Kyoto Customized Full-Day Private Tour — Guide Kazu

Title: What's a Private Kyoto Day Tour Like in the Rain? A Licensed Guide's Report on Arashiyama and Nijo Castle

The guests were friends visiting from Europe, and this was their first time in both Japan and Kyoto. They had traveled to Kyoto via Tokyo and Hakone. When I asked, they told me that the previous day they had visited Fushimi Inari, the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and Gion, enjoyed a tea ceremony, and joined a walking tour in Gion. Curious about how much they had learned, I asked them various questions, and they remembered quite a lot, but had forgotten some of the key points, so we started studying again from the beginning! We covered religious views, folklore, history, political history, and even the fundamental question of what Gion actually is, all while I told some silly dad jokes, and we spent an enjoyable day together.

We visited Heisei-in, the Bamboo Grove, Jojakko-ji, and Okochi Sanso, and after our lunch break the rain became quite heavy. Everyone unanimously lost all desire to visit the planned Tenryu-ji and the Monkey Park, so instead we changed our plans on the spot and took a taxi to Nijo Castle, since we could tour it indoors. I explained various things about the castle and the history of the end of the Edo period.

Why did the absolute ruler, the shogun so famous from dramas and films, have to return political power? It was an excellent question, and answering this single question meant telling the whole story of the Meiji Restoration, even if only in summary: from Perry's arrival off Uraga, through the turmoil at the end of the shogunate, the movement to revere the emperor and expel foreigners, the Satsuma-Choshu alliance, the Opium War, the return of political power to the emperor, the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, and the new Meiji government. To my surprise, they already knew that every shogunal house had to be the head of the Minamoto clan. Before the emperor, one is Minamoto no Ason Takauji or Minamoto no Ason Ieyasu. I believe this was probably the first time a guest had ever asked me about the Seiwa Genji in Japanese history and I got to talk about it. Both guests listened intently to everything I said, which made it easy to speak.

They said they were going to Nara the next day, so I gave a brief explanation about Nara and we said goodbye at Kyoto Station.

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Tour Report by Kazu

Hello, this is Kazu Akiyama, your tour guide. Nice to meet you and welcome to Japan. Thank you for joining me on the tour. Now I am a retired salaried worker, living in Osaka. I have been very much interested in not only learning Japanese history, culture, religion myself, but also talking about them (sometimes going off topics) in English with tourists from all over the world as well. I am so excited being with you as your guide on coming day! I am very much looking forward to you enjoying with me visiting the must-see places and some of the hidden gems. See you soon. Thank you – Kazu Akiyama