YOUR Tokyo TOUR GUIDES
We are the Hello! Tokyo team and we are looking forward to welcoming you to Tokyo. We are 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. We can’t wait to meet you!
TEAM
LAURA
Hello, I am Laura and I am the founder of Hello! Tours.
My story starts in Hong Kong so bear with me. In 2011 I relocated to Hong Kong from London with my corporate job. Making the move was the easiest decision I have made. I had previously worked in Japan for a small Japanese company and I had spent a couple of weeks in Hong Kong on holiday and had fallen in love with the city.
Once I became a resident of Hong Kong I realised that during those two weeks I spent in Hong Kong on holiday, I didn’t see anything! Of course, I had ticked off the tourist highlights but I had failed to learn anything about the local culture and customs. I had not had a ‘real life’ local experience. To put it simply I had seen Hong Kong through the eyes of an uninitiated tourist and left without any real understanding of whats made Hong Kong and its people tick.
I decided to quit my corporate job and I set up Hello! Hong Kong, a walking tour company specialising in culturally immersive small group and private tours of Hong Kong. I wanted to make sure that other visitors to Hong Kong did have that local experience that I had missed out on.
Fast forward a few years and Hello! Hong Kong become a huge success, so much so that I decided to relocate to Singapore and set up Hello! Singapore Tours. Singapore is another city that is easy to visit, and at the same time, it is easy to miss out on that real-life local experience. I made it my mission to make sure that everyone who is lucky enough to visit Singapore had the opportunity to leave with an in-depth understanding of the history, culture, customs, and day-to-day life of the wonderful city-state.
Fast forward again and here I am in Japan! I set up Hello! Tokyo Tours and developed a curated selection of exceptional tours with Sid, an incredibly bright young man who shares my passion for culture, history, and storytelling.
I have done all of this with my trusty sidekick Keko the cat.
MIKO
Hi, I’m Miko. I was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. I’m proud of being from Osaka because people from Osaka are cheerful and energetic, and so am I!
My first job was as a nurse which was my dream since my childhood. I left this job after I had my daughter because there weren’t enough nursery centres at that time. When my daughter was three, we moved to Morocco with my husbands job. We had a wonderful time in Morocco for eight years.
I started to teach the piano there. I learned the piano from a young age. I took my piano to Morocco because I thought I would be bored since I couldn’t speak its official languages, French and Arabic. However, it was not the case! I was busy learning French at language school, where I made friends from all over the world, and teaching the piano. My students improved so quickly that I had to enhance my level, too. I studied heard in a music school in Morocco and continued to study later in Paris. I taught the piano in a music school in France after I graduated from a music college.
Meanwhile, as my daughter had not lived Japan since she reached the age of reason, she wanted to live in Japan. We moved to England to study English so that she could pass the entrance exam for a Japanese University.
After coming back to Japan I started teaching English to children. I think it’s important for children to learn English so they can communicate with people from all over the world and exchange different cultures and thought! And that is why I became a guide in Japan! To communicate with people from other countries to exchange our cultures. Moreover, I have a good memory of going sightseeing in Europe. As I followed my husband’s business trips his clients kindly guided us. I think it is the best way to go around the town with people who live there.
Tokyo has a wonderful mix of old and new. After the second world war, Japan industrialized very quickly. So there are many high rise buildings, but on the other side, there are still shops which have been inherited from generation to generation. Now, I am excited to show you how local people live and take you to places that are normally difficult to be found by tourists.
I look forward to welcoming you to my city.
YASU
Hello World! I am Yasu.
I was born in Japan but moved to U.S.A. when I was 7 years old.I attended elementary school in New York and junior high school in New Jersey.
I returned to Japan where I graduated University and joined a Japanese company which had operations in over 70 countries worldwide. I became a ‘Salaryman’… but the truth is the reason I join this corporation was because it gave me the best chance to return to U.S.A…. And it did happen!
My career in the States was Marketing and Business Innovation. I worked at several offices, Chicago – Macon GA – NY/NJ – Dallas – Atlanta – AL. In total, adding my childhood years, I spent 25 years in the U.S.A. which I enjoyed so much.
