Hello! Tokyo Tours

Hello! Tokyo Tours and where it operates

Hello! Tokyo Tours runs its own tours through a team of local Tokyo residents working as professional tour guides. The about page introduces Laura as the founder of Hello! Tours, whose story starts in Hong Kong, where she moved from London in 2011; the site's city menu lists Hello! Hong Kong, Hello! Singapore, Hello! Tokyo and Hello! Yokohama. The site describes the team as "a small team of Tokyo local residents working as professional tour guides with a huge passion for sharing our in-depth knowledge about Tokyo and its culture, customs and history." The company operates tours in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Hakone, with the site's navigation menu listing "Private Walking Tour, Private Car Tour, Private Food Tour, Private Yokohama Tour, Private Hakone Tour" and making clear these are the geographic range the company covers in Japan.

Tour offerings: food, private, and study formats

Hello! Tokyo Tours structures its tours into group food tours, private walking tours, private car tours, private food tours, and study tours for educational groups. The primary small group food tour, Flavours of Tokyo: A Journey Through Time, runs "Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays at 11:30am" with a maximum of 8 guests. The site states "Price: US$160 Adults / US$140 Children (6-11) plus 4.8% credit card processing charge," a duration of "5.5 hours," and the meeting point is "Nihonbashi Station, Exit B12" with the end point at "Akihabara." The tour includes "10+ tastings, specialty drinks" and requires "Two short subway rides (approx. US$3 not included)." The company describes the food tour as beginning in Nihonbashi "once the beating heart of Edo-period Tokyo" where guests "taste the ingredients that underpin washoku, Japan's UNESCO-listed cuisine, including kombu, katsuobushi, and dashi" and sample "classic snacks like imo kenpi and wagashi while hearing the stories of the families who still make them by hand." The site notes the tour explores Tokyo's food history "from Edo-era flavours to Tokyo's everyday eats."

Private car tours are offered as "customised" experiences lasting "4 to 8 hours" with "your tour length is your choice." The site states "You can start your Tokyo tour at any time from 8 am to 6:00 pm allowing you to book a day tour or a night tour. Tours for 1 to 4 people are conducted in a Toyota Alphard. Tours for 5 or more people are conducted in a Toyota HiAce. You will have a guide and a driver meaning that you can hop in and out of the car anywhere, there is no need for us to find parking." The pricing table on the same page gives the total price per tour in US dollars, from US$770 for 4 hours with 1 or 2 people up to US$1,705 for 8 hours with 8 people, with a 4.8% credit card processing fee on top. Surcharges cover a Yokohama start or finish (US$250 one way), Haneda airport transfers (US$90 one way) and children's car seats at US$25 each. Private walking tours and private food tours are also offered as customizable experiences. Study tours are available for educational institutions, with the site stating "We work directly with programme directors and professors to design a bespoke itinerary" and noting "We ensure that we understand your learning objectives and customise your programme around them." The homepage adds a Small Group Sake Tasting, a 2-hour class with 6 craft sakes and light snacks, maximum 8 people, daily at 1:30pm and 5pm, at US$88 per person, and self-guided audio tours of districts such as Nihonbashi and Asakusa starting at US$6.99.

How the company operates tours day-to-day

The small group food tour meets at Nihonbashi Station, Exit B12, running at a set time of 11:30am on scheduled days. The site notes "What to Bring: Comfortable shoes & an appetite" and lists "Not Suitable For: Guests with mobility issues, vegans and vegitarians." For private car tours, pickup is from a hotel or other location, with the site stating "Hotel pick-up and drop-off. Airport drop off available." The site also mentions "Tours can finish at Hanada or Narita Airport for a surcharge making them ideal for cruise passengers." Private walking tours are similarly customizable around the guest's pace and interests. The company describes guides as local Tokyo residents; the about page emphasizes that guides are members of a "small team of Tokyo local residents working as professional tour guides." The car tour page says the Alphard seats up to 4 tour participants and the HiAce up to 8, and "You can bring a maximum of 8 people on your tour." Children aged 11 and under ride free but take a seat, and children under 6 need a car seat, which the company rents. Tours go ahead in heavy rain unless the Japan Meteorological Agency issues a Red Warning or Purple Emergency Warning.

Booking, cancellation, and support options

The food tour and the car tours are booked online through "BOOK TOUR" buttons, and the car tour page says "All prices listed are in US$," that it accepts last-minute bookings, and that tours can be booked online up to 24 hours before the start. For private tours, the site invites customization: "Tell us your basic interests and we will put an itinerary together for you."

The cancellation policy on the private car tour page is detailed. To cancel, guests email the company. For private tours of 1 to 9 guests, cancelling more than 24 hours before the tour brings a 100% refund and 24 hours or less brings no refund. For groups of 10 or more, it is a full refund more than 7 days out, 50% between 2 and 7 days, and nothing inside 48 hours. Refunds are subject to deductions: the page says booking and payment processing charges, which "currently total 7.7% of the tour value," are non-refundable, as are costs already paid to third parties such as attraction tickets or restaurant deposits. A rescheduling policy follows on the same page.

For schools and universities, the study tours page says the company works "directly with programme directors and professors to design a bespoke itinerary," offers recommended Harvard Business Review case studies for pre-reading, and can arrange visits to other educational institutions or industry experts. It says educational tours are priced at the same rates it charges individual travelers. The site also runs a city guide with food, bar, festival, shopping, sumo and baseball, book and film guides, and a blog.

What the site does not settle, and who it suits

There are 2 small inconsistencies worth checking at booking. The homepage lists the Flavours of Tokyo food tour at US$154 per person, while the group tours page shows US$160 for adults and US$140 for children aged 6 to 11, plus the 4.8% card fee. The group tour page itself does not repeat the cancellation terms set out for private tours, so the rule for the food tour should be confirmed before paying. The food tour page says it is not suitable for guests with mobility issues or for vegans and vegetarians, and it does not offer an alternative menu.

Hello! Tokyo Tours suits first-time visitors who want a food-history walk through Nihonbashi with a small group, and families or small groups who want a private car, a guide and a driver for a day, including cruise passengers who need an airport finish. Its published car tour price table makes budgeting easy. It suits less well vegetarians and vegans on the food tour, and travelers who cancel late, since the 7.7% processing charge is kept even on a full refund.