About Tokyo Local Guide
I'm Kai. I live in Tokyo, I film its streets, and I spent years behind a hotel desk here being asked the same question every single night.
The question
Guests would come down to the desk holding a printout or a phone, and the question was never "what is famous in Tokyo". They already knew what was famous. The question was "where would you actually go?" That's a different question, and the honest answer to it was never on the first page of search results.
I answered it a few thousand times. This guide is that answer, written down properly, so it doesn't depend on me being at the desk when you happen to walk past.
The walks
I also film Tokyo on foot, and I put those walks on YouTube as Japan in 4K. There are 245 of them in this guide, no cuts and no commentary, just the street at the pace you would actually walk it. Watching a neighbourhood for two minutes tells you more about whether you want to spend an evening there than any photo will.
Every pin in the guide sits in a neighbourhood I have filmed. Watch the walks by area.
What is in the guide, and what isn't
441 places, each with the nearest station and the exit to use, what to order, the rough price and the reservation reality. No affiliate links, nobody paid to be in it, and nothing in it that I haven't been to myself. Places close and prices move, so when that happens I fix it and you get the update.
What isn't in it: everything I wouldn't send a friend to. That's most of the city, and it's the point.
Common questions
Who writes Tokyo Local Guide?
I do. I'm Kai, I live in Tokyo, and I spent years behind a hotel desk here answering the same question every night: where would you actually go? This guide is that answer, written down.
Have you been to the places in the guide?
Yes, every one. If I haven't eaten there, stood in that queue or walked out disappointed myself, it's not in the guide. That's why there are 441 places and not three thousand.
Are the recommendations paid for?
No. Nobody pays to be in the guide and there are no affiliate links inside it. The only money involved is the one payment you make for the guide, which is what keeps it honest.
How often is the guide updated?
Whenever something changes. Places close, prices move and I take them out or fix them. You pay once and you keep getting the updates.