Kyoto Customized Full-Day Private Tour — Guide Kazu

Title: What's a Private One-Day Kyoto Tour Like? A Licensed Guide's Report on Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji, and Kiyomizu-dera

The guests were visitors from North America, visiting Japan for the first time. They came from Osaka to Kyoto Station by JR. Before arriving in Osaka, they had gone skiing in Hokkaido, but due to heavy snow the JR trains from New Chitose Airport were suspended, and it seems they had to spend a night at the airport. However, both were in good spirits, and at first we were able to move ahead of schedule. The sun came out at times, so the cold was not much of a bother. While the number of large groups from Asia has been decreasing, there are still quite a few individual travelers coming. We took a taxi from Kinkaku-ji to Ryoan-ji. Compared to the crowds at Kinkaku-ji, they were surprised to remark, "There are so few tourists at Ryoan-ji." They seemed to like the tsukubai water basin at Ryoan-ji, and purchased a bottle opener of the same shape as a souvenir. After Kiyomizu-dera, one of the guests bought a cooking knife on Sannenzaka. They seem to enjoy cooking. After Yasaka Shrine, I guided them to a tonkatsu restaurant in Gion, and the tour concluded. The photo was taken at the bamboo grove in Arashiyama.

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Tour Report by KAZU

I was born and grew up in Kyoto and now live near Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. I used to be a schoolteacher of English and welcome a lot of students from foreign countries. I really enjoyed showing them around Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Himeji, and Hiroshima. I have been a professional tour guide for about 8 years. I always try to let my guests learn Japanese traditional and modern culture. Since I was born in Kyoto, I know a lot about its culture and people. I myself enjoyed several sports, such as soccer, judo, and marathon when I was young. I’m much interested in baseball and sumo. My motto as a tour guide is to let my guests learn about our tradition and culture precisely and really enjoy themselves. I strongly hope you will enjoy the tour in Japan with me.