Calm, Quiet, Authentic Kyoto With a History & Culture Guide.

Our guide for our all day tour of Kyoto, Mike, was extraordinary. As we arrived at the Kobe port, aboard a cruise ship, Mike was present at the Ocean Terminal with a taxi reserved to take our small party of three to the Kobe train station to move us to Kyoto (through Osaka). We purchased round trip tickets so that we could return to the Kobe cruise terminal in the evening via bullet train to our ship. Mike took us through Kyoto providing interesting history at each of our points of interest, that you can only get from a personal tour guide. He co-opted his taxi-driver friend to transport us from point-to-point through the city during the national holiday — Golden Week — despite the epic crowds. He knew a small four-table restaurant where we had a delicious lunch, and met the owner who had a daughter who was a high school exchange student in Modesto, CA, very close to our Northern California homes near Sacramento. We concluded the day walking the grounds of the Golden Pavilion and learning more of its history than available in the tour literature. Mike assured that our taxi driver returned us to the Kyoto train station where we returned to Kobe on the bullet train, and the Cruise terminal via taxi. During our time together, we struck a mutual friendship with Mike that made our tour excursion more memorable than would otherwise have been possible.

We had a wonderful day with Mike and can highly recommend him. What stood out most was how thoughtfully he adapted the tour to our wishes. Rather than focusing mainly on tourist hotspots, we were looking for deeper background, history, and cultural insight — and Mike understood that perfectly. Of course, we also visited some iconic places, but the real highlight was spending time in the “backyards” of Kyoto’s history, discovering places and stories that gave us a much deeper and more authentic understanding of the city and its culture. Mike is incredibly knowledgeable and shared his insights with great warmth and passion. We especially appreciated his explanations about the differences between Western and Japanese proportions and how clearly these are reflected in architecture, images, and aesthetics. This gave us a completely new perspective. We also loved how he introduced us to the beauty of dry gardens and explained the differences between Shinto and Zen gardens. What made it so special was that he did not only share facts, but also helped us feel the different spirit, atmosphere, and meaning behind them. He also sent us a very detailed itinerary for our own discovery tour and kindly took many lovely photos of us during the day, which we greatly appreciated. It was a real pleasure spending the day with Mike, and we would warmly recommend him to anyone visiting Kyoto.

This was the second day with Mike and he took us to Nijo Castle, a walkng tour of Gion, the Golden Palace, Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama, and Fushimi Inari Shrine. At every place, he gave us a thorough historical and cultural context for what we were experiencing. The day was as much as we had hoped for. Oh, and he took us to lunch where we had outstanding Ramen noodles!

We Only had 1 Day with Mike and we did all we could. Mike picked us up at The train and Took us back to the exact Right spot. Mike is very spiritual and if you want a day with history and spiritual learnings, Mike is the person

We spent two full days with Mike and he is much more than a tour guide, including historian, teacher and cultural promoter. He took us to places and events that would help us better understand Japan and at the end of the day, we did. It was most enjoyable and we are so pleased we crossed paths.

Touring with Mike was one of the highlights of our 2 month long trip. He was personable, knowledgeable and concerned for our comfort. On top of this Mike taught us more about Japan than I expected to learn. He taught us some Japanese history, how to use the transportation system, and a few customs. Mike sent us photos of our time and gave us printed pictures and written information. Mike was pleasant to spend time with and paced his tour according to our needs. I highly recommend touring with Mike!