After being transferred back to Tokyo, I was still eager to move back to the States. So, after working for the company for 35 years, I took an early retirement. My Green Card application was approved but then the Covid disaster occurred. Everything was on hold. A year passed by…. Nothing happened… but I found my place in Tokyo! I auditioned for a stage acting job and I got it! I I started to really enjoy Tokyo in my retirement. Ultimately I decided that I would rather stay here, this is the city!!
I became a tour guide because I enjoy talking with people visiting Tokyo from all over the world. It makes me very energetic. Tokyo is one of the most exciting cities in the world!
As a Hello! Tokyo Tours guide I can talk about Japanese Culture, Food, History all in one pack. Let me show you the main and the back streets of Tokyo where locals like us go to.
Hope to see you soon!
KEIKO
Hello, I’m Keiko. I was born and raised in Kagoshima. It has beautiful nature, kind people, very nice food and an active volcano called Sakurajima.
My first job was teaching English to children. I loved to have time with them with using English and let them know English is a tool to communicate.
After I got married, I lived in many places inside Japan from south to north because of my husband’s job. In each place, I experienced local food, festivals, customs, people, nature, which you can’t know only by traveling.
When I lived in Kansai area, I often visited Kyoto. I loved old shrines, temples, beautiful Japanese gardens and ancient atmosphere there. However every time I visited there, I met someone having a trouble because of a language barrier. I always helped them and gave them some information about Kyoto. Then I thought, “Oh, I can do this as a job and it’ll be so much fun!”. I was determined to become a tour guide and got the government certification.
For someone like me who is from a countryside, Tokyo is a shiny, fashionable and the latest
technology city. But once I live here in Tokyo, I realised Tokyo has a lot of good old things, too. The greatest thing of Tokyo is a mixture of old and new. You can enjoy the old atmosphere of the Edo period and the latest trend in one day! I like to explain about Tokyo by comparing to other places by my experiences to let my guests know the uniqueness of Tokyo.
It would be my honour to show you such an exciting and calming city. I can’t wait to meet you!
PAIVA
Hello! I am Paiva, originally from Angola. I found my way to Japan in 2019, after being awarded a scholarship. I fell in love with Tokyo and have called it my home ever since.
Growing up, I enjoyed dancing and at the age of 11, I had my first dance exchange trip in Italy. I could not get enough of it and I wanted to see more of the world.
When I finished high school, I left home and moved to South Africa to pursue my undergraduate degree and lived there for a few years. While in South Africa, I got introduced to the Japanese culture through media and I realised how much there was to do in Japan and how safe it was! I decided that I wanted to to move there, it seemed like it would be the perfect fit for me and it is!
I learned to speak, read and write Japanese and integrated into local society. I have enjoyed learning about all aspects of Japanese culture and its uniqueness. I am quite fascinated with the Japanese culture of cleanliness and the common consciousness of tidying up places or things after using for the next person.
When my family came to visit me in Tokyo, I had a wonderful time showing them what life is like in this unique city. I realised that I would love to become a tour guide and joined Hello! Tokyo Tours. I really enjoy seeing the smiles of my guests when they are having a good time or learning something new.
The delicious food, the bustling daily life, the views and beautiful parks are some of the things I really enjoy about Japan and would like to share with you!
Let's have a great time together this exciting archipelago!
KEKO
Hi, my name is Keko and I am the Chief Operations Officer of Hello! Tours. I first met Laura back in 2012 when we were both living in Hong Kong. I was only two months old then. We got along instantly and moved in with each other immediately. It was my idea for Laura to become a tour guide. Between you and me she was putting on a bit of weight and needed to do something more active. Under my guidance she did a great job with Hello! Hong Kong but I felt that she needed to think bigger so I instigated the move to Singapore.
When we got to Singapore I discovered Chicken Rice! Oh my Kitty Cat Lordy, I can tell you, no chicken tastes better! I told her to put that on the tours! I am very proud of our Singapore business. Just like in Hong Kong we designed a number of culturally immersive tours that people LOVE. I don’t want to take all of the credit but….
Whilst I loved Singapore it was a little bit too hot for me. I have this beautiful fur coat which I can’t take off. So I moved Laura to Japan where it’s much cooler. We are currently busy working on Hello! Tokyo Tours. I am in food heaven. So much fish! And I have never been so popular! People in Japan love cats! Laura thinks i’ve gotten big headed and keeps threatening to put me in cat cafe but I know, that she knows, that Hello! Tours needs me. After all I’ve got big plans for our next openings! Meow.