um and that was November 2022 too. So, uh, I finally I got to Japan and I will never forget the moment I got off the train. I came from Narita airport. I got off at Nepori station. You know Neporei? Yeah. Um, went down to Yanaka Town, Yanaka Street. And it was on the It was a Sunday and everyone’s riding their bikes and the kids are playing and they have because they always do like a market studio gibbery scene, dude. And I was like, I love Japan. like this in the first five seconds. Yeah. And in Canada, I I was uh before I became a tour guide full-time, I was a professional bike technician, bicycles. So, I saw everyone on bicycles in Nepori and I was like, I love this place. It’s like everyone’s so green and friendly and it’s family oriented. Um and that was it. I immediately fell in love with Japan. And now I’ve just I think there’s high expectations on me because I’m a foreigner. Like people come here and like my number one joke is like the group gets together and we do morning introductions. Like I don’t know if you guys noticed but I’m not Japanese and they’re all like yeah and they’re kind of worried right cuz they’re like why is why is some foreigner going to teach me and show me around Japan? And at the end of the tour we use a lot of local guides right and like I said they’re retirees so they just you have to they get a license. You can get a a certified license for guiding here. It’s just you studying Japanese history and infrastructure and whatever, but 90% of the time, these guides just rehearse out of the textbook and they talk to you in such a dry way. So there’s no interaction. Yeah. So at the end of the tour, the customers are like, “We wish you were the one doing all this.” I was like, “Yep, there they have to be here because not all guides do what I do, right?” But once the customers realize like, “Damn, Mike like knows everything about Japan. like we just want to be with him all the time, which is why I opened my own company because this was pre Landmark and Legends. Um, so then I was like, hey, like people like the way I travel. The highlight of their tour is usually somewhere I took them. I just want to how about I show them how I travel. Uh, and that’s how I made the company. And yeah, do you does it sometimes happen that people have such like outrageously high expectations about Japan 100% that when everything’s not perfect, they’re slightly disappointed. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And because Japan’s now everywhere like on social media, Tik Tok, whatever, and they just show you like everybody’s just like it’s perfect. Yeah. Best things. Wake up at 4 in the morning to go somewhere and take a photo when there’s no street and every scene is like that scene that you described, you know, like idyllic. Perfect. Yeah. What do you do in that case when people are like I don’t like this or I don’t I don’t know it’s not as good as I thought or like I honestly I mean is that on you even? No, it’s not. It’s definitely not right because so basically what happens is if someone books a tour and it’s advertising these spots. We have to take them there legally. If we don’t take them there, it’s false advertising, right? So, I have to take them to these places and I’ll I’ll give I’ll set the expectations. I’m like, “Guys, it’s going to be really busy.” So, usually um you’re just dissing the place for minutes to bring the expectation down. Um Fushimari is the perfect example. So, for Fushimi and Nari, I usually uh if I don’t have like a a sightseeing bus, because we usually a lot of tours, we have sightseeing buses. I have like a full Greyhound, right? I tell people I’m like, “We’re going I’m leaving at 5:45 a.m.” I will be that guy who goes early so they can experience it without the traffic, you know? Um, and I just tell them like, “If you go later, like it’s shoulderto-shoulder.” Just trust me. Like, I don’t want to wake up at 5:45. Like, that sucks. No one wants to do that, but I’m doing it for you guys, right? Like, we all have to make sacrifices. And uh as long as I’m willing to make that sacrifice even though I’ve done it before, I think everyone else should be willing, right? Makes sense. Lead by example. Yeah. Right. So um yeah, I don’t know. But I think everyone should see everything one time, man. It’s so worth it. Do some more traveling, man. I’ll show you anywhere you want to go. Like it’s fine. