This Week in Tokyo – 14 April 2020: A message from Mac

A special ‘This Week in Tokyo’ this week: A message from Mac, Founder and Lead Guide of Maction Planet. 

Dear friends of Maction Planet 

First and foremost, our thoughts go out to all those who have lost loved ones or are suffering as a result of COVID-19. This global pandemic is a human tragedy and it is important not to lose sight of this. When this year began, no one had any idea this would unfold, and unfold so quickly. Neither people nor businesses are immune to its devastating effects.

The spread of COVID-19 has had a savage impact on the travel industry. 10% of global employment is in the travel and tourism sector and we feel for our colleagues around the world wherever they may be. Uncertainty abounds regarding the impact of the virus both personally and professionally. We cannot help but think of all those we know and care about around the world whom we have had the privilege to serve and to work with.

The number one thing everyone should be doing right now is reading and following the guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the recommendations of your local health authorities. We must take all possible steps to protect everyone in our global community. 

At the encouragement of some of our guests, I wanted to write personally to share more about what Maction Planet is doing during these unprecedented times. Our key focus remains the health and wellbeing of our upcoming guests and valued team members. For guests with existing bookings, we have provided total flexibility and free postponement of their trips. I’d like to say a personal ‘DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMASU’ to everyone affected for their understanding. I would also like to thank the Maction Planet team for their flexibility, conscientiousness and good spirits during this time. It is an honour to work with you all.

Many people have reached out to us to see how we are doing here and how they can help. Each and every one of these communications means the world to us. Your emails, photos, videos of self-isolation karaoke… we cannot convey how proud we are of the relationships that we have built with our guests, collaborators and business partners around the world.

At the bottom of this message you can find ways to support your tour operator or travel agent friends. These suggestions apply to all freelancers and many other businesses – artists, musicians, interpreters. We hope they are useful to you. 

Despite these challenging times and the slowdown in business activity, Maction Planet remains firmly committed to our original mission – sharing Tokyo and Japan with the world. Based on that promise, we continue to put out extensive content on the Maction Planet blog and videos on our YouTube channel. We are active on social media so that our fans can engage with us, relive happy memories or plan for the future. We continue to bring you the best Japan has to offer, as we have always done since we launched our website in February 2017. 

If you’d like to keep in touch, please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This is also the perfect time to listen to our ‘Tokyo ON’ podcasts which showcase the latest and greatest in Japanese music – there are over 60 episodes and mixes online which you can enjoy for free. 

We are also working on several new projects. Stay tuned!

We know the whole world is frozen with COVID-19 and for many people it has put their biggest travel dreams on hold. If you want to visualize a brighter, post-COVID world, we can help you do that! Engage us to help you with your trip planning. We’re doing our part to get our guests ready for the time when the world revives and you start living out your next adventures. Until then, we’ll bring Japan to you. 

At Maction Planet, we believe in the power of travel: to create joy, to bring people together, to enrich our hearts and minds. Whenever you are ready to travel to Japan, please know that we’re here for you! I wish all of you the very best during these difficult times. We look forward to hosting you in Japan in the months and years ahead.

We continue…

Mac

Tokyo, 14 April 2020

Ways to help your tour operator or travel agent friends:

These suggestions apply to all freelancers and many other businesses – artists, musicians, interpreters:

If you have used their services:

• Write a review of your trip on TripAdvisor, Google Reviews or Yelp – check with them for what their forum of choice is. Ideally do this if you enjoyed your trip and are going to give a high rating 🙂
• Talk about your trip with your friends – word-of-mouth recommendations are the most powerful.

Even if you haven’t used their services:

• Buy a gift certificate to use in future – for others or for yourself!
• If they sell any merchandise, consider ordering some.
• Subscribe to their YouTube channel and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and whatever other platforms they operate on!
• Share/Repost their content/work/articles – help them build a platform.
• Comment on and like their content.

Maction Planet runs bespoke Private Tours and Experiences in Tokyo, and beyond. To book yours, contact us at info@mactionplanet.com

You can subscribe to the Maction Planet newsletter below, and follow all our adventures on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Mixcloud and YouTube.