Around the world in 80 days is a french novel written about a journey to circumnavigate the world. In our modern world, that journey has become a lot more mundane and unrealistic. Recently on my travels to europe I watched the world sail by hundreds of feet below me. As a child I grew up reading books about adventures across lands which modern technology had trivialized. As an expat living in Japan even my childhood dream had become normalized, the difficulty of life here had me wondering if dreams and nightmares were not different.
Life as a creative dreamer is difficult, life in Japan added to that difficult feeling. I felt lost on a daily basis, but I had never lost the ability to keep dreaming and believing in myself. After seven months jobless in Japan I was ready to pack my bags and go home. Right as the dream was on it’s dying breath I recieved an email. We have selected you for an interview, when are you available?
Dreamers Find Other Dreamers
I find myself sitting at the other side of three successful interviews. Out of more than 300 applicants I had made the final cut. Following the interviews was one week of training and a company new years party. Additionally we had the opprtunity to meet the founder and hear the company’s orgin story. What made an impression on me was that the head of the company had personally screened every applicant first. In the modern world of technology where applicant’s resumes are normally screened for keywords by AI. In contrast the founder herself looking at my resume and chosing me made me feel special. Instead of the cold facade of a company logo, this company felt human.
I officially joined Eighty Days on March 12th 2024. The company logo, a hot air balloon, takes inspiration from the air balloon in around the world in 80 days. The romanticized vision of travel and exploration wasn’t lost for everyone. The founder, Nanami Granger, believes that she can use the power of travel to bring revenue to the rural parts of Japan. Following the training she told us the story of how 80 Days came to be. Something that started as a dream was now a reality. It was such a heartwarming story that I was glad that I had joined the team. Similarly, I was a dreamer, althougth my dream hadn’t come true yet, it gave me hope for a better tomorrow.
Training Day
Training day was more like a training week or month, but I really enjoy the film training day. Because I read business books and watch business videos all the time, I know that employees are the number one business expense. The act of hiring, firing, training, employees is costly enough let alone paying their salaries. I wanted to make sure I got the most of training so I did my best to take notes.
Day 1 – Base Training
The first day of training covered all the boring yet essential part of employee training. About the company, the services we offer, and how to take care of HR tasks like reporting hours. Because we had a newer company there was starting to be somewhat of an organizational structure. There were three roles at the company including travel designers, operational specialists, and tour leaders. As a part of the tour leader team I was on the ground working directly with customers. The first day is also when I learned that our company also holds contracts with tourism countries overseas.
There were things I really liked about my new role. Schedules were color coded, they used slack, and the scheduling. Although I’d be working for up to 14 days in a row, I also had a week or two off inbetween my tours. During the summer or winter months I could take longer holidays if I wanted. As long as you looked presentable, tatoos, hair color, and clothing choices were in your own control. The company covered my lunches and dinners during work, should I become a food blogger? I felt like a real adult when I heard that I would have to fill out expense reports. One of the biggest benefits was having the ability to travel around Japan.
Types of Tours
Group Tours
Group tours are exactly as it sounds. The tours have a set itinerary and usually consist of groups of travelers. There is some freetime on the tours and also spots where you can offer optional experiences or suggestions.
Independent Travelers
Independent travelers often have more free flowing itineraries. This means you have to be an expert in the area you are guiding as often they lean on you to make suggestions and share your experience of Japan.
Day 2 – Tokyo Tourism
I still can’t believe that this was a paid day of training, but in order to lead people around tokyo you have to have some sort of idea of where you are going. Today was a day when I went to more Tokyo sites in one day than most weebs see in their whole life. Starting off the day I went to the Hamarikyu Gardens and had a walk with nature in the morning. Next it was off to the Tsukiji Fish Market, or where it used to be, there’s still lots of stuff there. Following the fish market we hopped on a train to ginza for more exploration and lunch. We all decided to grab tempura from a Casual Tempura Restaurant.
After filling our stomachs we headed to one of my favorite parts of tokyo, Akihabara where anime meets real life. Finally to end the day we headed to Shinjuku to see the Golden Gai district, the tower, and a popular street with bars and nightclubs. We were supposed to go to one of my favorite parks, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, but it was closed due to holidays. That park is featured in one of my favorite films Garden of Words. Due to the early closure of the park we got off work early. I suggested to go get craft beers, the day ended the day at Beer Bomb instead.
Day 3 – High Above the Clouds In Hakone
I spent most of the next day traveling on a train. The romanticized view of train travel is one I still carry despite living in Japan. Traveling to place to place via train allows you to see the countryside, read a book, draw, or let your mind wander. It’s kind of the same feeling of taking a road trip as a passenger.