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say is maybe like the number one thing that cuz we’re praising Japan so much all the time. What’s the number one thing that people dislike maybe is when they come over as tourists? If there is one thing or I think they just talk about how busy it is. Yeah. Because all most of the tours uh that I run with other companies are the the golden route Tokyo Kyoto stop. Yeah. And it’s just it’s always the big cities. Um so I think people just say like I want to do more countryside. I want to see like the the slower side of Japan. So um yeah. By the way, how’s your life in Japan? Do you like it? Yeah, I love it. Couldn’t be happier. Yeah, it’s great. Yeah. No. Nice. Yeah. No. Uh had a a Japanese girlfriend. Um we live here in Hagaya. Uh not too far from the office here. By the way, that’s close to Yokohama. Is it part of Yokohama? Yeah, it’s part of Yokohama. Part of Yeah. Yokohama stations one stop away. Um so, uh so you’re not like in Tokyo. You’re a little bit like 40 minutes by train. Yeah. So, it’s super easy. It’s beautiful here. Yeah. It’s super super chill. Yeah. Yeah. good view with the river right here on the balcony which is nice. It’s crazy like I said like 50 minutes from from like central Tokyo and it feels like I don’t know the most peaceful area ever. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s nice for me. It’s still busy. We’re actually looking at houses right now in the countryside like Saitama and stuff. Yeah. I want like a garage and like I want I want like a Canadian style house, you know, some room. You want your own hockey team and stuff like build me an ice rink in the back? Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, it’s good. Yeah, we’ve been together uh over a year. Um, that’s that’s going super great. And uh, yeah, I don’t know. I stay busy, man. And, uh, the food’s great. I think I think it’s different for me, right? So, my job is to just like hype Japan, right? Like that’s that’s what I’m made to do. So, when I’ve met other people uh, like foreigners, let’s go Japan. Yeah. Other expats, you know? I’m not gonna lie, like a lot of Because you’re not in an off stuck in an office being miserable. The black suit. Yeah. And I’m eating out every day because it’s part of work. I don’t have a kitchen. Entertaining people. I’m entertaining. Being the center of the life of the party. Yeah. I’m going and just doing all that. It’s great. You know, I love it, man. And um cuz you know what most most foreigners that live here say. They conformity and uh Yeah. And they say like never work for a Japanese company. Yeah. Yeah. The black suit company. Yeah. So, uh, it’s different. When I’ve met other expats, they usually aren’t as happy living in Japan and they’re kind of tired of it. Um, so I haven’t made too many friends, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I’ve just cuz you don’t want to like get sucked into this like circle of being jaded and bitter. Yeah. So, I actually the the I was really surprised. So, like the best way to explain it is actually through my dating history here in Japan. And uh it’s the same thing when I try and make friends where like I meet them and they might be like, “Oh, like I want to leave Japan or like Japan sucks for this and that.” Foreigners, right? Yeah. Foreigners. And even when I was dating and like um I would meet people and I’m just like, “Oh, you see this? Like this is their story.” And then I didn’t think about it till like a couple months ago when I went to Canada and I was like, “Yo, someone came up to me and they were obsessed with Canada and they were just like, “Yo, check out all these facts.” Like, you’re [ __ ] weird, dude. Like, you’re a weirdo. I don’t want to talk with you. Like, what? So, so that’s me in Japan. I’m like that Japan guy. Like, it’s hard to make fun. Like, look at that sign. Did you see that sign for no traffic? It’s Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. Yeah. So, I meet people and uh I’m just overly positive about Japan and I think uh it makes it hard to like keep up a relationship, a friendship with them. Understand? So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I I ask like my Japanese friends all the time about like, “Oh, Sangokuchi like this uh waring states period or something super like not even that specific.” And they’re like, “I don’t know [ __ ] about I’m not interested. I’m not interested about it.” Yeah. And I was like, “Oh, what about the samurai?” And they’re like, “You mean like horse riding?” That’s what a guy said to me in a bar once and he just started laughing. You know, he he was like, “Listen, dude. I