Tokyo's Scariest Shitamachi Ghost Tour
Description
Let our cultural expert show you a different side of Tokyo after dark on this spooky ghost tour! Whether you come to Tokyo for the first time or have lived here for years, you will learn plenty about the city's history and folklore. This tour is not for people who get scared easily, as you will definitely get goosebumps a few times! Many of the stories are real, and those who are sensitive to paranormal activity are in for an active evening. No worries if you come with kids, the guide will make sure to keep the stories kid-friendly so this tour is also great for families.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your guide will take you to the shrine where people working in the surrounding offices still don't dare to turn their backs towards the location of the shrine because of the vengeful spirit that has haunted the area for more than 1000 years. You will hear the true stories of what ghostly activities have happened here throughout the centuries.
Your guide will take you to several places of interest around the Minamisenju area, including two separate places of worship with a truly tragic history and many reports of paranormal activity, and the location of the old red-light district. You will make short stops at both points of interest to hear about the histories and ghosts connected to the area.
Your guide will take you to several places of interest around the Asakusa area, including a viewpoint, the Sensoji temple, the streets surrounding the temple, the Old Hag's Pond, and Kappabashi. You will make short stops at each point of interest to hear about the history, ghosts, and monsters connected to the area. At the end of the tour the guide will drop you off at a strange bar, a traditional izakaya or at Asakusa station.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(30)
The stories offered were good but too few. We walk 8,000 steps and only herd 5 stories. The stories are not ghost stories but more cultural and historical in nature. This tour was to much walking and not enough engaging information to be worth the time and the money. We needed more ghost stories and legends. I highly recommend shorting the pathway walked and filling it with more information - 1 hour should equal a min of 6 stories and hour.
The tour is really over priced ,the poor guide was clearly just a local who was trying their best to make it fun but she had nothing to work with, a few storys and that's it , the price is way to high for what you get,the snack is a ¥200 treat thing and the price of £100 is way too much ,with goggle and maps trips like this are outdated and honestly abit of an insult. To be fair our guide was lovely but their are far better company's out there.
The guide was very nice, but there weren't a lot of stories. My date told me most were from her middle/high school history classes growing up. A lot of walking, a lot of filler conversation.
Joris was a great part of our trip to Tokyo! He was very knowledgeable about the city and its history with many stories that we found fascinating, disturbing, and enlightening in equal turns. We had a wonderful time talking with him and seeing more of the city and now can say we have a greater understanding of Japanese culture and the places we've been. Thank you Joris!
Like others have mentioned, for a "ghost" tour there was a noticeable lack of ghost or otherwise supernatural stories/tales. Our guide was Joris who is a super nice person and clearly passionate about Japanese culture and history. I don't know how much creative freedom the guide has over the tour content so I don't necessarily blame him for this but someone with the tour company should make an adjustment to either the way the tour is promoted or the actual content. There are no shortage of supernatural and creepy folklore tales in Japanese history, so I don't understand why a ghost tour couldn't entirely consist of ghost stories. That said, the tour started off very strong and I was really excited once we got to the first stop for what was to come. We were taken to the resting place of Taira no Masakado whose story I was not familiar with but is riddled with reports of unexplained and supernatural components. Perfect for a ghost tour and the way Joris told the story was gripping. Really nice start. However, that was the last explicitly supernatural tale we got. The rest of our stops were more of the true crime, grotesque history type like our stop to former execution grounds, a police station where we reviewed tales of Japan's most wanted fugitives, mass deaths caused by a large fire, and bizarrely the statue of a manga character. A haunting was only mentioned at one other stop and that seemed more like an afterthought than having been written into the script. Like, "oh, by the way people say this place is haunted". In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with having a weird true tales of Tokyo type tour. I think that would be fascinating and I would probably have still signed up for it. But if you're going to bill something as a ghost tour, it should be made up of ghost stories, supernatural tales, and Japanese folklore. Overall, it was an interesting tour and Joris is a super guide but I would not recommend to someone expecting a ghost/supernatural stories of Tokyo tour. We paid almost $300 for two people and expected more at that price point.
Our guide was most thorough, kind, knowledgeable, and polite, but the tour consisted of mega amounts of walking. We learned lots of history about Japan and Tokyo, but not so much about ghosts as expected. However, we had a wonderful time!
We did the Ghost Tour in April 2024. We loved it so much. Joris was our guide and was able to share so much about each site we visited in addition to other Japanese history. It rained on and off throughout the tour which added to the stories. Joris also provided a lot of recommendations for the remainder of our trip which was so helpful and allowed us to do a lot more than we planned.
Maik gave a great tour full of history, scary tales, and insights into Japanese culture. Would recommend this tour for adults, but some of the stories might be too dark for younger audiences.
An unique and very interesting tour. Places that are not on the comon turist maps. My guide, Mike, is the best guide so far. He is funny, has a keen eye for making you confortable during the tour. I strongly recomand both the tour and the guide; you wont be dissapointed.
Throughout the four hour tour we only heard a handful of stories. The product’s title felt misleading as the stories were mainly about death and not the supernatural. It also felt more like we paid to ride around the subway while small talking with our guide. Our subway fare was not included, like the fine print said. The tour guide was a nice guy.