It was a long journey. We used the Odakyu line followed by the Romance Line, and Cable Car. Eventually we made it to the top of Hakone. The views we saw were incredible. This is probably a good time to mention that instead of purchasing tickets or using your IC card for transportation it’s good to purchase what they call a Hakone Free Pass, which allows you to use trains, buses, and cable cars run by the Odakyu Line company.
Although I’ve been to Hakone before, eurobeat intensifies, it’s usually doing car stuff so it was nice to get another view of the same space. This time around was the Ropeway, Old Sulfur Mine, Pirate Ship, and the Evangelion space.
Day 4 – Office Space
There is not much to say about today other than it was more in-depth training of what an actual two week tour would look like. I’m not allowed to disclose what company we are working with outside of Japan for these clients so most of day 4 will remain top secret. Although I work in tokyo when I do office work. . . am I a Yuppie yet?
Day 5 – Tokyo Mock Tour
This was the day when we got to put all our training together. I took the lame advice your mom gives you and put it to use.
“Be Yourself” is easy to do if you have any ounce of self confidence. For people like me with negative confidence that advice is a lot harder to follow. One thing I’m good at studying and researching. Yesterday I studied my topic Meji-Jingu or Meji Shrine. Thanks to experience as a shitty Youtuber, I’m pretty good at crafting a story with the information I’m given. Even with all the preparation, presenting in front of people makes me nervous. (You might think why are you a tour guide!!) For me I think the fear lies in subpar performance more than anything else. Giving a good presentation and keeping people’s attention is hard. . . that’s why my youtube channel has no views. It’s difficult to have a mixture of facts, humor, personal experience, and relatability as those are keys to a good story.
I’m a big proponent of sometimes it’s in how something is said rather than what is being presented. As with good storytelling and writing, sometimes withholding information for a payoff is better than showing your hand at once.
Role Playing a Tourist
If you know me, you might know that I like role playing games, especially ones that allow you to play a girl haha. In fact I’m playing through mass effect again right now, but anything where you can step outside of yourself is a fun exercise. Isn’t that what acting is? Aside from my presentation of Meji Shrine it was my role to act like a tourist that day. They say the greatest actors in the world aren’t really acting, rather they live in the space and mind of the character they play. Because I was really new to Tokyo I think I did great.
Asakusa
This is a place I’d been many times. It’s a great spot for pictures especially at night time because you can get some pretty epic shots of the temple and the skytree at the same time. It was a place I prefered during Covid-19 as there wasn’t as many people. Still it’s a great place to bother and photobomb influencers, take photos, and learn to make offerings to the buddhist temple. During my first tour of Japan I went here with my family, that’s almost ten years ago now sure does time fly.
Fukagawa Fudodo
I’ve been here once before in my life, I stumbled upon the place on accident and I wasn’t aware of the fire ceremony that takes place here. It’s quite a grand event including the burning of incense and some ritual chants and prayers. Much like christian services the Buddhist priest gives a homily.
Meji Shrine
This was my part of the tour to act as if I was guiding tourists around. I managed to hit all my talking points while including elements of my personality in my explanations. I think because of my love of japan it was hard to get me to stop talking as I talked about cultural practices like Hatsumode, Drinking Amazake, and getting Omamori for various life events. I recieved positive feedback and one thing I was told was just to have confidence in what i was saying.
Shibuya Crossing
Lastly was Shibuya Crossing, another area I have a lot of history with. I do have to say influencers have ruined the poor hachiko statue. What was maybe a line of two or three people has extended to a line of twenty or thirty people to get a photo next to the dog statue. But yes shibuya is a place with a lot of famous shops, spots, and references in media. In one of the best films of my teenage years, Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, there is a drift scene there. Jujutsu Kaisen, Blue Period, Lost in Translation all have scenes in the famous crossing so it’s a great place to show tourists. There are some nightclubs and things in the area, but I need to study up on it more.
Day 5 – Bonus DLC
The bonus of today was a company shinnenkai or new years drinking party. I’m pretty useless at these sorts of functions. Funnily enough at my last job at an international school I was the person who hosted a halloween party, but I think that did pretty well. In fact I overprepared at the halloween party and had lots of Adults drunk off their asses. It was a nice cruise in the tokyo bay on a Japanese party boat ship. There was alcohol, food, and karaoke, but my social battery at that point was pretty depleted. I did my best to just sit, smile, and enjoy the atmosphere of the space.