don’t give a [ __ ] about Japanese history.” Yeah. So, it’s Yeah, I totally get it. It’s It’s fun. Yeah, dude. They uh yeah, but Japanese people especially like the grass is always greener on the other side. Do you know do you know a ton of history about Berlin in in itself? Uh yeah, cuz I used to be a tour guide. Okay. Okay, that’s fair. Yeah, but I’m originally from Slovenia, tiny country in the Balkans. Yeah. Uh I don’t know anything. That’s what I mean. When you grow up somewhere, like it just becomes normal. So when you travel somewhere, you’re usually more inclined to want to learn. So, a lot of Japanese people are just like, “Yo, like we don’t know any of these things, right?” Um, so it makes it a lot different. And I think I’m also just a very I like I’m a very positive person and I try and always be glass half full instead of half. Are Canadians like that in general? I think so. Oh, nice. I think a lot of times. Yeah. Yeah. At least a lot of like my my people that I hang out with in Canada. Um, it makes a big difference. It makes a huge difference if you just surround yourself with positivity. Like things are positive. And I think that’s why my tours also go well is because I’m always positive and I just enjoy things. Um, so it’s infectious, right? Infectious. I’m going to bring it down a little bit now. Uh, what’s the worst story that you had in Japan when it comes to like tour guiding or you did everything so far went really well? Uh, cuz I had some really bad experiences as a tour guide in Berlin, people doing crazy [ __ ] No. I’m wondering if nothing. Do you have some sort of like a screening? How do you process or you take anybody or anyone? Anyone can take a Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Maybe it’s different because people invest a bit more to come over here and it’s not just like some random city in in Europe on, you know, one of the stops in Europe that they do and then they kind of don’t give a crap. I also give a ton of information on dos and don’ts. So, at the start of the tour, like our first You never had anybody like run naked around or No. If I heard about that like I would get into a fight or something. No, no. I tell them like chill. And the demographic for Japan is different, right? Like like introverts because it’s like people who are into like anime and gaming and you know we don’t we don’t get as many uh I would have thought maybe you have a lot of like pensioners maybe and for an older group tour for sure and that’s when we do more. Oh so you also like kind of separate. Yeah. So, for the one company I contract with, I subcontract to. They actually have different age groups and they’re a great company, too. But I’m not supposed to I don’t have like media training from them. They don’t want me to talk about their name. So, um, but they’re a great company. Fant, uh, yeah, they do different age groups. So, the higherend tours, uh, for the older people, older demographic, uh, we stay in like fourstar hotels and, you know, it’s like a plus experience. there’s more temple and shrine visits because it’s not as much pop culture. They don’t want that, but they come with kids. So then I I’ll always tell them I’m like, “Hey, you have kids with you. Let’s show them some pop culture.” Because they want that. They want the anime and gaming experience and to see that side of Japan. Um, but if we look at what’s different between Japan and parts of Asia of like Thailand, right, Thailand is way cheaper than Japan and it’s like a drinking destination. Like you have young 18y olds that go there and they just get shitfaced all the time and they make bad choices where I think another thing about my tours is actually when I was leaving one of my hotels recently at the end of a tour they’re talking to me I’m like do you know I shouldn’t say his name Kyle. Yeah Kyle we’re gonna bleep out the first one again. Um and I was like yeah like he loves to party. I was like, “Oh, really?” And they’re like, “Yeah, like we have meetings every morning and we always have to say like EF’s here. Let’s be ready because they have a 24-hour bar.” And I guess every night he says, “Yo, let’s meet at the hotel bar and have drinks together.” And I could only imagine like he must have some horror stories, right? Cuz he’s promoting drinking. Like he’s opening an atmosphere for people to just come and like just get shitfaced all the time. I don’t drink alcohol. I haven’t for six years now. And uh I would much rather focus on giving my customers as much sightseeing and