Kyoto in 1 Day from Osaka: Customized Tour — Guide Kazu

What Is a Private Kyoto Day Tour from a Cruise Ship at Osaka Port Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were a group visiting from North America on their first trip to Japan. They flew from North America to Tokyo, and from there traveled by cruise ship along a route from Tokyo to Yokohama, Osaka, and Hiroshima. On the day the ship called at Osaka, the guests chose to sightsee in Kyoto rather than Osaka. Since one of the guests moved at a slower pace, we kept an easygoing tempo throughout the day. One of the guests was very sharp, well-mannered, and charming, and asked most of the questions. At Nijo Castle, I gave a brief explanation about the samurai and the shogun, though the guests did not seem especially interested in Japanese history.

At the request of the guests, we visited one of my favorite spots, Obai-in at Daitoku-ji Temple, where they enjoyed the quiet, beautiful greenery and a profound garden and dry landscape (karesansui), and I gave a short explanation about Zen. Originally I had also planned to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha, but after lunch it became shopping time, and the shopping continued for quite a while. Later, while we were strolling through Nishiki Market, one of the guests suddenly turned pale and desperately tried to tell me something — it turned out they had accidentally picked up a shop clerk's mobile phone, mistaking it for their own, at a small goods shop earlier, and the phone kept ringing. We rushed back to the shop and apologized profusely. After all that, there was no way we could make it to Fushimi Inari.

For the trip between Osaka and Kyoto, at the guests' request, we used the Shinkansen both ways. Since they had been on the ship the whole time after arriving in Japan, the Shinkansen felt fresh and novel to them. The ship departed from Tempozan at 8:00 that evening, heading for Hiroshima.

Click here for more details: Kyoto in 1 Day from Osaka: Customized Tour, Licensed Guide

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