Kyoto Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Kazu

# What Is a Private Kyoto Tour Like During the New Year Holidays? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were visiting Japan and Kyoto for the first time from North America. Their plan was to stay in Kyoto for a while after Tokyo, then travel around Hiroshima, Nara, and Osaka before returning to Tokyo and heading home. They were a lively and delightful pair. They were fluent in English, but were constantly chatting and laughing between themselves in Spanish about all sorts of amusing things. Since I couldn't understand what they were saying, when I would somewhat forcefully begin explaining at a spot, they would quiet down and look into my eyes, listening intently just like elementary school students. That extreme contrast was truly wonderful and entertaining. They loved the word "ookini," and when I mentioned that if I kept saying "ookini" a shop might give me something extra, they found it so amusing that at the stalls of Fushimi Inari they bought all kinds of food and drinks, repeatedly exclaiming "ookini," and burst into laughter with delight whenever the vendors laughed back. With such cheerful company, today was a great deal of fun in a different sense. They were deeply moved by Sanjusangendo. As you may know, North America has a culture, much like Japan's Obon, of welcoming the souls of the dead once a year, so with guests from that region we always get excited talking about this topic. While Japan's Obon feels like quietly remembering the departed, today they told me about a film called "Un Poco Loco," which depicts the local celebration of the dead (Dia de Muertos), a cheerful festival where the skeletons of the dead sing songs with guitars and the audience are skeletons too. You can watch it on YouTube. Since today was still within the first three days of the New Year, wherever we went there were overwhelmingly more Japanese people than usual, and it was a day of eating our way through the stalls and seeing how much we could make the vendors laugh.

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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