knowledge and education as possible in my tours and support uh than I would like I still go out at night. I’ll take them to Golden Guy as part of the experience and I want to show them fun places. My favorite place is uh Hiroshima. No, my favorite place to go out at night is Hiroshima. I’ll do a pub there. It’s Dude, it’s fantastic. We start off at one of my uh Kembi’s pub. Kemp’s pub. Great English style bar. They have a free pool table, amazing food. They have their own brewery. The owner is amazing. Um definitely check out Kemby’s Pub if you’re in Hiroshima. And then we go to uh Bar Revolution cuz I’m trying to knock people off. I’m trying to minimize the group. So we start off somewhere with a big area. Kembies has a huge amount of seating. So they can stay there. Yeah. But or they get tired because we don’t start till like 9 9:30 and then you know half the group drops off. We have 15 people. We go to Bar Revolution and Bar Revolution is on the rooftop and you can overlook this the downtown of Hiroshima where the drinking area is and then more people drop off at the end. It’s like a platoon from the Vietnam War. You have like three soldiers left. Yeah. And uh the last ones it’s a it’s a speak easy but it’s it’s a secret one. So, it’s uh it’s called Bargra and uh it’s hidden in one of these, you know, third story building. Not so secret anymore. Yeah. How do you find all of these customers? Secret places. I get so many customers. They tell me fun things that they went and did and then I check it out and if I really like something, I like it and I I’ll show them. And this place is cool, man. And uh the owner is amazing. And um yeah, he makes like he’s a mixologist. Like I don’t even order from his menu because I don’t drink. And I just I go in the day and I’m like, “What do I want today?” And I just tell him I like something citrusy today, no bubbles and not so sweet. I want more on the bitter side. And he just like whips up something. And dude, it’s amazing just to like watch and hang out. And uh but he it’s a smaller place so we don’t have uh we don’t fit too many people. So I try have to make the night long. Yeah. I was thinking when you were talk when you’re talking about to uh Kyoto and I couldn’t like we couldn’t get a restaurant with six people and then you said you have sometimes you have like 44 people. How do you get a restaurant in in Kyoto or anywhere with way ahead so we have to make reservations? You have a couple of places that you already there’s always options. Yeah. Um, and for me, like I still, so there’s always a set amount of group dinners on a group tour cuz some of these tours, the smallest one is a Tokyo tour um, for what I subcontract for and they spend like a week in Tokyo and then uh, sometimes the tours are 17 days long and I’m I’m in the hotel with the guests the whole time and traveling them around. Um, so we have to make all these reservations ahead. If I book my own group dinners just as an extra experience for the customers, um I have a couple staples. I’d like to do Torioku because I just think it’s super fun. It’s a good atmosphere. You don’t have as many foreigners going there, so it can be a loud Japanese party place, which I think is just really fun. Um and having a nice yakuri venue is is just good. Good price, too. Yeah, they there is inflation. it. When I first came to Japan two years ago, it was 350 yen per item. Yeah. So, Tori Kizoku, great place. Please go there. If you get a small beer, 390 yen now or a big beer, mega-ized pint, 390 yen. So, 40 yen inflation in the last two years, which is a lot for Japan. Yeah, that’s a lot for Japan. So, um but their whole menu, it’s a good price, right? You get five things, it’s 2,000 yen, and then everyone’s happy. So, Mike, is there such a thing as an itinerary from hell here in Japan? Can you like what would be the worst possible thing you could do as far as places go or a combination of places or is everything worth kind of seeing? Everything is worth seeing, but if you tell me like what is the worst itinerary to do if you book a trip to Japan, Tokyo Kyoto Saka still it’s the worst itinerary because it’s they’re the busiest places. They’re the most visited with tourism. Um, do they have cool things to see? Yes, they do. Like I I’m like I said, like visit everything once, but sprinkle in some more rural side stuff, you know? Don’t don’t just do the big cities. Like take a side jaunt somewhere. See a bit of the countryside. Don’t just do the three big cities and then leave Japan because