Nara Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Kazu

Title: What's a Private Day Tour of Nara Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Kasuga Taisha, Todaiji, and Gangoji

The guests were visitors from North America. They had already been to Kyoto many times, but this was their first visit to Nara. This trip to Japan was a celebration trip. The guests are big fans of Japan, and said that whether it is Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto — and especially Tokyo — even though it is one of the world's great metropolises like major cities elsewhere, it is completely different: clean, without litter, essentially no homeless people, people who are kind and friendly, food that is delicious with its own cultural character, a safe environment, trains that run on time, and air that does not smell. Different in every essential respect. They understood this to be a unique national character, but wondered where such a spiritual disposition comes from — is it Shinto, or Buddhism, or is there something else, and if so, what? They said they wanted to reflect on such questions while looking at various places.

Yesterday they spent a full day touring Kyoto, and today, in Nara, the birthplace of Japanese history, we spent the whole day discussing the worldviews of Buddhism and Shinto, Obon and its related traditional culture, and how Onmyodo and feng shui relate to Japanese history and people's daily lives — the foundations of Japanese society and life. As it turned out, we talked about these things all day at Kasuga Taisha, Todaiji, and Gangoji. It became a rather understated and deep conversation, but they listened attentively and I enjoyed it too. In Kyoto, perhaps talking about wabi-sabi while looking at a dry landscape garden might have helped them understand even better.

Unfortunately it rained all day today, and the rain grew heavier in the afternoon. The insides of our shoes became soaked and we could no longer walk, so partway through we gave up and went to a 100-yen shop to buy socks, then returned to Kintetsu Nara Station and parted ways.

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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