Hyogo, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Osaka (Living), Wakayama, Kobe, Himeji
English (Native), Japanese
3 hours on average
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I have been an Interpretive Tour Guide for over 20 years. I have lived in Japan for nearly that amount of time broken up by a 12 years stint in Hawaii for 12 years. Still came over every month bringing tours though. I provide private, interpretive guiding services for English-speaking visitors in the Kansai region of Japan. I am a Shrine and Temple professional.
As an ex-Executive Assistant Food and Beverage Manager/Director, I know food and I know Japanese Sake and I want to show you how fun and interesting Japanese food and sake can be! My minimum is eight hours and I do not do half day tours. I promise your time with me in-depth and informative, but we will make some amazing memories while we are at it.
I also do KYOTO, NARA, ISE, as well as OSAKA.
Since pandemic, our team is unable to travel for our yearly company retreat. Hence my management decided to plan for online zoom team activities instead. I was recommended to search on 'Go With Guide' for a LIVE virtual tour that our team can still 'travel'. It really sounds a great idea and interesting to me. I searched a few on Japan but Richard really caught my attention for his tour service in Kyoto. Firstly, he is from the States hence there is no language barrier with us. He has spent many years in Japan and he can speak fluent Japanese as we are hoping he can interact with the locals during the live zoom. He was on time and got the zoom connection ready before the stipulated time. He was wearing a kimono under such hot weather and we really admire his dedication to his job. He first brought us to 'walk' around Fushimi Inari Shrine and later to Kiyomizudera Temple. During the journey from Fushimi Inari to Kiyomizudera, he explained to us about some history. It was a pleasant car ride together with his family. We ended the 2 hours trip at Kiyomizudera Temple. We really enjoyed the whole virtual tour by RIchard and will definitely recommend his virtual tour service to our networks. My CEO is so pleased with the tour that he tipped double for his service! Well done Richard! Hope to see you soon for other Kyoto trip!
Wow! Just wow! Thank you so much! I am so happy that you guys had fun with me in the two hours we were together. Loved your questions during the tour, also, everyone seemed excited and hopefully, we can do it again. I do apologize for so many places being closed because of the Emergency Declaration.... but as you see, I find a way to ensure us to have fun. Yes, yes, thank you for the over-the-top tip!!! Totally unexpected and my wife and daughter have already used a portion since they were my driver and chauffeur..... lol. I take care of Nara and Osaka also and in the future can set up Tea Ceremonies and other interactions for you and your team. Please be safe and let me know how I can help you guys in the future. No need for such HUGE tip in the future since I know you love me now...... LOL!!!!! Kind regards, Richard
Richard was a fantastic guide. He gave the perfect blend of history, culture, past, modern, food, and drink. Richard is very knowledgeable about the local history and culture. He knows everybody everywhere we went and made sure we were well taken care of. We saw everything from castles to museums to temples and had lots of local food and drinks. Richard was much more than I could have hoped for. When I’m back in town I will definitely use his services again. I can’t recommend him high enough!
Marcos. I want to thank both you and Larry for coming on the tour even though we were in the middle of this Covid stuff. I hope you always remember shooting the air guns and feeling like a kid again ha ha ha ha I'm glad you got to meet some local folks and made some great memories. I will be waiting for you guys in the future. Kind regards Richard
For our recent corporate team activity we did Richards virtual traditional Japanese tea ceremony experience. Our team is split across Australia, Japan and Singapore.. Richard did a phenomenal job of making our virtual experience unique that for the 1 hour we were with him it felt like we were all together in the heart of Osaka in this beautiful tea shop! Richard went the extra mile and had all the tea ceremony items shipped to us in advance and we were able to learn how to pour our own tea the traditional Japanese way and all from the comfort of our homes. 100% would recommend, Richard is a great communicator and a pleasure to work with.
Melissa, I cannot express how happy that makes me feel. In the times that we are in right now, to be able to take any aspect of Japanese culture and be able to communicate it and share it like we did, and make it not only enjoyable, but memorable, it's something that I strive for. Thank you for all of your questions and interests in Japanese culture and if there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to put me to the test. Kind regards, Richard
Richard took us on a 3 hour virtual tour as we “walked with him” through places or worship, spiritual sites, the historical district and more. He was engaging, thoughtful, knowledgeable, and fun. His ability to enable us to experience Kyoto like we were there was wonderful. The cultural insights fabulous. He surpassed our expectations of a virtual tour by a huge margin.
Ambika You're very kind and it was enjoyable for me too, to be able to show you parts of the beautiful city of Kyoto. It was kind of weird for me because usually the places that we went are packed with visitors. It was very nice to see open streets but not to see the closed businesses. Please shoot me any questions you may have and if there's ever anything else I can do for you, please let me know. Kind regards Richard