Travel Japan with a guide who knows it inside out.
We connect travellers with hand-picked guides who live in Japan. Some are Japanese, many came from abroad and never left. What they share is years on the ground, a strong point of view, and the kind of local know-how that turns a good trip into one you'll talk about for years.
Why we built Ikitorii
Big tour agencies take 20 to 40% of every booking and stand between you and the people doing the actual work. We're not one of them. Ikitorii is a small, hand-picked roster of guides who live in Japan and know it deeply. You can message them, plan with them, and pay them directly. No commission, no markup, no middleman.
How it works
Plan your trip
Use our free AI itinerary builder, or come with a plan you've made yourself. You decide where to go, what to do, and at what pace.
Meet a local
Browse guides by city, language and interest. Message anyone for free. Some travellers want a guide for a single day; others just want a few tips by chat. Both are fine.
Travel your way
Pay your guide directly, or use Ikitorii's optional protection. Either way, your money goes to the person doing the work.
Pricing
We want the money to go to the people doing the work, not to us. So almost everything is free.
How we look after both sides
When you book through Ikitorii's protection, we hold the payment until the trip is complete and we're there if anything goes sideways. The spirit is simple: be fair to everyone.
- If you cancel close to the trip, the guide is paid for the time they had set aside for you.
- If the guide cancels close to the trip, you get a full refund and we help you find another guide quickly.
- If you both want to call it off, no penalty either way.
Who's behind Ikitorii
Ikitorii is built by a small French team that moved to Japan years ago and never went back. We know what it's like to fall in love with this country, and we know how much a good local can change a trip. We built the platform we wanted to use ourselves.
×=Built in Japan with care