Where does this Kyoto tour start and finish?

The guide met the guests at JR Kyoto Station at 10:30, and the tour finished at Nishiki Market at 14:30.

How long does the tour last?

About 4 hours in total, from 10:30 to 14:30.

Which places does this itinerary cover?

This tour visited Explanation of today's itinerary and about Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji Temple and Daitoku-ji Temple / Daisen-in.

Is the guide licensed, and what language is the tour in?

Kazu is a government-licensed national guide-interpreter of Japan and guided this tour in English. Japan Guide Agency (JGA Inc.) works with more than 1,000 licensed guides across all 47 prefectures. Not affiliated with the Japan Guide Association.

Can the itinerary be changed for my own trip?

Yes. This report describes one private tour as it actually ran. Every Kyoto itinerary is built around the guests, so the places, the pace and the starting point can all be changed before the tour.

Kyoto in Half a Day: Kinkaku-ji Temple — Guide Kazu

October, 2024

This is a private guided tour report by Japan Guide Agency (JGA Inc.), a network of 1,000+ government-licensed, English-speaking local guides across all 47 prefectures of Japan. Not affiliated with the Japan Guide Association.

Tour Itinerary

10:30　Meet at JR Kyoto Station
10:35　Explanation of today's itinerary and about Kyoto
11:30　Kinkaku-ji Temple
13:10　Daitoku-ji Temple / Daisen-in
14:30　Disband at Nishiki Market

Tour Itinerary in Detail

This private tour of Kyoto began at 10:30, when the guide met the guests at JR Kyoto Station, and finished at 14:30. The day ran to 4 hours from start to finish.

From there the group visited Explanation of today's itinerary and about Kyoto at 10:35, Kinkaku-ji Temple at 11:30 and Daitoku-ji Temple / Daisen-in at 13:10.

Title: What Is a 4-Hour Private Kyoto Temple and Garden Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were a group visiting Kyoto for the first time from the Middle East, on a long-awaited vacation. They mentioned they wanted to see beautiful gardens and old Japanese temples, so after enjoying the lovely scenery at Kinkaku-ji, we visited Daisen-in, which can be considered the origin of wabi-cha tea culture. There I explained the karesansui dry landscape garden, the concept of wabi-sabi, and the religious outlook of modern Japanese people as influenced by the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism, including my own personal views, and we enjoyed a bowl of matcha prepared at the temple. It was a short tour of four hours, but I hope it became an interesting and memorable experience that felt like an entirely different world for the guests.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide

Tour Report by Kazu

Hello, this is Kazu Akiyama, your tour guide. Nice to meet you and welcome to Japan. Thank you for joining me on the tour. Now I am a retired salaried worker, living in Osaka. I have been very much interested in not only learning Japanese history, culture, religion myself, but also talking about them (sometimes going off topics) in English with tourists from all over the world as well. I am so excited being with you as your guide on coming day! I am very much looking forward to you enjoying with me visiting the must-see places and some of the hidden gems. See you soon. Thank you – Kazu Akiyama

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