Full Day South Okinawa Private Tour of history, culture and jungle

Kumiko is the very best tour guide. She is very knowledgeable, kind, thoughtful, friendly and funny. On this Garden and Foodie Tour, she took us to the most beautiful park called Bios on the Hill. We took a jungle boat cruise and saw water Buffalo, lots of different plants, trees , ferns and orchids, plus an Okinawan dancer in traditional costume. You can walk and pet goats and water Buffalo. We went to a sea grape farm and sorted and tasted the seaweed and later had sea grape soft serve. It was so delicious! That was a fun experience. She took us to Kokusai Dori and we ate taco rice, Okinawan shortbread made by Royal family bakers, and German baumkuchen cake. Then spent the afternoon on the pottery street meeting artisan master potters and visiting dozens of pottery shops. We found the right artisan shisa dog lion statues for our rooftops. We got to do everything we wanted!

This tour was the last of three days we spent with Kumiko, and it proved to be just as great as the first two! Highly recommend the coral dyeing experience-those in our family who are artistically challenged enjoyed it just as much as the artists. The UNESCO sites at Shuri Castle were very interesting. Kumiko was gracious enough to work with us on a custom itinerary for our other tour day. We went to the Hameyuri Peace Museum, which tells the tragic story of a group of high school girls who were ordered to join a Japanese Army Field Hospital medical unit during WWII. The museum serves as a sobering reminder of the wrenching human cost of war. Kumiko is a true gem–she has a thorough knowledge of Okinawan history and culture, and is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She went above and beyond to show us sites related to our family’s Okinawan roots. Thank you, Kumiko-san!

My tour of South Okinawa was fantastic! Kumiko was such a great guide, a real Okinawan hostess! She had such great knowledge of the entire island and was able to tailor the tour to my specific interests. I learned so much about the history of the island and all the things that continue to make it, and it's people, unique. I loved the restaurant where we had lunch, such a great opportunity to taste the local fare! Having a native speaker and Okinanwan resident made all the difference in this tour! 100%

Kumiko was AWESOME! She let us customize our day as we went. She really made us feel special adapting the day to us. She also took us to probably the best meal we had the whole 9 days we were in Japan. I can not recommend her enough!

Kumiko communicated with me many times on e-mail to discuss our customized itinerary. She provides detailed, historical content for Okinawa. Kumiko offered us choices for the four of us to enjoy the itinerary. We visited Shuri Castle. The Japanese emperor's summer house and garden which was landscaped in the Chinese, Japanese and Okinawan styles and it was memorable and just beautiful. We went to an artisan workshop to coral dye our tote bags, lacquer store, and pottery stores.

If there was a rating higher than 5 stars, we would give it. Kumiko was wonderful. She put together an itinerary that included cultural and historical sights, included a craft that we all loved, coral dyeing, and we are taking home a souvenir that we made. For reference, we are a family of 4 and our children are 18 and 21. She selected a restaurant for lunch that served traditional Okinawan food and the atmosphere was delightful. We would come back to Okinawa just to spend another day with Kumiko.