Support while you are in Japan

What this actually covers

• A delayed or cancelled train — and what it means for the dinner reservation two hours later
• Rebooking a table when the day runs differently from the plan
• Calling ahead in Japanese — to a restaurant, a hotel, a taxi company, a lost property office
• A change of mind — cancelling something you no longer want without losing the deposit if it can be avoided
• Weather — a rainy day plan that is not just "go to a museum"
• Explaining what is happening when a sign, an announcement or a form is only in Japanese

How you reach me

By message, on whatever you already use. There is no app to install and no portal to log into. You send a message; I answer.

For most journeys that means a handful of exchanges across two weeks. Some travellers use it daily. Both are fine, and it is included either way.

Use your hotel concierge too

Nothing about this replaces the concierge at your hotel, and any planner who tells you otherwise is protecting their fee. A senior concierge in a serious Tokyo or Kyoto hotel is standing in the building, has local relationships, and can solve some things faster than anyone remote.

The two work together. The concierge handles what is best solved in person; I handle what needs the history of your plan, the reservations already held in your name, and a call in Japanese to somewhere three cities away. The difference between the roles is worth understanding.

A real example

A client's Shinkansen was held up outside Nagoya, which put them ninety minutes behind a table in Kyoto that does not seat late arrivals. The restaurant was called from Tokyo while they were still on the train, the booking was moved to the following evening, and the plan for that night was rearranged before they reached the platform.

None of that is difficult. It just requires someone awake, holding the plan, who can make the call in Japanese.