Kyoto in One Day: Sightseeing ③: Fushimi Inari — Guide Nori

Title: What Is a Private One-Day Kyoto Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Kinkaku-ji, Arashiyama, Fushimi Inari, and Kiyomizu-dera

The guests this time were a group visiting from North America. Regarding the destinations, I coordinated the plans in advance through one of the guests. From the very beginning, their wishes about where to visit were extremely clear, and the itinerary was fixed as "Kinkaku-ji ⇒ Arashiyama (Bamboo Grove) ⇒ Fushimi Inari ⇒ Kiyomizu-dera," with all travel between the sites planned to be by public transportation (subway, bus, and JR). The guests had already traveled through Tokyo and other areas, and were planning to finish their trip in the Kansai region (Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara). They had arrived in Kyoto the previous day, and this tour was their first day in Kansai.

The day was blessed with clear autumn skies and pleasant weather that was perfect for sightseeing. It was the guests' first trip to Japan, and everything they saw and heard at each place they visited seemed fresh and new to them. However, perhaps because the fatigue of a long trip was setting in, although the plan had been to use public transportation for all travel, the guests requested to "use a taxi" for the trips from Kinkaku-ji to Arashiyama and from Fushimi Inari to Kiyomizu-dera, so we changed the mode of transportation to taxi. At the final destination, Kiyomizu-dera, we took a taxi partway up the long approach, then walked about ten minutes through the very crowded path before finally entering the temple grounds. Proceeding from the main Nio-mon Gate while explaining the key points along the way, we passed the three-story pagoda and the Naka-mon Gate, and just as we reached the ticket counter to enter the main hall, the guests expressed, "We are a little tired from walking. We would like to end today's tour here, so there is no need to go into the main hall of Kiyomizu-dera." I said, "There are still thirty minutes left, so I would like to guide you all the way to the end…," but the guests replied, "Don't worry about the remaining time. From here, we would like to slowly walk back down the approach and buy some souvenirs." In the end, I respected the guests' wishes and concluded the guiding at that point.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide

Tour Report by Nori

Hi, everyone! I’m Norifumi Kamon, a government registered guide interpreter. Please call me “Nori”, or “Kamon-san”.
Let me introdece myself. I was born on April 17th in 1952 in Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu island. I used to be an English teacher of Osaka Prefectural high school. When I retired from a teacher ten years ago, I decided to get a professional guide license. I wanted to play a role of the bridge between Japanese people and the people from all over the world as a second life of mine. After two years efforts, I finally got the guide license. Since then, I have guided several handreds of foreign people mainly in Kyoto and Nara for about five years except Corona Pandemic period. Almost all the tourists were deeply impressed by the beauty of nature, traditoin, culture, and art of Japan. I can surely help you enjoy and be satisfied with the sightseeing in Japan. And I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.