aitaiJapan

association for independent tourist assistance in Japan

Osaka © Masayoshi Ohtani

• aitaiJapan is a guide/interpreter service with listings of enthusiastic volunteer guides who can offer free tourist assistance for independent travelers on their visit to Japan.
• With our service we want to encourage visitors to discover individually this interesting country so rich in historical sites, natural beauty, an exciting avant-garde culture and a modern vibrant city life.
• Language barriers, cultural differences and sometimes preconceived ideas keep many travelers away from discovering this country on their own.
• However Japan is more and more opening to foreign tourists. Nonetheless thanks to the warm hospitality of its people, its great public services, an efficient transportation system and English signs popping up everywhere, Japan is a country not so difficult to travel in when given some basic assistance.
• We want to help foreign visitors to overcome major worries and obstacles to enable them to travel more independently and to fully enjoy their trip.
• Guides can assist visitors with practical advice, such as how to find the way to the hotel, how to use public transports, how to make a reservation, how to choose dishes in restaurants, how to behave in places or situation foreigners might not be familiar with such as onsen (Japanese hot spring) or ryokan (Japanese inn) and much more.
• Guides can also accompany visitors on sight seeing trips, visit tourist spots or help to explore Japan's exciting cities.
• But more than all our volunteer guides might be able to give you some priceless cultural insights to find a more genuine Japan than that of your guide-book. With our service, we want to offer travelers a real opportunity to go off the beaten tracks, to get in touch with local people and to discover Japan through different eyes.
• After all you might simply want to have a chat over a coffee or tea, speaking about daily life, discussing all kind of topics to better understand Japanese culture and the Japanese people? Our guides will be happy to share such moments with you.
• We sincerely hope that these encounters will help foreign tourists to get a little closer to the Japanese way of life and thinking, to give to our global world a more human face and nonetheless to go home with some truly unforgettable experiences.
• We wish you a wonderful trip!

aitaiJapan team

To find a guide and for more information about our service, please click "for visitors" on the upper menu or on the navigation menu on the left side.

To register as a guide and for more information about our guide service, please click "for guides" on the upper menu or on the navigation menu on the left side.

You don't need to log in to use our service!!

For information contact: aitaijapan@gmail.com