Starting a Travel Guide Business

Hi,

I have been to Japan 4 times now (saw Cherry Blossom season for our honeymoon). I want to start a personal travel guide business where i take no more then 10 people on guided tours of Japan.

I am wondering if anyone knows if I need a travel licence to do this from the Japanese Government/Tourist Bureau?

Thankyou

G

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+46039

At any rate it takes more than 4 visits, even if they were 2-3 months each, to really know one small area of Japan well, not just the history but also all the numerous historical buildings, the buses, trains, restaurants etc.

I have been to the Kansai (amongst other places) 7 times already and can find my way around Osaka, Kyoto etc. but many times it is more of a hit and miss thing. great for me as I discover new things but it would be embarrassing with people trailing along.

Actually I couldn't even take a group to restaurants in the town I have been living in for over 25 years as I seldom eat in a full service restaurants.

Having lived in Tokyo for years now I think I discover something new almost every free time I get to go out (special events etc).

for being a guide you should know more than one traval guide book or how to get the JR-pass oO

i mean, additional to the things already said... do you actually know all important matsuri in you area, when they are and why?
do you know the most popular restaurants by japanese and foreigners? do you know special restaurants? several cheap ones? intermediate? expensive ones in this area? or for vegetarians?

jsut a bit of an idea... in your profile, you experience is about 2 months... mine is over a year and still i wouldnt consider being a professional tourguide oO

On a blog about Paris I read regularly there is this US guy that take US tourists around Paris. He is always asking regular posters how to go here and there , how to buy tickets, what restaurants would be OK etc. I sure wouldn't want a guide like that!
There are other guides that live in Paris. and only do that guide job part time, as not that many people want to pay a guide for a whole day or several days. Most people would only get a guide for a couple of hours.

I guess that you aren't living in Japan so, if you were to take a tour group to Japan from your country, it means that they would have to pay for your trip expenses..that would be lot of extra money for each person--like $ 300 /400--- and you wouldn't make much of a living out of it..only get a free trip but with no time for yourself.

You would also be expected to book hotels, trains etc. in advance and pay an advance deposit...this means a lot of work, having extra cash, being super organized...

To live full time in Japan and try to make a living as a guide there is another thing, unless you are married to someone living in Japan..

Hi,

Thankyou for the responses. But how negative can you all be!? Talk about shattering my dreams....

Have any of you heard of tour guides through companies like Intrepid? They go around with the people and just show them how to get on the trains, which restaurants to go to and are a guide only. I am not looking to start a travel agency (book accommodation, flights etc). And Shunima - I am a little more versed in the train timetables then just getting a Japan Rail Pass. The Japan rail system is so easy to navigate - i have never got on the wrong train or missed a train. Its so well signed and fairly logical.

I can speak Japanese fluently and can read and write - is that qualification enough for you all. Oh, by the way, i taught myself these skills in 6 months before my first trip in 2006.

I don't know what you all do when you travel to a new place but I immerse myself in the culture. I talk to locals on the trains and at hotels etc... I ask their favourite places to eat locally etc.... When I plan a trip I have marked out on a map the exact route to get there and know the train timetable/platforms (with help from sites like Hyperdia) before I even leave my own country.

I was more thinking to start out I would write people some suggested itineraries and how to get places/what trains to get on and key phrases to use.
Then I was going to graduate onto taking people on day trips from Tokyo (eg Nikko, Kamakura, Hakone/Mt Fuji, Kawagoe etc.... I didnt think it was that hard to meet a small group of people somewhere, then take them on a train/bus etc to an area and tell them some history, help them get to the place, buy the tickets and then show them where to eat, then guide them back to their hotel or a central spot.

I have been studying the history and culture of Japan since I was at school over 15 years ago so I thought I had a fair idea about Japan.

I am passionate about Japan and I collect antiques and art work/wood block prints. I teach my 3 year old neice Japanese as well.

When i travelled with my husband to Japan we never get lost. I actually think its virtually impossible to get lost - or maybe that's because I make the effort beforehand to know where i am going, or maybe because I am not afraid of asking the extremely polite Japanese for help or suggestions?? I have had locals take me to lunch/dinner with them after chatting to them at temples/shrines etc as they are so willing to show me around and help me out!