that will not leave the impression of uh what Japan really has. Not an accurate representation of Yeah, there’s so much more to Japan, right? Um and I like I literally travel Japan for a living. That’s my full-time career. And I also travel Japan for fun because I love Japan and I want to see more. And there’s so much to see here. So uh like I’ve been uh I did a pilgrimage by myself uh 2023 uh for Christmas December. I visited 34 temples of cannon up in Chi-Chibu. Nice. Which is a mountain just outside of mountain area just outside of Tokyo. Some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen in my life. Wow. I was also on like a coming from a Canadian. I was it was on a spiritual experience too though, right? So one thing that happened was it was near the end of my pilgrimage. I did it I did uh 100 uh do you are you kilometers in in yeah so it was I finished at 111 kilometers in 4 days walking through the mountains but near I think it was temple 31 or 32. I’m walking up this mountain street and it’s there’s nothing. a dead end at the top. And I come around this bend and uh I should print off one of the photos to put it here just so I can I can show people. But um there is literally like thousands of Jesus statues. Like I can’t even like they’re like this big and uh dude I can’t even like five six thousand like this entire hillside covered with statues and my jaw doesn’t drop often seeing things in Japan cuz I’ve seen so many things and I just I literally froze where I was standing and I was just like holy crap like this is one of the most like breathtaking things I’ve ever seen in my life. And did you know it’s going to be there or no? It was a complete surprise. It was complete surprise. Nobody ever talks about it. No one knows. It’s Why would you go the Chichu mountains? It was in Chichu. It was the It’s the 34 temples of K. And one of those was Yeah. going up to it. It wasn’t even the temple I was going to. It was just there. It was another temple there. And dude, it was just like wow, you know, like Lord of the Rings. Yeah, it was Dude, it was I can’t explain it. You have to go there to And I I don’t even know the name of it. I could just go back because I have the pilgrimage listed, right? Um, but yeah, I travel Japan for for fun as well as work, right? So, I’m just always seeing new places. I’m going uh I’m uh going to the Oban Festival in Hokon next week. Nice. Um for the 13th to 16th and then we’re going to uh go to Osaka to do the World Fair and USJ and then we go to N. just I always work in N but I’ve I’m always stuck seeing the main things. So I want to go and just do my own exploration to learn more and see more because Nara is a beautiful place. Um so yeah man there’s always things happening like it’s in the I want to go to Sai and stuff. Yeah, it’s incredible. Yeah. So last topic. Yeah, it’s a sexy one. Bureaucracy. Okay, perfect. You’re establishing your own company. Yeah. Yeah. How’s that going? the worst decision I’ve ever made in my whole life. I mean, just applying I I have the easiest visa out there. Yeah. Which you had the spouse visa. Okay. And it’s still a nightmare. Yeah. So, are you It’s still a nightmare. And everybody’s like, “You’re lucky.” So, I can’t imagine what it feels like to try to do a complicated thing. Are you year by year right now? Year by year. They don’t want to give me three years. They don’t want to give me like they’re cuz I’m a freelancer. So, they’re like, “You’re basically a homeless person.” That’s how they are like seeing it. So every year every year I have to prove all of my income. I have to prove that this is a legitimate relationship. I have to like yearly still. Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy. They’re not really It’s not really friendly that way. Um so yeah, that’s why I wanted to ask like if it’s tough for me, how is it for you? I didn’t I’ve never So So I’ve never spoken with someone who has the spouse visa to know how it works. And uh yeah so me doing the business manager is just starting my own company business manager visa business manager visa um it’s still a nightmare so even after the company is established then I also need to renew my visa yearly after providing income and what was your sale like all of this so it sounds the same thing to show them much maybe it’s going to be easier because you’re going to be here for a while already. