Hakone Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Akey

Guests from North America participated in a private tour, and although the original booking was for three adults, an email came in beforehand asking whether two additional people could join, and I replied that it was fine. At the hotel, some additional guests joined the group. Some of the guests were originally from North America but now live in North America. During a conversation, one of the guests asked one of the younger members which university they were set to attend after graduating high school, and I answered "Stanford" on their behalf. As it happened, this turned out to be a coincidence, as one of the guests had completed a doctoral program at Stanford.

We stayed in Hakone-Yumoto. On the mountain railway, they asked me where they should go during their stay in Kyoto, so I wrote out a four-day itinerary of three days in Kyoto and one day in Nara and handed it to them. (Kyoto is my hometown.) They enjoyed the Hakone Open-Air Museum. To save time I suggested a simple Western meal inside the museum, but they wanted to eat sushi, so we had lunch at a sushi restaurant near the museum. I had often passed by it before, but because the storefront did not look very impressive I had judged it as unpromising and never gone in. However, they ordered inari sushi, rolled sushi, nigiri sushi, seafood rice bowls, and more, and both the content and taste were excellent — 15,000 yen for the whole group was a good value. All the customers were international visitors.

The guests had been looking forward to the volcanic activity and black eggs at Owakudani, but after waiting 30 minutes, just 10 minutes before boarding, the ropeway was suspended due to strong winds and we received a refund on the tickets. I contacted two taxi companies in Gora, but both declined, saying they were fully booked and could not dispatch a vehicle. The buses were also lined with many passengers and only went as far as Togendai.

Since there was no prospect of the ropeway reopening, and because it was a Sunday, neither buses nor taxis could reach Owakudani. While we were at a loss, we happened to find an empty six-seat taxi returning after dropping someone off at a hotel, so we were able to reach Togendai and, on schedule, take the pirate ship and visit the Hakone Checkpoint site. The younger members enjoyed going into the jail at the checkpoint site. They wanted black eggs, so we looked for them at Hakonemachi Port but could not find any. After arriving at Hakone-Yumoto, this was a two-hour extension, but since we had not been able to go to Owakudani, I said 8,000 yen for the extension would be fine, though they paid 10,000 yen. At Hakone-Yumoto Station I found black eggs at a shop, so I contacted them via a messaging app, and they replied with thanks. Hearing my English, they said it sounded like English learned from a long stay in North America and asked where I had studied. I explained that I had worked for 23 years at an advertising company and had practiced American English through my university's ESS, which gave me an American-style pronunciation. This was the second time I had been told this.

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Tour Report by Akey

Hello, new friends! I’m Akio Yasui. I was born in Kyoto City and graduated from Doshisha University in Kyoto and moved to Tokyo for working. I used to work for international companies as a marketing advertising specialist. I have been to fourty five different countries until now and been to all prefectures in Japan.
I have deep knowledge of both traditional and modern culture of Japan based on my experience in Kyoto, Tokyo and their surrounding areas such as Kamakura, Nikko, Nara, Osaka. I can design exclusive and the optinum itineray for you and guide you not only to ordinary tour courses but also casual or hidden locations. My task is making you enjoy Japan and like our culture and people. Let me guide you any where you want to visit and enjoy Japan together.