Throughout my 10 years as an interpreter guide, I have traveled to various parts of Japan with countless foreign visitors.
I believe all of them went back to their countries with enjoyable and precious memories.
Here are some messages I received after my guests returned home.
Ryuta was an excellent guide who was very knowledgeable. An excellent tour if you have
limited time in Hakone and can also be customised as per your requirements and interests.
Would recommend to anyone staying in Hakone!
November 25, 2025
Very beautiful and memorable tour!
Viator review: Hakone 8 hour Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Our guide was Dragon (Ryuta-San), and he was absolutely wonderful! He is so knowledgeable and experienced. We had wet weather and he really took into consideration the weather and the most strategic ways to enjoy Hakone with the crowds and traffic. He came prepared with maps, brochures, current weather forecasts, and took the time to explain the history and culture of the places we visited. He also chose the best place for lunch. And we ate the black eggs from Owakudani at midnight to live long lives (🙏). We highly recommend Dragon as a tour guide. He is the best.! We look forward to visiting Japan again and hope to have Dragon as our tour guide again. Thank you, Dragon-San!
October 4, 2025
Dragon was an excellent guide who made our excursion full and interesting.
He is very knowledgeable and a pleasant person.
We recommend taking him as your guide.
October 7, 2025
An Exceptional Tour in Beautiful Hakone, Japan!
Ryuta “Dragon” provided an absolutely exceptional tour for myself, my husband, and two friends just a few short days ago! What an amazing time we had in Hakone — a beautiful and historical small city, with incredible hot springs, and breathtaking scenery and attractions to enjoy! Dragon was the most gracious of hosts, guiding us expertly throughout our six-hour private tour; we especially enjoyed our trip up the Hakone Tozan Railway to the world-class Open-Air-Museum — and even a lovely view of Mt. Fuji on the way down! Please don’t miss this wonderful tour; it’s a true Gem!
May 24, 2025
Thanks to Dragon-San for…
Tokyo 8hr Private Tour with Licensed Guide from Yokohama
Thanks to Dragon-San for navigating us on the various subway & train connections to
experience the special castle, shrine, gardens, & market sites in Tokyo. He took great care of
us- even ordering perfect weather!
Apr 15, 2025
Great day
Tripadvisor review: Hakone 6 hour Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Great guide( dragon) knew everything, had a very good and interesting day! Thank you!
Especially the Art museum was exceptional.
Apr 16, 2025
Hakone Full Day Tour with Guide and Vehicle
Excellent guide and driver
Very informative
Very flexible
Highly recommend this package
Thank you, a great trip.
Apr 4, 2025
Hakone is a beautiful region filled with natural geothermal areas that spas use for onsets.
The mountains are lovely, the ropeway, cog railway and other infrastructure is impressive,
and it is very much worth a visit. our guide was knowledgeable and a pleasure to be with.
March 4, 2025
Day trip to Tokyo from Yokohama. Ryuta and our driver went out of their way to
accommodate us and show us the parts of Tokyo we wanted to see. They were both
extremely kind and caring
March 31, 2025
Ryuta was a perfect guide…
Hakone 6 hour Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
Ryuta was a perfect guide – knowledgeable, flexible, kind and thoughtful. We definitely
recommend traveling with him as your guide in Hakone.
Dec 1st, 2024
Amazing day in Hakone
Hakone 6 hour Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide
This was such an enjoyable tour. The clouds cooperated and we had a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. We did a day trip from Tokyo and having a guide made it so easy to navigate. Dragon went above and beyond as a guide, making sure we saw everything we wanted and helping us logistically.
Nov. 11, 2024
Great private tour of Hakone
Hakone Full Day Tour with Guide and Vehicle
Great private tour of Hakone with our guide Ryuta. Ryuta was very knowledgeable about the
local history and sites and was very flexible to arrange our tour around our family’s
interests. Would definitely recommend to other families.
Jul 19, 2024
Wonderful highlights and overview of a great city!
I really enjoyed my tour. I booked this to help me familiarize myself with a new city when I arrived in Tokyo and it definitely delivered. Ryuta-san, my tour guide, was very friendly and helpful and gracious in showing me around the city as well as answering all of my questions. I was very curious about the history of Tokyo’s transformation post WWII and super interested in the written language and he diligently explained a lot. I got a really good sense of the metro and navigating around and exploring the dichotomy between more of the popular tourist areas vs. locals-areas. At first I was nervous about going to more touristy areas, but it was helpful to then see the dichotomy when we went to different areas that weren’t so touristy. Conclusion: still overwhelmed when there are huge crowds of peeps, but learned to navigate it okay and not feel so concerned as there are just peeps everywhere. I had a really fun time exploring the city and would definitely recommend it for anyone who’s visiting.
January 8, 2023
Good to be with someone in the know
Great to eat in the fish market with the guide and be escorted round Asakusa. Ryuta helped
us to do things we would never have found on our own
Apr 23, 2023
Walking tour Tokyo
This tour was wonderful. Our tour guide was Dragon. He was professional,
knowledgeable and personable. We would highly recommend this tour.
Mar 1, 2023
Fully recommend this tour
We had a great day tour with our guide.
He was very well prepared and he gave us a real insight into the history of Tokyo
We would recommend it to any tourist on a first visit.
Apr 14, 2023
Absolutely Wonderful!!
I spent 3 days with Ryuta sama. Each day was absolutely amazing. I could not have asked for a better introduction to Japan that he gave me. Not only is he an incredible guide but he is an amazing person. Please book with Ryuta!!!
Sep 06, 2023
Invaluable Experience
I cannot express enough how grateful I am to Ryuta-sama. What am incredible introduction to Japan. He will show how to navigate the Japanese railway aside from whatever you choose to do. He is absolutely awesome! Please book with Ryuta!!!
Sep 03, 2023
Tokyo and Fujikawaguchiko
Ryuta was an excellent travel companion! He was very flexible about accommodating last-minute changes to our itinerary, always had interesting historical background and other facts about the places we visited to share with us, and was indispensable when it came to translating and helping us navigate around. Would definitely recommend his services.
Oct 01, 2022
A broad tour or Tokyo
Ryuta was a great person to have with us on our first day in Tokyo. We felt we needed someone to orientate us to the set up of the city, it’s scale, the public transport, and generally how to get the most from our stay. Thanks to Ryuta, we saw not only the usual areas talked about in the guide books, but also parts we would never have thought about. Suggestions like going to the bay area were new to us, but that ended up being my wife’s favourite part of the city. Without him, we would have missed a lot of what there was to see. Thank you for giving us the start we needed, and the ability to plan the rest of our trip better than we could have hoped.
Apr 09, 2018
Tokyo Adventure
Tokyo is a big city made up of dozens of neighbourhoods and each one a little different from the others. Some have huge skyscrapers, while others have structures on a more human scale. And then there are the green spaces that bring nature into the inner metropolis. This is the Tokyo that Ryuta Araki showed us, along with magnificent museums both big and small, temples with wafting incense, and the wonderful cuisine that has made Tokyo a gastronomic delight. Ryuta took into consideration our interests and the tours were more like he was showing his city to long lost friends. His knowledge of the history of the city and Japanese culture was above and beyond what you’d expect from a group tour. The highlight of the trip was meeting his wife Keiko at their home and being offered a delicious sashimi lunch. We also got to experience the Tokyo subway system and the ease to which it can get you around the city. We would highly recommend Ryuta as an English speaking guide to anyone who wants to see and experience Tokyo.
Apr 15, 2018