Troy, born of a Japanese-American family, has lived nearly half of his life outside of the States. Given this, his study of cultural anthropology focusing on contemporary Japanese culture, and 14 years involved in education while living in Japan may be a natural result of this upbringing. He feels fortunate that life in Japan has allowed him to continue his passion for travel and people and afforded him ample opportunity to help others discover new vistas, ways of thinking and experiences in places ranging from Japan to Thailand to Papua New Guinea. Troy firmly believes that everyday scenes and events can provide some of the greatest insights into a new place and the key to an appreciation of the richness of a culture can often be found by simply learning to recognize the "mundane" patterns as they are reproduced in different contexts and varied over time.

Jiro graduated from university in Japan with a MBAE and has since lived in New York and London, as well as Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka. He started his career in the finance and IT industries working for a Japanese bank and an English and American financial IT company. This afforded him multiple opportunities to make many friends from around the world, whilst understanding various cultures much better. As a result, he decided to retire in 2009 and become a licensed English guide in Japan, with his main goal wishing to create a cross-cultural bridge between Japan and other countries. His expertise is the Edo-Tokyo Museum which specializes mainly in 17th Century Japan to a more modern history. He enjoys exploring this interesting and diverse history of Japan with visitors but also going further afield to Hakone, Kamakura and Mt. Fuji. Jiro can provide a unique insight into Japan given his upbringing and his knowledge about peculiar Japanese topics, ranging from pensions to modern, social and cultural issues.

Patricia is a longtime Tokyoite, with research interests in Japanese sake (nihonshu), travel (recently throughout Shizuoka (near Mt. Fuji), and travel literature. Her Masters in Japanese literature from University of Colorado at Boulder provided a deeper context and appreciation for what she encounters. Favorite places include Tsukiji fish market, Asakusa, Shibuya, and the Imperial Palace center of Tokyo. She lives in Ryogoku, home of sumo, and often visits Kamakura. She teaches English at Meiji University and Meiji Gakuin University. Other interests include photography, Japanese food, museums, body building and wandering around the streets of Tokyo poking into places. She enjoys sharing the surprises and making sense of the seeming chaos with visitors.