Kyoto in One Day: Sightseeing ⑤: Ginkaku-ji — Guide Nori

Title: Can You Do a 6-Hour Private Walking Tour of Kyoto's Higashiyama Area? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were a group visiting Japan for sightseeing from North America. One of the guests handled all the communication and coordination. My assignment was confirmed on September 20, and I sent my first message right away, but a reply only came about a month later. Their wish list was quite packed for a 6-hour course, with seven locations requested (Fushimi Inari, Higashiyama/Gion, Kiyomizu-dera, Sannenzaka, the Philosopher's Path, To-ji, and Eikan-do). Since these are connected along the Higashiyama area, I tried to create an itinerary that met their wishes as closely as possible (Fushimi Inari → Kiyomizu-dera → Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka → Eikan-do → the Philosopher's Path → Ginkaku-ji). After this, there were also requests such as "Could we do a kimono experience somewhere?", but considering travel time and crowds, I helped them understand that "adding anything more would force us to cancel one of the destinations," and we finalized the itinerary.

On the morning of the tour, because the guests wanted to "save as much time as possible and see many places," I set the meeting point right in front of JR Inari Station, directly in front of the first destination, Fushimi Inari. I started waiting at 8:00, thirty minutes early, ready for the 8:30 meeting. However, even at the scheduled 8:30 the guests did not appear, and instead I received a message saying they were trying to head to Inari from their hotel near Nijo Castle, but would be late due to a subway accident and delay. I had chosen an on-site meeting point specifically to save time, but the plan fell apart due to the transportation situation. In any case, the challenge became how to flexibly handle an already tight itinerary now running thirty minutes behind. I decided the only way was to discuss it based on the itinerary once I met the guests.

After waiting thirty minutes, the guests arrived at exactly 9:00. They greeted me apologetically, but I proposed, "This happens often, no problem at all. Let's think together about how to make up for this delay and make the tour enjoyable." I raised the points that "to make up for the thirty-minute delay, we would use a taxi for transportation if necessary, and if crowds or other factors made things take too long, we would decide on the spot and consider canceling part of the plan." The guests agreed, saying "that's a good idea," so we proceeded with the itinerary on that basic principle.

At each destination, I felt I should not rush through and produce a shallow sightseeing experience, so I tried to take a careful look around and give thorough basic explanations wherever possible. In that respect, the guests were able to thoroughly enjoy Japanese culture, history, and religion at each place we visited. Still, due to time and crowds, we did take taxis for two of the transfers, and amid the crowds at Kiyomizu-dera we canceled "Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka" — regrettable, but I believe these were unavoidable decisions. Fortunately, the guests were all full of energy, and the fact that they could move smoothly on foot was a major plus.

At the start, worry got the better of me and I wondered how it would all turn out, but by the end, helped by the fine weather, I feel I was able to provide a very pleasant guiding experience.

Click here for more details: Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with Licensed Guide

Tour Report by Nori

Hi, everyone! I’m Norifumi Kamon, a government registered guide interpreter. Please call me “Nori”, or “Kamon-san”.
Let me introdece myself. I was born on April 17th in 1952 in Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu island. I used to be an English teacher of Osaka Prefectural high school. When I retired from a teacher ten years ago, I decided to get a professional guide license. I wanted to play a role of the bridge between Japanese people and the people from all over the world as a second life of mine. After two years efforts, I finally got the guide license. Since then, I have guided several handreds of foreign people mainly in Kyoto and Nara for about five years except Corona Pandemic period. Almost all the tourists were deeply impressed by the beauty of nature, traditoin, culture, and art of Japan. I can surely help you enjoy and be satisfied with the sightseeing in Japan. And I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.