Best of Tokyo: Authentic Local Food Tour with local students
Description
Discover a different side of Tokyo on a private local street food tour made for your group only. Instead of following a fixed menu, choose 7 bites and 1 drink from our carefully curated lineup of about 15 food items, all tasted and tested many times by our team. We will take you to small neighborhood shops and shopping streets with few tourists, where we have built friendly relationships with local owners. Depending on your taste, you may try gold-medal fried chicken, Japanese-style yakitori from a shop celebrating its 100th anniversary, traditional sweets from a confectionery connected to Meiji Shrine offerings, or street food from a place once visited by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Your guide helps you choose, order, and understand what you are eating, so you can enjoy real local interaction, not just sightseeing. If you like, we can also include a peaceful, unique local shrine stop to end the tour in a calm atmosphere. Let's enjoy Legit local street foods
Tour Options
Itinerary
The tour starts at Musashikoyama Shopping Street. First, using the travel guidebook provided beforehand, you'll choose two menu items you like. Our first stop is a long-established yakitori shop founded in 1926, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Its signature style lets you enjoy the skewers by applying the sauce yourself. Savor the freshly grilled chicken while soaking in the bustling atmosphere of the shopping street. (If you'd like, you can even take some uniquely Japanese purikura photos. )
Next, we move to the Togoshi Ginza Shopping Street. Renowned as a quintessential local shopping street, Togoshi Ginza is packed with eateries perfect for street food and old-fashioned independent shops. It's overflowing with unique shops like “Kei,” whose fried chicken won a gold prize; “Aoyagi,” which offers traditional sweets at Meiji Shrine; and shops even former Prime Minister Abe has visited.
At the end of the tour, we’ll stop by Togoshi Hachiman Shrine, a local shrine that has been loved by the community for generations. It’s just a short walk from the lively shopping street, and because it’s less touristy, you can enjoy a calm, local atmosphere that feels a little different from other shrines. It’s a peaceful spot to take a breath and wrap up the tour.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please let us know in advance if you have any allergies or foods you can’t eat.
- This tour includes about 1.86 miles (3 km) of walking, so it is not recommended for guests with low stamina or limited mobility.
Reviews(39)
This food tour was one of the highlights of our trip to Tokyo! We tried so many incredible foods that we never would have found on our own, and every stop was delicious. Our guides, Masumi and Tomoki were incredibly informative, sharing the history and stories behind the food and the neighborhoods we visited. They were also so much fun to hang out with—it felt more like exploring the city with friends than being on a tour. I did this tour with my two children, and they made all of us feel welcome and included. They were patient, engaging, and made the experience enjoyable for both kids and adults. If you’re visiting Tokyo, I can’t recommend this tour enough. Great food, great company, and an unforgettable experience. Thank you for making our day so special! Can’t wait to book another tour!
Thank you so much for this wonderful review! We are absolutely thrilled to hear that our food tour was one of the highlights of your trip to Tokyo. We are so glad that Masumi and Tomoki could share the delicious hidden foods, local history, and neighborhood stories with you. Making our guests feel like they are exploring the city with friends is exactly the atmosphere we strive for. It is especially heartwarming to hear that your two children had a great time as well! Ensuring our tours are engaging, patient, and welcoming for the whole family is very important to us. Thank you for highly recommending our tour. We can’t wait to welcome you and your family back for another unforgettable adventure in Japan! Arigatou! Warm regards, Michitabi Team
Hi! I'm Fiona, just wanted to share my wonderful experience with my food tour guide today. Taiga was excellent in showing me and my daughter around, he very helpful and friendly, he English is very good, that was a plus for me, because I only speak English. I would recommend him as to any one who is looking to just enjoy a friendly visit to have some good food and conversation and comp. Thanks Fiona Looking forward to day 2.
Hi Fiona, Thank you for sharing this wonderful review! We are so happy that you and your daughter had such a fantastic time on your food tour with Taiga. He also had a great time guiding you both. Sharing delicious food and fun conversations is exactly what we love doing at Michitabi. Thank you for highly recommending us, and we wish you both a wonderful rest of your trip in Japan. Arigatou! Best regards, Michitabi Team
We had such a wonderful tour, enjoyed every bit of it! It’s not just about the delicious food we’ve tasted, but it’s just an overall amazing experience to get a super local tour, and chat about culture, local customs and more. Would highly recommend, thanks again!
