Filip Pradella
Co-Founder & CEO
Serial entrepreneur with two exits, splitting his time between Poland and Tokyo. Filip leads product vision, partnerships and everything Japan.
About WeGuide AI
We believe Japan deserves better than a guidebook.
We're building the AI travel companion we wished we had on our first trip to Japan. One that walks with you, knows every quiet alley, and changes course the moment plans fall apart.
Our mission
We're building a new way to travel.
Make every first trip to Japan feel like your tenth.
Born from one trip that showed us both faces of Japan — the queues and the quiet — WeGuide exists so you only ever have to see the second one.
82% of first‐time Japan travelers have no backup plan when things go wrong. Temples close unexpectedly, queues stretch around the block, weather shifts mid‐afternoon. The guidebook says nothing. Google Maps doesn't care. The trip of a lifetime starts feeling like homework. Source: WeGuide Traveler Survey, March 2026 (n=86).
We started WeGuide because we lived that exact frustration ourselves. Between us, we've made the same mistakes every first‐timer makes — and learned the hard way that Japan rewards those who know where to go, when to go, and when to change course.
WeGuide AI is the guide we wish we had. It speaks your language, walks at your pace, routes you around crowds in real time, and tells the kind of stories that turn a sightseeing list into a memory that stays. All powered by the knowledge of real Japan creators — guides, storytellers, and local experts who know the country from the inside.
Our goal is simple: make Japan accessible, personal, and stress‐free — for everyone who has the courage to book the flight.
Our story
How WeGuide began
I fell in love with travel long before I fell in love with Japan. But Japan did something no other country had done: it showed me two completely different worlds in one trip.
On my first day, I stood in line. Everywhere. The same shrines and streets I'd dreamed about were wrapped in queues — one attraction, one ticket price, and completely opposite emotions depending on the hour. The next day we drove out of the city, and I discovered another Japan: silent temples, empty mountain paths, entire towns without a single tourist. Same country. Twenty minutes apart.
The idea itself arrived in a small shrine in Takahama. I'd spent the morning there — no crowds, no noise, just the place itself. As I was leaving, the thought hit me with unusual clarity: travelers don't choose the crowded version of Japan. They just never get shown the other one.
Guidebooks can't fix that — they send everyone to the same ten spots. Maps can't fix it — they show where things are, not when to go or where else to look. Fixing it takes something that walks with you: watching the crowds, the weather and the clock in real time, and quietly rerouting you toward the Japan most visitors never see.
So I teamed up with Wiktor, an AI engineer, and we started building exactly that — an AI companion that guides you like a friend who's lived in Japan for years. One that tells you stories in a voice you enjoy, answers your questions on the walk, and always has a Plan B ready before you need one. Fewer queues for travelers. Fewer crowds for the people who call these places home. That's the trip we're building — for both sides of the street.
“Travelers don't choose the crowded version of Japan. They just never get shown the other one.”
— Filip Pradella, Co-Founder & CEO
What we're building
An AI travel companion that actually walks with you.
1,000+
Verified spots
Temples, alleys, sushi counters, sunset points — manually verified across Tokyo and Chiba. Growing every week.
Real‐time
Crowd avoidance
AI sees where crowds are forming right now and routes you to the quiet version. Every hour. Automatically.
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Creator partners
Local guides, podcasters, and travel creators who shape the routes and stories you experience in the app.
Your language
Multilingual narration
Routes, stories and live chat in the language you think in — not just English. Nothing gets lost in translation.
The team
Real people. Real ambition.
Distributed across Warsaw and Tokyo. United by one thing: Japan changed us, and we want to help it change others.
Wiktor Mendalka
Co-Founder & CTO
AI engineer and PhD researcher specialising in LLMs and machine learning. Wiktor builds the routing, narration and crowd‐avoidance engine behind WeGuide.
Advised by
20+ years leading national tourism promotion in Tokyo
Pedestrian‐flow researcher based in Japan for two decades
Japan market‐entry and government‐relations specialists
Backed by
Institutions that believe in what we're doing.
Co-creators
Building WeGuide with Japan's best.
The routes, stories, and local context inside WeGuide come from real Japan experts — guides, podcasters, and travel creators who know the country from the inside.
Maru Gaku
Travel agency & podcaster
Japonia.Travel
Travel agency & Japan content creator
Kaizen Travel
Japan‐focused tour operator
Plus byFood, Moshi Moshi — Call to Japan, and 12+ creators in active conversations.