Kyoto: Sightseeing ⑤: Monkey Park — Guide Nori

What's a Private Cherry Blossom Day Tour of Arashiyama in Kyoto Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests on this occasion were a group visiting Japan from Oceania. I arranged the prior communication and itinerary with one of the guests. They had applied for their Japan trip more than half a year in advance, back in September of last year, and I was assigned as their guide at that time. Through our prior exchanges, I could sense their wish to fully enjoy Japan during the cherry blossom season. As for the itinerary, on April 2 they toured the eastern part of Kyoto with another guide, and on April 3, which was my day, the route centered on the northwestern area (Arashiyama and Sagano). Ultimately it became a full Arashiyama course: Tenryu-ji Temple → the Bamboo Grove → Okochi Sanso Villa → the Monkey Park.

On the day, although it was a little cold, it was truly the peak of the cherry blossoms, and we could enjoy various cherry trees everywhere in Arashiyama. One of the guests originally loved gardening and was very fond of all kinds of plants and flowers, and was greatly satisfied. In particular, they marveled at the weeping cherry tree at Tenryu-ji, the bamboo thicket along the Bamboo Grove, the Somei-Yoshino cherry trees along the Hozu River, and the mountain cherries seen from the Togetsukyo Bridge. Finally we went to the Monkey Park on Mount Iwatayama, but the mountain path to the destination turned out to be harder than expected, so we made the climb taking frequent short rests along the way. At the Monkey Park, they were delighted by the cuteness of the Japanese macaques. After completing the entire itinerary, we had lunch at an udon restaurant I frequent, and they seemed to like the gentle taste of Japanese dashi and were satisfied.

The above covers everything from arriving at the sites until the end, and the guests were very satisfied. However, as a guide, there were two mistakes I should reflect on, at the start and at the end. I record them here with a sense of self-reflection.

The first was at the start, when we used a bus to travel from the Hotel to Kyoto Station, but we ended up on a different bus than the one I had planned. Fortunately, I noticed this, and there was a JR station where we got off, so we were able to reach Arashiyama without any delay. The second was at the point when the guiding ended. After finishing the whole itinerary with the guests, we headed back toward the Hotel by train, and when we got off at Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station (Hankyu Line) near the Hotel, it was the end of the guiding time, so I directed the guests to walk from there to the Hotel (about 15 minutes). The Hotel is along the Takase River, and both sides were lined with cherry blossoms in full bloom, so I advised them, "Please enjoy the cherry blossoms in full bloom on your way back to the Hotel." However, on the train back to Osaka, I realized that I had mistaken the direction of the way back to the Hotel (which was southward) and had directed them to go north instead. I immediately sent an email conveying my sincere apologies, and the guests replied with extreme generosity: "Indeed, the direction of the Hotel was wrong, so it took us about an hour to reach the Hotel. But we were able to fully enjoy the beautiful rows of cherry trees, so please don't worry about it too much." This response allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. These two errors of judgment happened due to small momentary misunderstandings, even though I had carefully prepared and confirmed the itinerary in advance. I reflected deeply, including on my own tendency to occasionally jump to conclusions, and it became an important lesson for the future.

Click here for more details: Arashiyama Bamboo Forest & Sagano Tour 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.