Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour — Guide Kazu

Title: What's a Private Walking Tour of Gion, Higashiyama, and Kiyomizu in Kyoto Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were visitors from North America. One of them had visited Kyoto about ten years earlier, while it was the first visit for the other, so at their request we spent the day walking relatively slowly through the Gion, Higashiyama, and Kiyomizu areas. We started right next to the Hotel at Sanjusangen-do. They were amazed at the sight of more than a thousand Kannon statues and exclaimed in wonder. This temple has a wonderful atmosphere, and it is full of fascinating topics for a guide to draw guests into the story — the cloistered rule of 800 years ago, the battles between the Genji and Heike before the rise of the shoguns, Buddhism, zazen meditation, the thousand-armed Kannon Bodhisattva, the difference between Nyorai and Bosatsu, the tale of the 1,002nd Kannon statue, the wind and thunder gods, stories about earthquakes and Buddhist statues, and even the archery ceremony that had just taken place the day before. It was ideal for pulling the guests into that world. From there we walked through the heart of Kyoto, Higashiyama, Kiyomizu-dera, and Gion, and both listened intently and attentively to everything I shared. There was a heartwarming moment when I was leading the way and turned around, and they hurriedly let go of the hands they had been holding. On Ninenzaka there is a Studio Ghibli shop, and the attached photo was taken there; one of the guests in particular was delighted. They said they love Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, and were impressed to hear that Studio Ghibli films are always broadcast in Japan at the end of the year. After the tour, they planned to have yudofu (tofu hot pot) around Nanzen-ji, so I gave them information about Nanzen-ji and its sub-temples, and since they also wanted to buy shoes at Onitsuka Tiger, I passed along that information as well before we parted ways.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour with Licensed Local Guide

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