May 13, 2026
Alice_o
Viator review: Kyoto 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
A Perfect Day in Kyoto.
We had a perfect day in Kyoto. Taka, our guide, was knowledgeable and full of information to share about the city and the various sites we visited. He had spent some time working with a Japanese corporation in Houston, Texas, so he could meet us in a Texas A&M T-shirt. It was a sweet gesture and greatly appreciated. We particularly enjoyed his help on the public transportation in the city, and although we have had drivers in other cities, the buses and trains added to the Kyoto experience. I cannot think of a thing that I would have changed. We even enjoyed a short rain storm, which on any other trip would have seemed an inconvenience. Here, the rain seemed to be an added benefit to a wonderful day.

May 1, 2026
Don_W
Viator review: Kobe 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Awesome to explore new countries
We toured the gardens, temples and the sake brewery when ending up being a great stop
enjoyed the sake.

Apr 12, 2026
Abha_N
Viator review: Kyoto 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Amazing guide
We had an exceptional experience with our private guided tour in Japan, thanks to Taka. He was incredibly considerate and patient throughout the day, and never made us feel rushed?in fact, he generously spent more time with us than originally scheduled to ensure we had the best possible experience.
Taka went above and beyond by helping us navigate logistics seamlessly and even made sure we got to our next destination without any stress. One of the highlights was the authentic Japanese restaurant he took us to for lunch ?something we would never have discovered on our own.
Communication was excellent from the very beginning. We had several emails back and forth to organize the day; Taka was able to provide recommendations and was very accommodating of my request for sites off the beaten path.
We couldn’t have asked for a better guide. Highly recommend!

Mar 30, 2026
reneferraris2001
Tripadvisor review: Private Nara Tour with Government Licensed Guide & Vehicle (Osaka Departure)
Nara experience
We had a great experience on our Osaka to Nara tour. Taka was patient, knowledgeable, and explained everything clearly, making the trip very enjoyable. He was also friendly, respectful, and created a comfortable atmosphere throughout. Highly recommended for families or groups of friends?an excellent guide!

Jul 19, 2026
Wander35832177180
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide
Kyoto temple tour
Our Kyoto guided tour (Aioi Michiharu) was a great way to see some of the city’s most famous sights. The itinerary was well organized, starting with a convenient hotel pickup before visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha. Walking through the thousands of red torii gates was a memorable experience, and our guide shared interesting background about the shrine that added helpful context.

We then explored the Kiyomizu area, including Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Yasaka Pagoda, and Yasaka Koshindo Temple. The route offered a nice mix of historic landmarks, traditional streets, and scenic viewpoints. There was enough time at each stop to take photos and enjoy the surroundings without feeling rushed.

What really made this tour special was our guide’s knowledge, friendliness, and enthusiasm. He provided interesting cultural insights, recommended local foods and hidden photo spots, and made sure everyone in the group was comfortable throughout the day.

Jul 16, 2026
Abby_M
Viator review: Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide
Excellent tour. Highly recommend
Michi our guide was excellent! Great communication before the tour and laid out an entire day for us. Was very accommodating and understood when the heat got to us and needed to take a break. He was very knowledgeable and gave us great pieces of information about the beautiful city of Kyoto. Would highly recommend the tour and Michi!!

Jul 13, 2026
Javier P
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide
Kyoto gems
Michi was incredibly courteous and informative. He had a great plan for our tour and everything went smoothly. He talked about the history of the city, industry, and culture and kept our daughters engaged. Highly recommended!

Jul 13, 2026
Beth_D
Viator review: Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide
Excellent Tour and Guide
Michi was an excellent tour guide! He was very knowledgeable about the history of all the sites we visited, was able to answer all of core questions, and knew where to find cold water when we were all thirsty! We really enjoyed our whole 4 hour tour.

Jul 11, 2026
Trevor_F
Viator review: Osaka Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide
4 hour Private Tour
Naomi was our guide and did a fantastic job. He met us at our hotel and suggested several places to visit. He navigated us to each spot, providing history and information about each location. Our time spent with him was enjoyable and I would recommend this tour to anyone!

Jun 6, 2026
May_O
Viator review: Kyoto 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Wonderful time in Kyoto
We had a terrific time with Naoki. He brought enthusiasm and excitement to our tour. My
family had a wonderful time.

May 1, 2026
Sanfrancisco820
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Choose Naoki – you will have a great day!!
Naoki is an excellent guide. His communication with us before our trip was outstanding. I sent him a very long list of things we were interested in, and he carefully helped us understand what was in each area and what we could realistically accomplish in a day.

Naoki even navigated a couple of bus rides for us—which turned out to be a lot of fun! He is highly knowledgeable while still making everything engaging, which made him perfect for first-time visitors to Japan.

We had a lovely day and were able to see many of the things we were most interested in, thanks to Naoki’s thoughtful guidance. He clearly put a great deal of effort into planning our day.