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, if you if you’re also I think maybe it’s depends on the passport a little bit. I think Canada has a stronger passport than like Slovenia. It’s still in the European Union, but they don’t like every time I show my passport, they have to Google the country, they disappear into the back, they come back with the boss. They’re like, I don’t know what this is. Like, is that a real Did you just print this out? Like, you know? So, maybe it’s crazy. Yeah. It’s not easy immigrating. And I I hire like lawyers every time, like immigration. I was wondering if you would still hire a lawyer. Yeah. So, I I have uh I got a lawyer hired last year. Um and they totally did me dirty and they got me uh the visa I didn’t want. Um Oh [ __ ] Which is a business startup. So, it gave me four months extension and it wasn’t the one that was on the contract and I still paid full price even though it was only four months instead of 12 months. And I I tried asking them. I was like, “Yo, like you told me I was getting this one, blah blah blah.” And they’re like, “Yeah, read section one, two, three, blah, blah, blah.” I’m like, “Bro, like, what?” And then they traded me off to another law firm um who won’t even answer my emails. And I’m like, I’m asking simple questions. So, like, you need capital uh proof. Yeah. In your bank account in Japan to get this business manager visa. And I already got my capital approved like three, four months ago. And now that the visa has changed, now I’m getting the business manager visa. And I asked them, I was like, “Do I still need that capital for September when my visa renewal is happening?” That was like two weeks ago and they haven’t emailed me. And then I emailed them and I was like, “Yo, I’m have time off. I’d like a phone call. I think it’s really like you guys could answer that question. There’s no reason for you to not have answered it.” And they’re like, “Yeah, well, because we don’t speak fluent English, we want to make sure we have a video call so that there’s no confusion.” I’m like, “Bro, you could have just said like yes or no in the Google Translate.” Like, maybe it’s the same company cuz I have similar experience. I have similar experience. They’re not answering my emails. Like, they’re not Well, both companies were bad like that. And I think even though that they have interpreters that they hire, um, it just doesn’t feel like a good service. So, it’s it’s crazy to hear you have the same same maddening. Yeah, it’s not great. Um, and it’s too bad to hear Yeah, it’s too bad to hear the spouse vis. And I I hear it’s the easiest one. So, that’s crazy. Uh, but maybe you’re going to have a different I hope you have a different experience, though. So, do you like living in Japan? Like, are you happy having moved here and like settled down? Yeah. Yeah, it’s nice, but I think I’m eventually going to go back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s but also I I’m not one of like I never watched anime. Yeah. I never had any like previous connection to Japan. We just hopped over on a whim. Yeah. I moved over like a maniac. No plan, no friends, no, you know, no no language skills at the time. So, it’s been a bit challenging in the beginning. It wasn’t uh such a fairy tale as you were also straight to Tokyo. It’s a bit of a Berlin has like 3 million people. It’s the capital city, but there’s space everywhere. You know, it’s huge. It used to be two cities and and now it’s like one and Tokyo is just it’s you’re bombarded with like stimula all the time and it took me like I still have slight PTSD from that, you know. So it take it takes a while but I’m I’m think now I I’m getting also older a little bit. I want to explore nature more. Yeah. I wanted Tokyo, but now I’ve been here for two years. I just got my camping setup for here cuz I’m a big I’m a big outdoors guy, right? You have a driver’s license? No, my girlfriend does though. So she she drives us. We’re going camping actually in September for my birthday. Awesome. Um yeah, we went camping uh for her first time in January, February this last year. I got my whole new setup um here in Japan just to see what their gear’s like. Dude, their gear here, if you like camping, bro, it’s crazy. Oh my gosh. Go to the camping stores here. They have stuff we never thought about in the Western world. Just like you throw it in the air and the tent is already like, this is like one of my favorite things. Show us. Yeah. Yeah. you. And can you find something like this in Canada? You can. You totally can. But I’ve never noticed it. So, I have like this nice basket here. Okay. Yeah. And this was just like