Kyoto Customized Half-Day Tour — Guide Kazu

Title: What Is a Private Kyoto Day Tour with a Licensed Guide Like? A Guide's Report

The reservation details listed a phone number from Oceania, but the guests were actually visiting from Europe, with one having relocated from Oceania. One of the guests worked as a professional photographer. Due to work, one of the guests had visited various parts of Japan many times in the past and mentioned a fondness for Asahi beer. For one of the guests, this was their first trip to Japan. Since one of the guests already had a fair amount of knowledge about Japanese history and enjoyed more in-depth explanations, I went into some detail—for example, why Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned political power to the Emperor, and the historical context behind it.

They shared many interesting comments. What struck me as a particularly interesting perspective, perhaps due to a keen photographer's eye for observation, was the remark that each year inbound tourism increases, Japan's good old original landscapes are steadily disappearing, and more and more shops catering to inbound tourists are opening, which made them feel a little sad that the original scenery unique to Japan is gradually being lost. With that in mind, I decided to take them to a Zen temple's dry landscape garden, which is without a doubt a hidden gem, and they were delighted. There were hardly any other tourists, so the three of us had the magnificent dry landscape garden and pond-strolling garden all to ourselves. I had them enjoy about 5 to 10 minutes of seated Zen meditation, and I carefully explained the meaning of Zen meditation as well as the concept of wabi-sabi. It was also the season when Hina dolls are displayed, and a grand full set of Hina dolls was on display today, so I explained that as well.

At the Kyoto Imperial Palace, we ended up mostly talking about topics not really related to the palace—Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Queen Elizabeth, the roots of the Japanese people, beer enjoyed in Europe, the shamisen, and Mongolian spots. When I explained that all the buildings within the Imperial Palace were dismantled during the air raids on the mainland in World War II and later restored after the war, they were surprised.

We entered Sanjusangen-do just in the nick of time, so we were the very last visitors—meaning it was completely empty, and this was the first time even I had seen Sanjusangen-do with so few people. I gave a somewhat in-depth explanation about the Thousand-Armed Kannon Bodhisattva and the difference between a Nyorai and a Bodhisattva.

Today was the birthday of one of the guests, so although we went a little over time, I offered it as a small present from me, and we parted ways at the hotel.

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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