Japan Private Tour Guides

“An Energetic, Knowledgeable Guide”

We travelled to Kyoto on the Shinkasen from Tokyo. We arrived mid-day but Hiro tailored a half-day tour for us so that we could see as much as possible in Kyoto. We spent two more complete days touring. Hiro would meet us at our hotel and then we were off. Be prepared to keep us with this energetic, knowledgeable guide because you don't want to miss out on all the information he has to share about Kyoto. Kyoto is very crowded with tourists, so you don't want to waste time trying to determine how best to get to the sites to tour. Hiro was very adept at getting us to the sites without delay. He made the tours fun with his wit and quizzes. You can take the middle school teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take away his interest in teaching. Hiro also recommended a restaurant for dinner our first night that was fantastic. Thank you, Hiro, for an enjoyable time touring Kyoto.

“Excellent day tour with Koichi”

It's very nice to go day tour Mr. Koichi. He is fast, friendly and helpful. He gave us detailed information at every place we stopped. He guided us through multiaspect of Japan history and daily living. Highly recommended Mr Koichi! Thank you!

“Our Favorite”

On our trip to Japan, we decided to use private guides for the first time. Based upon our experience, I highly recommend private guides. We used different guides for our visits to Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamakura and Hakone. Each guide was wonderful in their own way, but Ritsuko was our favorite. She was easy to communicate with in advance of our trip and her fees were reasonable. She was always punctual and easy to understand. She set a pace that allowed us to enjoy our surroundings while travelling to the next site to visit. While we could have spent time figuring out the subways, trains and buses, Ritsuko made that process easy and we spent more time touring instead of looking at transportation schedules. She was completely flexible when we wanted to change the pre-planned tours. She quickly identified our interests and got us to where we wanted to be. We saw so much that it is hard to describe them all, but locations included Shibuya, the Imperial Palace, Shinjuku, the Tsukiji Fish Market, Ginza, Asakusa and Ueno. We enjoyed a beautiful tea ceremony one day and enjoyed shopping at a Japanese thrift store another day because of our interest in old Kokeshi dolls. I'm posting a picture of a large doll that I carried on and brought home. We had also planned to attend an evening of Kabuki in Ginza. Ritsuko arranged our day so that we ended at the Kabukiza Theater in time for the performance. When I had trouble finding my tickets on my phone, Ritsuko jumped in and was able to communicate with the staff and sort out the problem. I'm posting some photos of Ritsuko in action. She has our whole-hearted recommendation as a guide. Thank you Ritsuko for making our time in Tokyo so enjoyable. We hope to see you again.