It was just a dream and a way in which I might have turned my passion into something I would enjoy doing. I was hoping many years down the track to move to Japan and build on a tour company, but from all your negative comments, why should i even bother...???

G

P.S Thankyou for the link to the older thread AK.

Somehow you only have yourself to blame for our negative answers! the way you phrased your post you appeared to be a real novice!

Had you given us the background you just gave us, at long last we might have been more cheerfully positive...

All the same you aren't the only one that do a lot of research before going to Japan! That what this forum plus the Japan-guide site (especially the A-Z section) are all about.

3 friends of mine (1 couple and one single that have never met, travelling at different times) went to Japan after hearing me raving about it many times and they had no problem finding their way around.
They have all lived in Europe and like me, found that Europe and Japan have many things in common..starting by train and subways.
I did give them a small binder that I had made, with maps of a few areas and various pointers...

Monkey,

I didnt realise that I had to divulge my life story (as I did in my second post) to just get my simple question of - 'Do i need a licence to do personal tours in Japan?' answered?


Also, after recently spending 3 weeks in Paris and travelling around France, I would say the train systems in France and Japan are nothing alike. The trains are filthy, old, never on time and the people who work for the train companies are the most unfriendly people in France. They actually told us the wrong time and place to get on our train and then laughed about it when we came back to them for more help.

G

I can speak Japanese fluently and can read and write - is that qualification enough for you all
I guess if you are so qualified in japanese you would have find on Google Japan in japanese that tourist guide is a regulated profession in Japan and that an official licence is required to do such job here.

Working as a tourist guide without a licence is a crime. Hefty fine and jail.

That link to an older thread talks about being a tour guide in Japan, as a person living in Japan, representing Japan.

I'm reasonably certain that it doesn't apply to a tour that comes INTO Japan from overseas, with a person conducting the tour from outside of Japan.

For example, that would mean a school tour led by a teacher would be under the same rules, when clearly, it cannot.

However, I don't know what rules/permits there may be(if any), for this sort of case.

This may help you:

http://www.kaneko-law-office.jp/e/travel_tourism_guide.pdf

Sandy,

If a group of students is led by their teacher, then the teacher is not getting paid for that service, so that's not covered by this "tour guide" license.

However, if you want to be a guide (and paid) "in Japan," then it is covered by this license still, I believe. It does create questions about tour conductors accompanying tourists to Japan and assisting them on their travels within Japan - officially they are not allowed to do so. I do not know if there is any actual cases of fine imposed on them, or any move to allow the non-Japanese, unlicensed guides into the travel industry in Japan.

I don't think there is any issue with you being non-Japanese (at least there shouldn't be). There are plenty of non-Japanese with a very in depth knowledge that are able to provide an excellent guide service. It just depends how well you know the area you are ''guiding''. Plenty of Japanese move to Tokyo from other cities and are always shocked if I know more about where to find a good restaurant in Ebisu. I then have to remind them I lived in the this area longer than they have.
Spending time in a place does count for a lot, I think that is what may have prompted all the negativity. But you don't have to be a guide for all of Japan. If you got to know the ins and outs of a particular area then it could be a good place to start.
bespoke tokyo is an interesting company.. for reference (Run by non-japanese with many years living in Tokyo) http://bespoketokyo.jp/

Sandy and AK,

Thankyou so much for your help.

I had started to investigate what i needed to do here in Australia and I believe that there is a technicality when getting a licence. If you book flights and accommodation etc on behalf of people you need a licence but if you dont do that (which I am not looking at doing initially) then you dont need a licence.

I would be getting paid into my Austrlaian bank account before the 'tour' starts so technically I wouldn't be getting paid in Japan.

I am hoping to make some headway on this soon and also start a blog on all my past travels to see the level of interest.

Anyway, your help is much appreciated.

G

Thankyou gilesdesign - i will give that a read tonight.

I would definately start in a small area and build up from there. Thats why I thought say Tokyo or Kyoto as a central point which can have so many day trips emulating from it covering many historical events throughout Japan's history.

My whole inspiration came from all of my friends who saw my self-made itinerary (with train timetables, maps, information/history etc)and wanted me to write them a guide when they go to Japan.

Thanks!

G

Hi Sparky.

The point here us I would be accepting a fee outside of Japan, so that is where the technicality lies.

Knowing how to read Japanese doesnt mean i know where to start looking in terms of legislation in Japan!

