Nara Day Trip from Kyoto by Private Car — Guide Kazu

What Is a Private Day Trip to Nara Like from Kyoto? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were visiting Japan for the first time, arriving in Osaka via Dubai. They spent one day in Osaka, two days in Kyoto, and today explored Nara, with Kanazawa and Tokyo to follow. I truly wanted to thank them for choosing Japan as their travel destination. We traveled from a hotel in Kyoto to Nara by chauffeured car. Nara is the birthplace of Japanese history and is by no means merely a "Small Kyoto." Because I wanted them to understand this, I began with fundamental topics such as where the Japanese people originally came from and the origins of the imperial family, then moved on to the significance of Buddhism, who Ganjin was, and what ordination meant. I condensed and explained, working up a sweat, the historical significance of Toshodaiji and Todaiji, the meaning of visiting them, and how things changed when the capital was moved to Kyoto. The guests listened very earnestly. However, they were far more passionate about photography than about detailed historical explanations. Until yesterday they had been jostled by crowds at the famous spots in Osaka and Kyoto, and combined with the humid heat, they had become quite mentally exhausted. Today I deliberately chose places with very few people, except for Todaiji, which turned out to be the right decision. They appeared to relax greatly. Amid the quiet and peaceful scenery of the ancient capital of Nara, they came back to life and took countless photos to their heart's content, though I do wonder whether they were truly listening to my explanations. Recently there happened to be an NHK special program about the Republic that they came from, and when I spoke about Fort St. Elmo, St. John's Co-Cathedral, and the Knights of St. John in its capital, which is a World Heritage site with white townscapes, the conversation became quite lively. The summit of Wakakusayama was humid but had a pleasant breeze, with many deer around, making it perfect weather for photography. As usual, they thoroughly practiced saying "ookini" and "do itashimashite," and once their pronunciation had improved nicely, the tour came to an end. On the one-hour drive back to Kyoto, they slept soundly. Ahead of today, I visited each destination in advance to check the barrier-free accessibility situation. Looking at the sites from that perspective, I realized that there were considerable differences among destinations, and that overall the reality remains quite challenging in many respects. In that sense, today's tour was a great learning experience.

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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