Kyoto in Half a Day: Nijo Castle — Guide Satoko

Title: What Is a Private Kyoto Tour with a Licensed Guide Like? A Nijo Castle Report

The guests were a group visiting from North America. This was a tour that came in suddenly two days before, and since it was a first-time booking where contact had not been possible, I asked [Japan Guide Agency (JGA Inc.)](https://www.j-g-a.org/) for help, and they advised me to make contact via a messaging app. When I contacted the number listed at the time of assignment, it turned out to be the travel agency's number, but they quickly shared a direct messaging contact, so the matter was resolved without trouble. There had been requests to visit Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji, Kodaiji, and Kiyomizudera, but since the travel between Kinkakuji and Kodaiji takes about an hour, I explained that it would not fit within four hours, and they said, "We will go on our own from Kinkakuji onward, so that is fine."

On the day, although we were able to meet at 11:00, the group said they were going to get coffee and did not come out for about 20 minutes. From that point, some of the guests already seemed a little tired. The group had proposed from the start to go to Nijo Castle on foot, so I asked, "You seem tired, are you sure you are all right?" and they said they were fine, so we decided to walk to Nijo Castle. Since some of the guests did not appear to understand English, I was very mindful that speaking too much to the others might make them bored. I have studied a little Spanish, and I thought that if I could speak more fluently, I could handle situations like this better.

Inside the grounds as well, the group was occupied with looking after the younger members, so I felt I should not intrude and decided to keep my explanations to a minimum. After going around the Ninomaru Palace, some of the guests said they wanted to use the restroom, so without seeing the garden, we went to the outside toilets. When they came out, they said, "Since some of us are tired, we would like to leave part of the group at the Hotel and continue the tour with just some of us." I asked, "Will it be all right to leave them by themselves?" and they said, "There are cameras, so it will be fine," so we decided to walk back to the Hotel again.

On the way, they said they wanted to shop at a convenience store, so they bought rice balls and snacks. It seemed they tried a monaka ice cream sandwich for the first time and liked it very much. They said that although a similar snack exists back home, the Japanese Pocky tasted better. Then, when we arrived at the Hotel, the group said, "After all, it is better to stay together, so we would like to end the tour here," and we said our goodbyes. The guests remembered that I had asked at the start of the tour to take a photo, and kindly sent me the photo I had taken via the messaging app. The photo was taken in front of the gate of Nijo Castle.

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

Tour Report by Satoko

I am a 53-year-old woman, living in Kyoto for nearly 40 years. I got the license in 2001. Since then, I worked as an interpreter or a translator in several companies, secretary at universities, and now work for a company on weekdays at the international dept.I do guiding job only weekend now. I started full swing guiding career after COVID-19 pandemic. I have gotten good review from many of my guests. I love my hometown, Kyoto which has a lot of interesting and historical sites to see. Particularly, I am native to Arashiyama which is famous for bamboo forest. So, I know a lot of places where you can relax yourself around this area. Other than that, Kyoto has many attractive sites which surely interest you.Also, I like meeting many people from different cultural background. I am very happy if I learn about your culture as well. Let’s enjoy exploring around Kyoto!