How does an all-expenses paid guided tour of Tokyo for only $52 sound? Pretty good right? Well, all you need is the right travel agency, and we found the perfect one for you. It’s called Unagi Travel, based in Tokyo, and the package they offer is quite a deal:
“This tour takes you on major sightseeing stops in Tokyo: Historic Asakusa, Meiji Jingu Shrine and a beautiful view of Tokyo from the Tokyo Tower. This is a 1 DAY tour. Leaving in the morning and coming back in the evening. We will not use a bullet train or stay at a hotel/Japanese-style inn.”
Sounds fantastic right? Just one catch.
First, you have to fit into a FedEx box. Second, you have to be a stuffed animal.
Really. Unagi Travel is a self-described “travel agency for stuffed animals.” The completely serious company started off in 2010, when the founder, named Sonoe Azuma, left her career in finance aiming for, one would assume, more meaningful work.
The enterprise started as a blog that Azuma put together where her own stuffed animal, an eel, traveled throughout the region. Azuma posted photos of these “travels” for her friends, and it proved more popular than she imagined. So, she expanded the tours to include the stuffed animals of strangers — for a fee. Three years later, she was still in business. The Tokyo package comes with a handwritten postcard from your stuffed friend and a commemorative photograph.
When the stuffed animal’s whirlwind vacation is over, Unagi mails it back, where you can cuddle and discuss their once in a lifetime together. So hey, if you think your teddy bear has always been hankering to see Tokyo, now you know what to do.