If you want to have a unique experience while learning from locals, Airbnb experiences are for you! We just took our first trip to Japan in July and after a recommendation from a friend, we decided to book our first Airbnb experience ever.
Don’t know what an Airbnb experience is? It’s an experience that you book through Airbnb that people like you and me run! You can take tours, take a class, etc. from locals who are willing to share their expertise. I’ll admit I was skeptical at first, but the experiences we booked ended up being the highlights of our trip!
We ended up booking an Air BnB experience in three Japanese cities we visited: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. Make sure to add these to your list if you’re visiting these areas!
Tokyo Airbnb Experience: Tsukiji (Old) vs Toyosu (New) S.S Tour
Best for: Local life
The Tsukiji (Old) vs Toyosu (New) S.S tour is run by Toshi, a local who is very passionate about his culture and city. This tour is 6 hours, so it’s a time commitment, but it’s so worth it if you want an insider’s perspective into the process from catching a fish all the way to how it ends up on your plate in Japan! $150 per person – but so worth it for everything you learn and all the food you get!
Start the day at the new fish market, the largest in the world! Learn about the fish auctions from Toshi and his friend who is a successful wholesaler. From there, you go to the wholesale market where the wholesalers sell their fish to restaurants. This is a private area not available to the public, but Toshi gets you in!
Next, visit the fish market where it’s sold to the public. I even got to hold a flopping fish before it was cut up for our lunch later! We learned all about the different cuts of a tuna and had some time to wander the market ourselves. To wrap it all up, we went back to Toshi’s restaurant where he and his wife made us lunch from all the fish he just bought for us. We had fresh tuna, crab, oysters, and all sorts of other goodies. So good!
Kyoto Airbnb Experience: Yummy Food Tour@Nishiki Market & Gion
Best for: Foodies
Where are my fellow foodies at? One of the oldest and most famous parts of Kyoto is it’s Nishiki market. It’s bustling with shops that have been there for hundreds of years and is the best place to try Japanese specialties that you would never try on your own. It’s also not allowed to eat and walk at the same time in the market, so this tour will get you into the back of some vendor stalls to sit and eat! Tour goes from 11 – 2 and is $90 per person.
We were the only ones on our tour with Mika, our guide. She knew all the vendors and ordered everything for us while telling us what it is and how its made. We tried things like tofu donuts, sardines, eel, fish cakes, rice balls with teeny tiny fish in them, mochi with sweet black beans, Japanese omelets, and matcha ice cream! Everything was excellent and so fun to try!
Afterwards, Mika took us the the geisha district of Gion in Kyoto. I was so excited when she showed us a geisha house, called an okiya, and walked us through some famous streets in the area. Before leaving, she gave us suggestions for the rest of our time in Kyoto and and got us on the right bus to get to the next spot we wanted to go!
Hiroshima Airbnb Experience: Let’s enjoy Japanese Culture @Miyajima
Best for: Japanese culture
First things first, this Airbnb Experience is actually located in Miyajima, which is an island off of Hiroshima, which we fell in love with! If you’re staying in Hiroshima, this makes for a perfect way to spend the afternoon, plus you get to experience a new area! The overall experience is $75 per person.
Located in a temple not far from the main area of Miyajima, this experience makes the top of our list. There’s not better way to learn about the culture than immersing yourself in it! We started by getting dressed in traditional kimono and learning about everything we put on. From there, we witnessed a traditional tea ceremony performed by the sweetest Japanese lady. Afterwards, we made some matcha for ourselves with the help of her instruction!
After the tea ceremony, we went into another room to take a calligraphy class in Japanese writing by another amazing Japanese woman. We learned about the history of the language before practicing a few strokes for ourselves. Then we chose a few symbols to write and eventually learned how to write our names in Japanese! This was so so cool and we were able to keep all of our creations to take home with us!
After our trip to Japan, I’m a HUGE fam of Airbnb Experiences. The best way to explore a new country is to experience it first hand! We will definitely be booking more and highly recommend booking these to get the most out of your time in Japan! Happy travels!
Sounded like an awesome experience. But the price has gone up to almost $150 pp! I am definitely gonna use a lot of your advice for the 24 hours in Hiroshima for this upcoming July.