A day in the life of an Asakusa rickshaw driver

Rickshaws are a fixture of Japan's tourist hot spots, but driving them is far from a leisure activity. | ADEN MAX JUAREZ

Aug 15, 2026

For Futaba Inoue, a driver for Tokyo Rickshaw, the working day begins hours before her first passenger climbs aboard.

On weekends, the 21-year-old university student and part-time rickshaw driver wakes up around 6 a.m. in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. She arrives in Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood by 8 a.m. and starts pulling her 90-kilogram rickshaw around the tourist-filled streets at 9 a.m. She often offers rides to passing tourists until 7 p.m. and may not return home until close to midnight. On busy days, even a meal break is not guaranteed as customers often dictate drivers’ schedules.

“Sometimes I don’t eat lunch,” Inoue says.

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