Nara Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Kazu

Title: What Is a Private Guided Day Tour of Nara Like? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were a group visiting from North America, on their first trip to Japan. Their itinerary covered Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, and Nara. At Kasuga Taisha Shrine, I explained the history of Nara and Kyoto, the history of the stone lanterns, and the history of the shrine itself, but the request from the group was that after a brief five-minute explanation at each site, they would prefer to have fifteen or thirty minutes of free time to stroll around on their own. They were that kind of guest. So at Todaiji Temple I arranged it that way, but in the case of a Nara tour the destinations are fairly clustered together — too short a distance to justify a taxi, yet a little far to walk comfortably. In the end, I regrettably had no choice but to have them walk as usual, and during the walks I was able to share various stories with them. Gradually they warmed up, and while chatting cheerfully with some of the guests, the rest joined in as well, and from partway through it became a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. At first I wasn't sure how it would go, but the cute deer came to the rescue. Meals were a challenge, as the group had various preferences and there seemed to be little they could all eat. In the end they compromised at a casual Chinese restaurant in town. During the meal I learned about their studies at university and their career paths, and I was genuinely impressed by how accomplished they were. There was a small incident when, in order to check the reserved seats for their return train, I boarded the train back to Kyoto together with them, and while I was confirming the seats the train started moving, so instead of heading back I ended up going all the way to Kyoto. Nonetheless, the tour concluded without any problems.

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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