Thankyou

"Friday, July 23, 2010
OSAKA (Kyodo) Sanyo Shinkansen Line service was suspended between Shin-Osaka and Okayama stations Thursday morning after two maintenance trains hit each other in a tunnel, affecting about 68,000 people, including summer holiday vacationers, West Japan Railway Co. officials said" http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100723a2.html

"The Transport Ministry released information concluding that "suicide divers" had, during the 2008 fiscal year, delayed or canceled approximately thirty-five thousand three hundred scheduled train journeys. This was the highest figure since the collection of such data began in 2002.
Sixty percent of the delayed trains operated in the metropolitan areas spread over Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures" .
http://www.japanator.com/how-rude-thirty-five-thousand-trains-delayed-...

"Friday 21st May, 07:23 AM JST FUKUSHIMA " A 14-year-old boy got onto the shinkansen tracks at JR Fukushima station on Thursday afternoon, causing delays in eight train services.

According to police, the boy was standing on the tracks at the rear end of the Sendai-bound Max Yamabiko 119 shinkansen which had pulled into the station. A passenger on the platform spotted the boy and pushed the emergency button. There were no injuries in the incident, but according to JR East Japan, a total of eight bullet train services were delayed".

I have never been late on TGV or even local trains in France in all my trips to France (over 30 so far) but yet it does happen. I haven't met a rude staff either but then in the past 20 years I have let my travel buddy ask French railway staff questions in his Japanese accented English..

Last time I tease you..honest!

I think we managed to get a bad run in France.

The concierge at our hotel told us the wrong train station - so we missed our TGV. Then when we eventually got help (most French people we asked for help in French just shrugged their shoulders and turned their backs on us), they told us the wrong train depature time!

We requested seats on the bottom level of the TGV and got seats on the top level where we had to lug our suitcases up to. Also - one of my suitcases was broken into whilst we were on the TGV by a kid who was sleeping in the luggage compartment (I can't imagine that being allowed on the Shinkansen).

We discovered that the trains either ran late or early in France - just never actually on time! The train carraiges were filthy and unkept unlike the Japanese trains which have always been spotless whenever I travelled on them (even the local trains).

When we arrived in Chatlet Des Halls (I think!) station in Paris, I was literally pushed out of the way by other people as i was trying to get on the escalator with my suitcase (lifts were always broken). Again, I can't imagine anyone in Japan pushing me out of the way.

I think during our travles through Japan we would have done about 80 train trips (excluding the small trips within Tokyo on the Yamanote line which we use the most). Of those 80 or so longer trips I would say 20 would have been on the Shinkansen. We never had a delay. We always had complete strangers asking if they could help us to make sure we were on the right train! When I spoke to them in Japanese they were quite taken back and then most of the time would sit next to us on the train and ask us questions about our trip and where we came from.

We did see delays on some of the more northern train lines due to snow, but luckily enough not one of ours was delayed.

Having said all of that - the trains here in Sydney Australia are probably some of the worst. They are ALWAYS running late and are not altogether safe.

I have never felt more at home then when I am in Japan. I never want to come home!

G

"Sandy and AK,
Thankyou so much for your help.

I had started to investigate what i needed to do here in Australia and I believe that there is a technicality when getting a licence. If you book flights and accommodation etc on behalf of people you need a licence but if you dont do that (which I am not looking at doing initially) then you dont need a licence.

I would be getting paid into my Austrlaian bank account before the 'tour' starts so technically I wouldn't be getting paid in Japan.

I am hoping to make some headway on this soon and also start a blog on all my past travels to see the level of interest.

Anyway, your help is much appreciated.

G "

Georgia, where did you confirm that technicality? (if you dont book flights or Accomm then you dont need a licence)
Was it at the Japanese Consulate in Sydney?

I've also been looking into this (as you might have guessed), but running shopping tours in Tokyo out of Australia.... I've been living in Japan for the last 4 years, and I know just about everything about shopping in Tokyo.
I was thinking about running tours for Australian tourists, paid in Australia, but running the 5-6 hour tours here in Tokyo as the "person on the ground". I've been looking at the technicalities for licence/no licence. The interpreter/guide licence may also have a tecnical hitch, in that if I do not provide interpreter services, then I don't need an interpreter/guide licence. (I haven't checked this yet, so it may not be correct!!)