Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Toshi

Title: What Is a Private One-Day Kyoto Tour Like from Kyoto Station? A Licensed Guide's Report

I met the guests, a group visiting from North America, on time in front of the Starbucks inside Kyoto Station. I explained the planned itinerary, which was Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kiyomizu-dera, Tenryu-ji, the bamboo grove, Kinkaku-ji, and Teramachi shopping street, and then began guiding.

At Fushimi Inari Taisha, it became clear that one of the guests was unable to walk normally, so our movement had to be quite slow. At Kiyomizu-dera, after climbing partway up the approach, that guest decided not to continue and waited outside the grounds, sitting on the stone steps, while I guided the other guest inside.

From Kiyomizu-dera we traveled by bus and train to Saga-Arashiyama, where we had lunch, and then I guided the group through Tenryu-ji. They enjoyed the beauty of the Tenryu-ji garden. We then passed through the north gate of Tenryu-ji, walked through the bamboo grove, and strolled toward the Arashiyama station of the Randen tram. However, walking was very slow, with many stops along the way, so it took a great deal of time.

I recommended taking a taxi, but this was declined with the reply that walking slowly was fine. Keeping in mind the closing time of Kinkaku-ji, I judged that we could not extend things any further, so we made our way using the nearest Randen line. When we arrived at Kinkaku-ji it was 15 minutes before closing, so I guided quickly, and the guests seemed deeply impressed by its beauty.

By that point the scheduled guiding time had already passed, but I was asked to continue to the shopping street, so we headed there by bus. Traffic conditions were poor, and by the time we reached Shijo-Kawaramachi we had gone considerably over the guiding time. We parted ways there.

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Tour Report by Toshi

After a rather long teaching experience at Japanese college, I converted my career about 6 years ago into working as a tour guide for the tourists visiting Japan.
As my career overseas, I’ve been in the UN and the Japanese Embassy, all in the USA, totaling more than 6 years.
And then I had made a big change in my career from a diplomat to an academic researcher. For that career to achieve, I studied abroad and won a doctorate degree in linguistics from Indiana University and landed a teaching position at college in Japan.
With all these interesting and exciting experiences I’ve made myself ready to enrich your tour and make it both enjoyable and worthwhile.