Kyoto in Half a Day: －10:10 Nijo & Nishiki — Guide Satoko

What Is a Private Kyoto Walking Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Nijo Castle, the Imperial Palace, and Nishiki Market

The guests were a group visiting from Europe. I had received their desired destinations in advance through the agency. When I asked, they told me they had visited the main temples and shrines the previous day on a bicycle tour, which made sense. Since I had arranged for the Nijo Castle tickets to be purchased in advance, entry was smooth. One of the guests plans to pursue education at university and hopes to become a university professor in the future. This guest held firm personal views and listened carefully to my explanations. Next, we moved to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Here too, everyone listened attentively to my explanations. When I later asked for impressions, one of the guests, who works in a field related to architecture, was impressed by the many ingenious details in the buildings and said they would love to take another careful look. We then moved to Nishiki Market. Since one of the guests had mentioned at our first meeting that they could not eat gluten and asked me to recommend something they might be able to eat at Nishiki Market, we entered from Takakura Street and looked through the shops one by one. When we reached Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine, it was exactly time for the tour to end, so we said our goodbyes. The photo was taken in the garden of the Imperial Palace. At first they stood still, but then they jumped again for the shot. Since it looked fun, I am submitting the jump version. (Sorry if it is a little hard to see because of all the jumping.)

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

Tour Report by Satoko

I am a 53-year-old woman, living in Kyoto for nearly 40 years. I got the license in 2001. Since then, I worked as an interpreter or a translator in several companies, secretary at universities, and now work for a company on weekdays at the international dept.I do guiding job only weekend now. I started full swing guiding career after COVID-19 pandemic. I have gotten good review from many of my guests. I love my hometown, Kyoto which has a lot of interesting and historical sites to see. Particularly, I am native to Arashiyama which is famous for bamboo forest. So, I know a lot of places where you can relax yourself around this area. Other than that, Kyoto has many attractive sites which surely interest you.Also, I like meeting many people from different cultural background. I am very happy if I learn about your culture as well. Let’s enjoy exploring around Kyoto!