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.
SID
Hello to everyone around the world!
I’m Sidney, but people call me Sid. I have quite a mixed background! I’m half Japanese and half Taiwanese. I was born in Tokyo and did some elementary school in Tokyo, but moved to California for Middle School, High School and University. I would come to Japan almost every year to visit family and knew I wanted to live here one day. Because of my love for Japanese culture and history I graduated from Arizona State University with two degrees in Global Studies and Asian Languages (Japanese) where I studied lots of Japanese culture and history and even studied in Hiroshima for some time.
One of my favorite things to do is EAT! With Japan holding three of the top five cities with the most michelin stars, I think I got lucky living in Japan. I love trying new restaurants and eating new foods. Some of my favorite Japanese foods are tonkatsu, takoyaki, natto and fruits sandwich..yes a fruits sandwich (if you did not know those foods, I’d love to teach you more about them). So, aside from my love for history and culture, also ask me anything about food in Japan and I’d be happy to help as your Tokyo Guide! I truly believe that eating brings people together.
Come on a tour with me and I’d love to grab a bite of delicious local food with you and teach you about some cool hidden gems in Japan.
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.
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.