We highly recommend Naoki if you are looking for an easygoing guide who puts genuine care into tailoring your experience to your interests.

Mar 28, 2026
Tanya_R
Viator review: Osaka 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Great guide
Naoki was very kind and knowledgeable He knew the best highlights of osaka castle and
even got us in by skipping lines

Jun 29, 2026
U3009CHlaurad
Kyoto 4 Hour walking Tour
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Umi was a great tour guide, very friendly, personable and was very insightful! We had a wonderful morning exploring Kyoto and seeing some of the great historical castles, palaces, shrines and temples. Umi also showed us around the famous Nishiki markets, and shared with us some great hidden local restaurants! Would definitely recommend booking this tour, and would definitely recommend Umi as a tour guide!

May 9, 2026
Adventurer745194
Lovely intro to Kyoto
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
We had a lovely morning guided by Umi. We appreciated her thoughtful help in planning the tour and she was extremely flexible and responsible to our questions and interests. She was a pleasure to work with and be with and we were grateful that she introduced us to Kyoto most graciously.

Apr 30, 2026
jonathangG3501FZ
4 hour private tour in Kyoto
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Umi was a lovely tour guide for a half day private tour around Kyoto. She worked with us in
advance on the itinerary to match our interests and was very informative and gracious
during the tour itself. I highly recommend her!

Apr 27, 2026
Jennifer_S
Wonderful, thoughtful guide
Viator review: Private Kyoto Tour with Licensed Guide & Vehicle (Max 15 persons)
Umi was absolutely wonderful. She worked with us on a customized plan that included adapting for a member of our family that uses a wheelchair. The sites she recommended were perfect and gave us a nice touch of Kyoto. We particularly loved the final temple and the experience we had there. The lunch spot we ended up choosing was an excellent Japanese meal. She was extremely knowledgable about the sites, Kyoto in general, Japan’s history, and more. You could tell she loves what she does.

Jun 4, 2026
Companion12422328239
Tripadvisor review: Port Pick-Up: Shizuoka Tour with Licensed Guide and Vehicle
Great views of Mt Fuji and local tea
We had an afternoon in Shizuoka on our cruise, and our guide picked us up at port on time and made sure to get us back on time too.
We went to a beautiful waterfall, the Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre, the Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha shrine, and a local tea shop. We were able to get incredible pictures of Mt. Fuji, and really enjoyed every location we went. Our guide and driver did a great job of getting us to all these places and not feeling rushed even though we only had 5 hours ashore.
We traveled with my parents and our 3 kids (age range of 73 to 8) and we all had a terrific time.

May 28, 2026
kam_g
Viator review: Shizuoka/Shimizu Mt Fuji View 6 hr Private Tour: Guide Only
The guide was very nice…
The guide was very nice and knowledgeable. Introduced us to very interesting people. Very
cloudy that day so Mt. Fuji was not visible but that was OK the countryside was beautiful.
Very enjoyable experience. Would book again. thank you so much

Apr 11, 2026
Brandon2116
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Personalized Tokyo Experience
Booking a private tour with Kaz was the perfect way to see Tokyo’s top sights through a completely customized lens. We covered an incredible amount of ground, including Meiji Shrine, the Imperial Palace, Tsukiji Outer Market for lunch, and Senso-ji Temple. Kaz was an outstanding guide who came incredibly prepared. He used historical photos to provide context and help us visualize the history behind every location we visited. What we appreciated most was how he personalized the day in real-time, shifting the focus toward the specific facts and sights that interested us most. While the itinerary involved a lot of walking, Kaz was very thoughtful about incorporating breaks and keeping the energy high and fun throughout the day. If you want to maximize your time in Tokyo and walk away with a deep understanding of the city, I highly recommend a tour with Kaz!

Mar 29, 2026
Stacy_A
Viator review: Hakone 6 hour Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Thanks, Kaz! We recommend this tour.
Great experience – it was so much more efficient and rewarding than it would have been, should we have done it in our own. Kaz took us to a wonderful private restaurant for an extraordinary meal at a more than reasonable price. We also visited the tea house in Gora Park, where we were serve a cup of matcha and a sweet in the traditional setting.

Mar 13, 2026
Lontang_L
Enjoyable Trip at Sendai
Viator review: Sendai / Matsushima Full-Day Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
The guide confirmed our places of interests. and organized the sightseeing timely. He
explained history of Japanese samurai well. We were escorted until the trip was over.

Jul 17, 2026
TROY_R
Viator review: Osaka Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide
This was a perfect tour…
This was a perfect tour of Osaka! Our guide Emi built a tailored itinerary that exactly met our needs and we visited amazing sites we would’ve never known about thanks to her. Throughout the tour, Emi was so kind, knowledgable, positive, and flexible – we enjoyed every second and are so grateful she was the person that showed us beautiful Osaka. Strongly recommend Emi and this tour if you’re planning a trip to Osaka!

