Private Guided Days
A day that belongs entirely to you. Private throughout, with every reservation arranged and every conversation interpreted — so your only work is to be there.
¥200,000 / person · Tokyo
¥250,000 / person · Kyoto
Insider access to Japan's best.
Private days in Tokyo and Kyoto, shaped around you by a Tokyo native — invitation-only rooms, artisans who work only in Japanese, and the meaning beneath what you are seeing.
Hello, I'm Erika.
Born and raised in Tokyo, I open doors most visitors — and many Japanese — never pass through: an invitation-only gallery, a tea ceremony led by a family who have kept it for generations, an afternoon in a workshop that has never taken a booking.
Those doors open because of friendships. I have always been drawn to Japan’s crafts and history, and most of all to the people who keep them alive. Over the years that curiosity has grown into a circle of friends that includes artisans, monks, renowned chefs, artists, people in fashion, and musicians who play Japan’s ancient instruments. They are the heart of everything I offer.
And because I read the culture as fluently as the language, I interpret far more than words — the etiquette, the customs, the meaning beneath them — so you understand what you are standing in front of.
The rooms I can take you into keep their own time: my monk friend whisking matcha in a private temple room, a broken bowl you mend with an artisan, its break traced in gold. Moments like these slow you down enough to reconnect with yourself. They also let you practise, rather than simply read about, what Japan has long lived by: stillness, being fully present, and seeing imperfection as part of what makes something beautiful, as kintsugi does. It is the kind of thing you carry home and keep.
ErikaFounder, Elevate
Days built entirely around you
Days include everything that shapes them — the first conversation, my recommendations for the days we're not together, the reservations an introduction opens, and materials for anything we make.
Hotels and transport are yours to book, though I’ll tell you exactly what I’d choose and why. Anything you buy is settled directly with the artisan or gallery. The choosing, the questions worth asking, getting it home safely — I’m there for all of it.
A private viewing at an invitation-only gallery, with me alongside you — woven into a guided day, or arranged as a visit on its own.
Most doors here open on an introduction
Behind them are family businesses handed down for centuries, rooms closed to the public, and restaurants that take no public reservations. A sake brewery shown to you by the fourteenth generation of the family who founded it. The family who invented their craft in 1608 and still practise it. The tenth generation to lead a school of tea. Many of the people behind these doors have been my friends for years, one since childhood, so you arrive as my guest rather than as a booking.
From first conversation to final day
A conversation
We speak by video — to understand what you care about and how you like to travel, and to say hello properly.
Your dates are held
A deposit confirms the booking and holds your dates exclusively for you.
The days take shape
I design the days and arrange every reservation, adjusting as I learn more about what you love. Two weeks before you travel, your itinerary and recommendations arrive together with the final invoice — nothing is asked for in between.
You arrive
There is nothing left to organise, confirm, or settle. You are simply here.
More than a trip
I named the company Elevate because I hope to elevate more than your trip. The right day in Japan can quietly change how you see beauty and what you value in your own life, and that stays with you long after you fly home.
It works in the other direction too. The families, artisans and chefs who welcome us are keeping traditions alive at a time when fewer and fewer people carry them on. When a guest travels a long way to meet them and truly understands what they do, it means a great deal to them, and it helps that work continue.
That, in the end, is what the name means to me: elevating everyone these days touch, from our guests to the people who welcome them, and in doing so, elevating Japan and sharing what it can teach with the world.
Guest stories
Elevate redefined our Tokyo experience. The cultural insight, and the places she opened to us, made the trip.
Erika's deep cultural knowledge, shared so clearly in English, gave us a rare perspective — it felt like discovering the city through the eyes of both a local and a trusted friend.
Let's create a Japan experience that's uniquely yours.
Tell me a little about the trip you have in mind. Every inquiry is read and answered personally, usually within a few business days.
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