Hi Alex. Thank you so much for finding our team and sharing your time in Japan with us! We are pleased to hear that you were able to enjoy not only the local foods, but also chat about culture, local customs and more. It was really an honor for us to be part of your surprise gift for your birthday wife, the time with you became an unforgettable memory for us! Arigatou!
Best tour ever, highly recommend! Great way to explore untapped terrotority and see where the locals go.
Hi Dounia. Thank you so much for sharing your memorable birthday trip in Japan with us! We’re so glad you had a great time in our favorite places and local foods from the perspectives of locals. Your smile brought us a greatest joy. It was really an honor for us to be part of your trip in Japan. Arigatou!
It was really fun, and some good local spots supporting the old local business. Me and my friend had a great time and highly recomend booking a tour.
Hi Sofie. Thank you so much for sharing your time in Japan with us! We are so happy to have had an opportunity to meet you and hear that you could enjoy some local restaurants where have a lot of traditions loved by locals. We also enjoyed your story of traveling and daily life, first and best friend from Denmark! Hope we can visit Denmark soon and meet you again, and will bring great souvenirs from Japan! Arigatou!
We had a great tour with Michael and Subaru. We did the food tour and tried some really nice dishes and places we wouldn’t have tried without a guide! They are really nice and fun to go on tour with. It was a private tour which was really good!
Hi Selma. Thank you so much for sharing your time in Japan with us! We are so happy to have had an opportunity to meet you and hear that you could enjoy the awesome foods in the local shopping street of Tokyo. One of our values is that we can show unique places that are little known by tourists. We really took to your lovely and friendly vibe. First and best friend from Denmark! Arigatou!
Yuta and Tomaki took my Australian friend and I to a local spot, a spot where typical tourists wouldn’t know about, and tried these incredible skewers. They also taught us about Japanese traditions associated with things they would say when they get the food which was cool to learn. They also took us to a really old Japanese dessert store in which they knew the 90+ year old owner and got us these incredible desserts and a local fried chicken spot. The food was incredible and I recommend this to anyone wanting to see Japan from a ‘local lense’ and see such neighbourhoods and try incredible foods. They are fun guys and very friendly and engaging.
Hi JB. Thank you so much for sharing your day in Japan with us and your great review! We are so happy to hear that you totally enjoyed seeing Japan from a ‘local lense’ with locals. We also enjoyed having awesome local foods with you, such as the combination of chicken skewers and beer and traditional sweets.The time with you flew by so fast like a blink. Arigatou!
Taiga was extremely friendly and helpful. He took us on a trip thru the Ginza area and provided some i formation and stopped at several interesting spots. The food was good the beer enjoyable. The stop at the shrine was very quiet and tranquil. Highly recommend this tour.
Hi Donna. Thank you so much for sharing your day in Japan with us and your great review! We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed visiting each spot, with great food and beer in the local side of Tokyo. The local shrine is actually our favorite place, the quiet and tranquil vibe that we cannot find in the famous shrine. Arigatou!
Great day trip to experience local Tokyo with great food and history
Hi Lisa. Thank you so much for sharing your day in Japan with us! We are delighted to have been able to offer the vibes of a local area and awesome local food of Tokyo. Knowing that you enjoyed your time with us is one of our greatest joys. Arigatou!
My family of 7 adults and 2 kids had a wonderful time with Taiga and Wakana giving us a tour around Odaiba, they were friendly and very helpful altogether. We had a chance to meet the rest of the crew and they were as welcoming and interesting to talk to.
Hi Justin. Thank you so much for sharing your day in Japan with us! We are truly delighted that you and all of your family were able to enjoy the awesome food in the market and waterfront vibe in Odaiba. Just like that market and Odaiba, Tokyo has plenty of places where large groups and people of all ages can have a great time and experience. Your family was so lively and friendly that we really enjoyed our time with you, time flew by so fast. Every time we look at the souvenir you gave us, we’ll think of you. We look forward to seeing you again. Arigatou!
