Our Story

WE PLAN
ONE TRIP
AT A TIME.

STAYGO works from Tokyo, for travellers who would rather spend their time in Japan than researching it. This page explains how the work is done.

How it started

WHERE THIS CAME FROM

Most first visits to Japan run along the same line: Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, the same three temples, the same two shopping streets. It is a decent line, and it is the one printed in every guidebook.

What was missing was the layer underneath: the counter that seats eight, the ryokan with no listing, the morning at a workshop that does not take visitors. None of it is findable from outside, and almost none of it is bookable.

So STAYGO does the part that cannot be done from a laptop abroad: the calls in Japanese, the introductions, the reservations held months out, and the rerouting when a typhoon lands on the day you were going to Hakone.

The rest of the trip is yours.

Three things we hold to

OUR PRINCIPLES

THE RESEARCH IS OURS

The hours most people spend comparing hotels and reading reviews are hours we spend instead. You see the result, not the process.

THE PART YOU CANNOT BOOK

The sushi counter that seats eight. The ryokan that has never advertised. The sake brewery that opens its doors to people it already knows. These are reached by asking, in person, in Japanese, and usually months ahead.

YOUR POINTS STAY YOURS

You book and pay the hotels yourself, so your Amex points, your status and your miles all count. We take no commission from anyone, which is why we can plan around your programme rather than ours.

How we think about it

ACCESS IS NOT INFORMATION

Anyone can find a list of Kyoto's best restaurants. The harder problem has always been getting a seat at one.

There is more written about Japan now than at any point before. None of it makes the phone call for you, and none of it helps at 10pm when a restaurant has lost your booking.

So the work is the calls, the bookings held in our name, and picking up the phone while you are in the country.

Founder · Tokyo, Japan

THE FOUNDER

Born and based in Tokyo. The kappo counters that take introductions, the mountain onsen that appear on no map, the ryokan that answer the telephone but not the internet: this is a list you build slowly, by going, by asking, and by becoming someone the owner recognises.

"WE MAKE
THE CALLS.
YOU JUST GO."

Everything else on this page is in service of that.

START WITH A CONVERSATION.

Send the dates and whatever you already know. We reply within 24 hours.

Start Planning →

WE PLAN ONE TRIP AT A TIME.