Nara Customized Private Tour in 1 Day — Guide Kazu

Can You Do a Private Walking Tour of Nara from JR Nara Station? A Licensed Guide's Report

The guests were a group visiting from North America, on their first trip to Japan, and had been very much looking forward to it. When touring Nara, even though the sightseeing spots are clustered together, there are actually uphill slopes that make walking tiring, yet the distances are not far enough to justify a taxi, and taxis do not readily come by. So this time, we took a taxi from JR Nara Station and went straight up the hill to first visit Kasuga Taisha Shrine. After that, we followed a back path along the foot of Mount Wakakusa, which sits imposingly behind Kasuga Taisha, leading toward Todaiji Temple. We walked leisurely with the greenery of Mount Wakakusa right beside us, feeding senbei crackers to the deer along the way. By doing this, we were able to escape the surging crowds of tourists and school excursion students in front of the Nandaimon Great South Gate of Todaiji, and without having to deliberately climb the temple grounds and stone steps, we could head toward the main hall of Todaiji simply by walking downhill while taking in views of Nigatsudo, Sangatsudo, and the bell tower. Finally, we paid our respects to the Great Buddha, and with the Nandaimon Gate directly in front of us, we took a route toward Yoshikien and Isuien gardens that avoids the crowds. After enjoying the Japanese gardens, we walked a little along the main street beside the Nara Prefectural Office, and went up to the rooftop of the prefectural office building, which is always open to the public for free on both weekdays and weekends. From there, one can look out over Mount Kasuga, Mount Wakakusa, the main hall of Todaiji, and the Nandaimon Gate, and looking west, one can gaze far off at Mount Ikoma below. Almost no one is on this rooftop. There is even an air-conditioned room with chairs. There is also a nearby convenience store where you can take a break. Since there is a taxi stand in front of the prefectural office, we took a taxi from there to Naramachi, enjoyed Naramachi just a little, and then parted ways. In any case, it was again extremely hot and humid today, and by the end the guests were worn out, so we finished a little earlier than planned. It seems they were going to join a dinner tour in Gion, Kyoto, at 6 in the evening, so they had skipped lunch entirely, leaving everyone completely exhausted. Yet perhaps because they were so devoted to the dinner tour (laughs), not a single one of them ever said they were hungry, which impressed me greatly. The Japanese garden had a tea room — an authentic tea room with a nijiriguchi crawl-in entrance. When I asked if they knew about wabi-sabi, one of the guests knew even though the others did not, and explained it as "finding beauty in insufficiency and imperfection." When I asked where they had learned that, they said it was from Japanese anime. Anime is amazing. I think today's guests walked very well in this brutal heat without even eating. Normally, most people would skip Naramachi at the end. They did splendidly.

Click here for more details: Nara Customized Private Tour in 1 Day with 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