Sep 18, 2025
L9831WKjenniferb
4 hour Kyoto tour with English speaking guide
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Lovely afternoon with English speaking Emiko Yamanaka. Very informative and knowledgeable about the history of the city. Visited the Torii shrine, sadly the other shrine had just closed, and walked through the Gion district. Emi also provided us with a map that she had made with the must see places, including which subway line and how many stops to take! Very useful for the next day trip. Would highly recommend Emi as your tour guide

Aug 15, 2025
SuperGC68
Great value
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
We had a two day 6hr tour with our guide who took us around in Kyoto. It was a well balanced walking tour through historical sites, famous streets/neighbourhoods and local markets. We travelled very efficiently with a combination of taxis, trains and buses. Our guide Emi was very well prepared, with high flexibility, kindness and curiosity. She was a great value to the tour. I highly recommend this two day tour to visit Kyoto in a very efficient way.

Jul 4, 2025
Inspire64445626178
Delightful day with Emi
Tripadvisor review: Kyoto 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
We had a delightful day with our guide Emi. She designed a day around all the main spots that we wanted to visit at a comfortable pace. We learned a lot from her! And we couldn’t have done all that we did that day without her deep knowledge and experience. My niece said that it was the best day of our vacation! Thank you Emi for guiding us and sharing your knowledge with us! I would highly recommend this tour with Emi.

Jun 2, 2026
amandavW9846AW
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Great Tokyo day trip!
We had a wonderfull day with Nobu! He showed us the hight lights of Tokyo and was very
helpfull with getting us a Suica card.

May 25, 2026
Matthew_C
Viator review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Nobu was an excellent and…
Nobu was an excellent and informative guide who showed us around our selected 4
destinations and their surroundings.

May 24, 2026
Diane D
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Pleasant Intro to Tokyo
Nobu was an experienced and informative guide. It was a great introduction to Tokyo – a busy and vastly interesting city. We learned about Japanese history and toured some of the major sites including the Imperial gardens, a Buddhist temple, a Shinto shrine, and the bustling Shibuya Crossing. Nobu helped us get familiar with the subway system and explained some of Japanese cuisine. We greatly enjoyed our tour and recommend it to others!

Apr 28, 2026
GrandTour57165664797
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Awesome!
It was our first visit to Japan. Nobu was very knowledgeable and patient. Perfect start to our
Japan trip.

Apr 18, 2026
CRM
Viator review: Tokyo 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Day 1 Japan Meiji Shrine, Shibuya
Miho was an amazing tour guide. She was able to give us a history lesson along with seeing the great sights of Japan. We chose 3 locations and she researched them for us. Taking this tour day one of our trip made getting around the subway system so much better as Miho showed us what to do. Old recommend this tour 100%. Ask for Miho!

Mar 31, 2026
M
maaz06
Private Half Day tour with Government Licenced Guide
Tripadvisor review: Tokyo 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Our half day private tour with a Government Licenced guide was absolutely brilliant. Miho checked our ideas before the tour and created an itinerary to fit. Miho then adapted this tour as we went to match our needs. We saw a multitude of beautiful Cherry Blossons on the last half day in Japan. Miho helped us achieve our desire to see as many incredible Cherry Blossoms as was possible. She helped us at the end of the tour navigate our way back to our hotel with clear and decise directions on the public transport system. We thoroughly recommend this tour and Miho Ozawa as a guide.

Mar 31, 2026
Maria_A
Viator review: Tokyo 4hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Brilliant half Day Private tour customized to see the beautiful Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo
Our half day private tour with a Government Licenced guide was absolutely brilliant. Miho checked our ideas before the tour and created an itinerary to fit. Miho then adapted this tour as we went to match our needs. We saw a multitude of beautiful Cherry Blossons on the last half day in Japan. Miho helped us achieve our desire to see as many incredible Cherry Blossoms as was possible. She helped us at the end of the tour navigate our way back to our hotel with clear and decise directions on the public transport system. We thoroughly recommend this tour and Miho Ozawa as a guide.

Mar 31, 2026
Rick_G
Viator review: Tokyo 6hr Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Fun day out with Miho
We had a great time exploring the city with Miho! She was very informative and a joy to walk the city with. She accommodated us with our itinerary and gave us great tips for our time in Tokyo. The full day flew by learning about Japanese history and Tokyo culture. She knows English very well and has a wealth of knowledge. She also took so many great pictures of us with the cherry blossom trees and suggested we visit certain locations that we hadn’t considered, which turned out to be highlights of our trip (Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, the Asakusa Observatory, and Inui Street). We could not recommend her enough!

We originally booked a tour with Mac but had to reschedule due to the weather. We want to make sure to include them in our praise?they were very responsive, flexible, and courteous before and during the rescheduling, and we’re sure we would have had a great time with them as well!

If you are going to be in Tokyo, we definitely recommend booking a full-day guided tour. You will learn a lot (and walk a lot!) and take home some great pictures!