Megumi Saka, CEO of Sushi Making Japan, set out to change how the world thinks about food in travel. When the business launched after the pandemic, it offered a single experience: an authentic sushi-making class in Tokyo. Today, Sushi Making Japan operates three experiences across Tokyo and Osaka. The team has also tripled to around 100 people since 2023.
Eating authentic sushi is on almost every traveler's Japan itinerary. Sushi Making Japan takes that one step further: alongside experts, guests learn to roll, shape, and plate one of Japan's most iconic dishes, then sit down to enjoy what they made.
"Just as we enjoy activities in the sea and the mountains, we want to create food activities for the world," says Megumi.
Around 95% of Sushi Making Japan's customers come from abroad, so OTAs are central to reaching them before they land in Japan. Here, Megumi shares how a passion for food experiences, a data-driven approach, and a partnership with GetYourGuide helped build a business with a 4.9-star rating based on more than 2,000 reviews.
What inspired you to start Sushi Making Japan?
Sushi Making Japan was founded on a mission: to spread the concept of ‘Food Activity’ from Japan to the world. When people travel, they often think of food experiences as simply trying local food, but we want to update that concept.
Guests communicate with local staff, make the food themselves, and then eat what they created.
How did your partnership with GetYourGuide begin?
When the business launched after the pandemic, we found GetYourGuide through research and started listing in early 2023. We needed travelers to find us before they arrived in Japan, not after. Now, GetYourGuide is one of our main OTAs. It has been central to connecting us with travelers from Europe and North America.
I have seen GetYourGuide advertisements in many places. It's clear that they put real effort into promotion and marketing.
How has GetYourGuide changed your operations?
What I like best about GetYourGuide is the seamless portal design. When we first started using it, there was no Japanese interface, so only staff who could read English were able to manage our listings. That's no longer the case. The supplier portal now supports Japanese, which has made listing management far less dependent on specific people. That kind of flexibility really matters when your team triples. The add-on setup is also flexible, and that's another thing that keeps us coming back to GetYourGuide.
The portal is incredibly user-friendly. It’s easy to see our edits reflected in a visual preview of the listing. I've used other OTAs as well, but the GetYourGuide dashboard is the best. I can see that GetYourGuide has invested a lot in product development.
How have GetYourGuide's data and tools helped you?
GetYourGuide's analytics dashboard is also easy to read. I check it regularly to monitor our listing rankings, what competitors are doing, and what the market is showing us.
With other OTAs, connecting a booking management system requires submitting a request. Then we have to wait for the platform to complete the connection. GetYourGuide works differently. We can manage the entire connection ourselves from the dashboard, without waiting for approval.
This experience made me feel that GetYourGuide trusts its partners. I feel they also prioritize speed. Being able to move through the whole process quickly is valuable.
How do you maintain a 4.9-star rating with more than 2,000 reviews?
We care that guests have a good time and leave happy. That spirit doesn't stop at management. Every guide on the ground carries it into each experience. That's a team of around 100 people across two cities.
By listening to our guests and tracking market trends, we identified the demand and built new products around it. That's how we expanded from one food activity to three food activities across both cities: sushi making, matcha making, and chopstick making.
What advice would you give anyone considering GetYourGuide?
When I attended a GetYourGuide conference in Japan, a speaker from HQ strongly encouraged keeping last-minute availability open. I followed that advice right away, and the results were immediate. We always try to minimize lost opportunities.
If you're doing inbound tourism, using GetYourGuide is just the obvious thing to do. I'm not sure what there would even be to hesitate about.
Key takeaways
- Expand with traveler demand. Sushi Making Japan grew from one sushi-making class into three food experiences across Tokyo and Osaka, tripling its team to around 100 people in three years.
- Make operations easier for a growing team. GetYourGuide's user-friendly interface helps more team members manage listings independently, reducing dependency on a few individuals as the team grows 3x.
- Use data to stay competitive. Sushi Making Japan uses analytics to monitor listing rankings, competitor activity, and market trends. This helps the team maintain a 4.9-star rating with more than 2,000 reviews.
- Keep last-minute spots open. Reducing cutoff times turns last-minute demand into real bookings.
- Partner with OTAs that reach travelers early. Around 95% of Sushi Making Japan's customers come from abroad. GetYourGuide's strong advertising presence helps them reach international travelers before they land.