in the store. But what they were selling is a table top for it. So, I actually like what I do. So, inside Why do you have firewood over? Because in Japan, you have to bring your own stove to a lot of campsites. Oh, wow. So, I bought firewood at the campsite and we didn’t use all of it and I was like, we’ll just use it next time. And it smells good in the closet now. So, so this is where I keep all of like my stoves in here, my extra cans. But then after Oh, look at that. It’s a counter top. It’s like a little table. Yeah. Yeah. Right. That’s nice. So, all I have to do is put all of my kitchen stuff in here and I just grab it and go. Yeah. And then you have like a little Yeah. Yeah. This is car camping, mind you. I’m I’m also a backcountry camper guy. So, would I bring this? No. But, uh, in Japan, car camping is super famous and that’s what people do. So, I just thought of this and I was like, “Dude, this is so I got to get I got to get driver license.” Yeah. This is really nice. Yeah. Yeah. Super. Just random stuff like that. Um, I thought for a second you were going to be like like bringing a rifle out or something. Look what you No, they have dude. Yeah, there they have a lot of cool like it’s I love the mountains. It’s I really love the mountain German, right? So, we’re close enough yet. So, yeah. Yeah. An easy hike for you is like going up Fuji or something. I’ve been told or almost I haven’t been Fuji yet, but not going to lie, I’ve seen some I’m not going to go to Fuji, I think, at this point. It’s too busy. So, yeah. Yeah. Too touristic. I’ve seen Yeah, I’ve seen pictures of people who have went. I’ve had friends go and uh I’m tempted cuz it’s Fuji, but every picture I see it’s a lineup the whole way the entire time. You you’re literally in line for like seven hours. That that’s not why I’m going to nature, you know? I’m like, is it cool to say I hiked Fuji? Yeah, it is. But at the same time, like hike a mountain near Fuji and then you can see Fuji from the mountain you hiked with no one on it. Why not? So, yeah. Mike, thanks. This was awesome. Yeah, been a pleasure. What a pleasure. Nice to meet you. Again, how can people contact you? What’s the best way? Landmarkleends.com. Uh check me out there or our Instagram, Landmarkle Legends. Yeah, it’s all online and and set up. We’ll take care of you in Japan, show you all the best spots. Nice. Yeah. So, last question. So, if people want to see some specific, do you incorporate it in the tour? How does that work? Or do you have like your own itinary that you suggest? We actually currently have uh our own itineraries online on the website, but if people want a custom uh tour as well, like you can just email me on the info page and say like, “Hey, I’m looking to do this and this.” Uh and if you have a group of 12 people or more, we can make a fully custom tour for you um that has all the details that you would want. Awesome. Um and go from there. So, it’s Yeah, super easy. Thanks again, B. Nice to meet you. Right on.
Tour guide Mike is an absolute TREASURE TROVE of knowledge when it comes to travelling around Japan. A professional tour guide with over a decade of experience, he’s now the owner of the Landmark and Legends tour company. Originally from Canada, he decided to stay in Japan as soon as he stepped off the plane, being struck by the country’s many idyllic scenes.
We sat down in his Yokohama office to discuss his favourite travel spots, hidden Japanese tourist traps, the worst possible itinerary you can make, the do’s and don’ts of behaviour while here, but also his life in Tokyo, as well as his undying love of exploring the Land of the rising sun.
#japantravel #japan #travelling #tokyo #traveltips #kyoto #osaka
Landmark and Legends website:
https://landmarkandlegends.com/
Contact Mike on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/landmark_and_legends/
Tokyo Hangout on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tokyo_hangout/
Listen to TOKYO HANGOUT on Spotify:
Listen to TOKYO HANGOUT on Apple podcasts:
Timestamps:
00:00 Tourist traps in Japan?
12:00 Respecting the rules
17:01 Tour guiding in Japan
19:59 Tokyo vs Osaka
25:07 Mike gives golden itinerary advice
27:33 Should you visit Kyoto?
32:02 Mike’s TOP SECRET recommend
37:57 How Mike ended up in Japan
44:43 Mike’s life in Japan
49:43 Bad experience with guests?
01:00:44 Japanese bureaucracy
1 Comment
He was so proper dealing with those people harassing him because I would have punched someone lol especially if you were doing everything right.