Visiting two distinctive castle towns make you more familiar with the soul of Japan. One is Inuyama where visitors can see and touch two national treasures, Inuyama Castle and tea-house Joan. The other one is Gifu where a modernized castle stands on the mountain and a golden Great Buddha-statue make visitors sigh in admiration.
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
At JR Gifu station , At Meitetsu Inuyama Yuen station or At Nagoya station
JR Gifu station
Inuyama castle
Inuyama Castle which is said to be the oldest castle in Japan. You can touch and feel the authentic wooden Japanese castle, climbing steep and narrow steps toward the upper floor. On each floor, you will see some antiques, maps and documents to learn stories about the castle. From the top, you will have a panoramic view while strolling along the outside balcony.
Tea-house 'Joan' with matcha tasting
A national treasure 'Ttea-house Joan’ is located in a beautiful Japanese garden near the castle, You find a simple aesthetic value based on Zen Buddhism in it. You can also drink matcha-tea in an adjacent tea-house in the same garden. Once, matcha-tea tasting gave samurai a moment of relief between battles. You might feeling there.
Lunch
Gifu castle
After lunch, you move to Gifu city and go up to Gifu Castle standing on Mt Kinka (329m) by ropeway, where you have a nice view and enjoy seeing many antiques, pictures and documents. You can also enjoy feeding squirrels near the ropeway terminal if you want.
Shoboji-temple (Great Buddah statue)
In Shoboji temple, you see a golden Great Buddha statue which is one of the three most famous Buddha-statues in Japan.
Nagaragawa Ukai MUseum
In the Nagaragawa Ukai Museum, you learn everything about cormorant fishing. You can also visit one of the fishing master's cafe 'U-no-Iori U' where you can see and come close to cormorants while drinking coffee.
Kawaramachi street
Strolling around the old wooden building street, you enjoy dropping in unique souvenir shops, cafe and fancy restaurants.
JR Gifu station
Ending Point
At JR Gifu station
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
guide fee
transportation fee for you and guide, It totally costs about 3000yen/person)
entrance fee for you, It totally costs about 2200yen/person)
lunch fee for you and guide
I can guide in Kyoto in case you support transportation fee.
Hello everyone. I am Tetsuji. I worked as a public servant in the local government for 35 years. I belonged to the department of Redevelopment, Town-Landscaping, Preserving historical areas and Architectural Guidance. (I have a national 1st-class architect license.) I devoted myself to revitalizing the city by making plans and improving infrastructure for citizens.
Gifu is located in central Japan near Nagoya. As just being the crossroads of the West and the East, there are many unique attractions that are hard to discover in hectic big cities like Tokyo or Kyoto. I had a hand in restoring and preserving some of them throughout my career and want to introduce them to tourists from abroad. That’s why I became a guide-interpreter in Gifu.
I also enjoyed traveling around the world. My favorite part of each trip was walking around the city and talking with local residents. Traveling has taught me lots of things during my lifetime. Now, I would like to help others have similar experience in Japan. Shall we enjoy fantastic journey in Gifu?
“Shirakawa-go Day Tour from Takayama ”
Our group of 3 booked Tetsuji for a day trip to Shirakawa-go from Takayama. Tetsuji was incredibly responsive during the planning process and even helped us reserve transportation and a restaurant which took all the fuss out of the process! His demeanor was incredibly friendly and professional across the trip, always happy to tap into his knowledge of the location's heritage and goings-on to answer whatever questions we had (with a particular focus on the architectural structure and development of the town's Gassho-Style Houses). Tetsuji's planning allowed every location enough breathing room for us to take them in, with plenty of photo opportunities too! Though he expressed modesty about his English proficiency at the start, we had no trouble communicating at all (you could drop him in England, and he'd probably be fine honestly). All in all, a well-prepared, well-travelled, and well-mannered guide. If we're ever back in the area, we'd have no qualms contacting Tetsuji again!
Tetsuji Y.
I truly appreciate your kind words and generous praise. It means a lot to me. Honestly, I feel a little embarrassed accepting such compliments as mine, but your thoughtful words are incredibly inspiring and give me the confidence to take on new challenges. I am really looking forward to seeing you and your family again Please give my warm regards to Chris and Jimmy.
Shwe M.
One Day Tour of Takayama & Shirakawago
Customized
“Takayama and Shirakawago”
Tetsuji is the perfect guide for the historically inclined. His background in town planning and architecture mean that he truly understands the importance of preserving traditional ways of life for future generations to enjoy. He perfectly structured our day, without ever making us feel rushed, and booked the best restaurant in Shirakawago for us (which is booked up to a month in advance). He is also an avid photographer and we are looking forward to seeing all the photos he took of us on our trip with him!
Tetsuji Y.
Thank you for describing nice review. I am very happy to hear that you are satisfied with my tour. Please give my best regards to Conner.
“Great tour of Takayama and Furukawa”
Tetsuji is a patient, knowledgeable guide who managed to fit all the highlights of two towns into a relaxed-feeling day. He introduced us to many under the surface aspects of local culture that we would have overall missed. And he made us feel comfortable traveling with children with constant food and bathroom needs. A five-star guide and great person!
Tetsuji Y.
Thank you for excellent praise for my tour. I am very happy to hear that you are satisfied with my guiding. I hope you could come back to Japan again and enjoy traveling around my area with me. I believe you still have a lot of places to visit and know the details. Please give my best regards to your family members.
$117/ per group