About Tour Guide Lisa W.

“Totally enjoyable and deserving beyond 5 stars with Lisa W.”

My family of 3 visited Kyoto during peak cherry blossom season in early April, 2025 and spent 4 wonderful days with Lisa. It's our first time vacationing in Kyoto so we spent a lot of time contacting tour guides for more information starting in October, 2024. After a few email exchanges with all of them, we decided to go with Lisa with complete confidence. She was very responsive, patient, flexible, and informative during our search for a tour guide. She helped us build a totally customized and very active itinerary for each of the 4 days and advised us with changes to optimize travel time and accommodate operating hours and open/close days of the attractions. She also recommended some off-the-beaten-path attractions away from the usual crowd of tourists and they were very charming and enjoyable that we would have missed if not for her recommendations. After we decided to go with her and finished building the itinerary, we continued to email her with additional questions and changes and she always replied quickly to acknowledge our questions. If she was busy, she would let us know that she could not answer our questions right now because she was guiding a long tour currently but promised to get back to us later and she always did and kept her promises. She managed to keep us to the very active itinerary we built each day without the feeling of being rushed and the amount of time we spent at each site was just perfect. She also recommended a car company whom we hired and she coordinated with the driver perfectly throughout the day to optimize drop off and pick up locations at each site to save time and minimize walking to and from the car. On our last day, she went out of her way to accompany us to the airport and all the way to the security checkpoint and waved us good-bye. We were very touched and appreciative of her extra effort and her caring up to the last step. Don't look any further and book with Lisa W. now before it's too late!

“Seamless Arrival for 17—Lisa-san Made It Effortless!”

Lisa-san went above and beyond for our group of 17. She met us at KIX with a warm smile, helped us buy our train tickets, guided us through the station, traveled with us to Kyoto, and personally checked us into our hotel. What truly amazed us—she remembered all 17 names! Her kindness, calm energy, and attention to detail made us feel so welcomed and cared for from the moment we landed. A perfect start to our Japan journey. Thank you, Lisa-san!

“Highly Recommended Japanese Guide”

Lisa Watanabe is the best Japanese guide I have ever met--and one on the best guides I have ever encountered anywhere in the world. And I routinely travel with guides all over the world. Lisa has traveled and worked internationally, so she is familiar with many different travelers' cultures and needs. Having been born and university-educated in Japan, Lisa is extraordinarily knowledgeable about all aspects of Japanese history and culture and genuinely enjoys sharing Japan with her clients--as well as seeking to understand her clients' own cultures. Lisa is extraordinarily kind, patient, and flexible and takes pride in fulfilling her clients' special requests. She takes a genuine and sincere interest in her clients' personal experiences and interests, and is a wonderful conversationalist and a very calming presence. If you are looking for that very special Japanese guide who will work with you to create your own personal dream trip in Japan, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Lisa Watanabe. She has certainly arranged and guided my ideal 3-day tour of Kyoto, Japan's beautiful traditional cultural capital.