Fukui Private Tours & Local Tour Guides

“Obama Highlights Tour”

A perfect day with Megumi san guiding me to many amazing locations in and around Obama. I had been planning to visit Fukui for a while and having seen a couple of youtube videos about the Obama area, when I then saw Megumi san’s tour I knew that it was exactly the tour I wanted to do ! We quickly agreed on a schedule, and I booked asap to reserve my place ! Great communication from Megumi san from beginning to end ! Everything on the day went according to plan, from initial collection at the train station, to visiting everywhere on our itinerary. I have to say though that the sites we visited in the countryside were even more amazing than I’d anticipated - they were all set in amazingly beautiful locations and really have to be seen in person ! On top of our planned itinerary, Megumi san was also able to include some extra stops on the tour based on my specific interests. I’d like to thank Megumi san for going the extra mile and arranging these extra visits which I really really appreciated. Throughout the day, I benefitted enormously by having Megumi san as my guide. She has an incredible amount of local knowledge, as well as detailed knowledge on the temples and shrines in the area. Amongst other things, she was able to tell me about festivals and ceremonies (some going back over a thousand years), guided me into areas of temples that I would otherwise have assumed were prohibited (but which are allowed in the temples we visited), and recommended a great place for lunch ! The tour definitely made me want to revisit Obama in the future. So much so, that next time I’d love to stay in Obama for a few days to see even more of what the city has to offer. In summary, this tour was a fantastic introduction to the city of Obama, and Megumi san was an amazing guide. Megumi san, thank you for making it such a wonderful day, and I’d highly recommend this tour to anyone !

“A papermakers dream day”

Megumi san is a wonderful guide. She is friendly and personable. As a papermaker this tour was perfect for me and Megumi san ensured we packed in as much as possible in the time we had together, including bringing me to different papermaker studios that I would otherwise not have found myself. The highlights included the Rakusui making experience at Ryozo and visiting the Okamoto Otaki Shrine to pay my respects to the Paper Goddess. Along the way we had a wonderful lunch at a local restaurant. However, the highlight was the privilege and honour of meeting Aki san at Iwano Heizaburou who gave the factory tour. She extremely knowledgeable and just a delight to be around. Seeing all the craftspeople in studio at work was very inspiring. I truly enjoyed my day and Megumi san. I highly recommend this tour or any tour Megumi san puts together for you!

Megumi Y.

(6 reviews)

Thank you so much for your incredibly kind review. It was such a pleasure spending time together and sharing Echizen papermaking culture with someone who understands and appreciates handmade paper so deeply. Thank you again for your warmth, curiosity, and enthusiasm throughout the day. It was an honor for me to guide you. Wishing you all the best in your own papermaking journey!

“Excellent well tailored tour with our guide Yushi.”

The tour was well planned fully meeting our expectations getting all the information expected about paper making. All our questions were well answered also about the region and some facts about the Japanese culture. Yushi is an excellent guide speaking very well English and we would definitely do a tour again with her. We must especially mention the more than 80 year old Japanese lady working in the paper factory for more than 60 years who guided us through the paper making process highly motivated and making a lot of jokes with Yushi translating and explaing all the details very well. Finally this impressive lady was staying in street and greeting us until we disappeared around the corner - this was really a very very special unforgettable experience

Yoshie K.

(67 reviews)

Hi Beat, thank you very much for your thoughtful review on Echizen Crafts Tour. It was a beautiful sunny day and walking across the authentic washi making villages were peaceful. I am so pleased that you enjoyed a visit to see craftsmans' work in making washi paper as well as handmade knives. I would very much like to have you back in this town! Thank you again. Yoshie