Sarah Adkins
Google
My trip to Tokyo, Japan in September of 2018 was for me, both life-changing and life affirming. I've wanted to visit since I was a child and had an opportunity to do so after college graduation. Due to increasingly severe health problems, I was forced to forego my dreams of travel and spend a decade in and out of hospitals and doctor's offices.
When I was finally healthy enough and financially secure enough to make this dream come true, I needed someone who could have my back. I was not only visiting Japan for the first time, but this was to be my first time travelling outside the US. There was also the issue of the Japanese language, in which I'm not proficient.
With help from InsideJapan, I spent a week in Tokyo doing a mostly self-guided experience. (But I never felt alone or like I didn't have back-up; should something arise.) I spent a day wondering Harajuku and Shibuya with a guide, and then using the tools provided, made my own way to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, the art museums of Roppongi Hills, Tokyo DisneySea in Urayasu, had a kimono dressing with my hair done and a professional photographer at a cultural center in Yanaka, wondered Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum, and was wowed by the digital artwork at teamLab: Borderless in Odaiba.
Shakira was the perfect consultant, helping me to restructure the abandoned plans from a decade ago and turn them into something that gave me all the experiences that I wished for while still coming in under budget. She answered my many questions, helped to customize my experience in ways that I wouldn't be able to on my own, and assured me of on the ground support once in Tokyo, should I need it. She also addressed a big concern, which is my shellfish allergy and made sure that my hotel was aware and that I was prepared when going out to eat so that I wouldn't have an episode.
Brian was my first day Insider, who took me around Shibuya and Harajuku, showed me how to purify myself at Meiji-Jingu, took some wonderful photos, navigated our way to the many shops and art experiences that I had listed, and gave me a train map and taught me to use it!I'm eternally thankful to him because the things he showed me that first day allowed me enough independence to go the rest of the week on my own.
I'm extremely pleased and thankful to InsideJapan! I was even bragging about them to other English speaking tourists who had gone entirely on their own and found more chaos and hurdles than I had because they didn't have someone on the ground, who knew the lay of the land.
If I was obsessed with Japan the dream before, I'm enamored with Japan the reality. I hope to return in the next few years, explore outside of Tokyo and I will of course, seek out InsideJapan.
