Fireworks Limited｜Ibaraki Tone River Fireworks Festival Day Trip (From Tokyo)

Ruby was a very good tour guide! We appreciated her good communication skills throughout the whole trip. She communicated in Chinese first, then English, providing information on the itinerary and interesting information regarding Japanese culture/history. She also worked well with the bus drivers with providing times and adjusting pick up points/viewing points. We had no issues and worries with the tour. Hitachi park was huge and we didn’t have enough time to explore all of it, but enough to see the highlights (we ran). Tonegawa fireworks was the best part of the trip! However for the best views of the fireworks we walked 30+ minutes one way (60+ minutes round trip), but it’s worth it especially with the view next to the river with locals who very audibly enjoy the fireworks. Make sure you have a good sim for comms, Airalo worked well for me; my fiancé’s external sim didn’t have good signal. Also, bring everything you would for a picnic: be prepared for rain and bugs. 10/10 reccomend

Our guide, Xiao Pan, was very attentive, sharing many stories about Japanese culture on the bus, as well as some spots to watch the fireworks. However, the overall itinerary wasn't very smooth. The Hitachi Seaside Park and the fireworks viewing location were not on the way at all. The one-hour stopover only allowed for a rushed visit, which was a bit of a shame.

During the Respect for the Aged Day long weekend in Japan, the tour guide announced before departure that due to longer travel times caused by the holiday, the bus would not wait for anyone who was not on time for the scheduled departure, and they would need to arrange their own transportation. At the first stop, Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki, the allotted time was reduced to only half an hour due to the long drive. Furthermore, the departure to Tone River was delayed because some passengers on the bus were late returning to the vehicle. As a result, the group arrived at the fireworks display after it had already started and were unable to find a place to sit and watch. When the fireworks ended, the bus was further delayed because some passengers were again late in returning to the vehicle. The bus had already departed back to Tokyo, but then turned around to pick up the missing passengers. The tour guide did not adhere to the original agreement and failed to pick up the late passengers, resulting in a return to Tokyo Station at 1:00 AM. This first-time experience led to a NT$1,000 taxi ride back to the hotel. It is recommended that the travel company further review its product plans for oversights and conduct practice runs to prevent visitors from having a disappointing experience.

The park portion of the itinerary felt unnecessary. Stopping for only half an hour didn't allow us to see much, and we had to budget time to walk from the park to the parking lot. I think it would have been better to go directly from the station to the fireworks festival venue, especially since it takes over an hour to get from the park to near the venue anyway. The tour guide and driver didn't arrange a proper parking spot, forcing everyone to get off quickly on the road and walk for half an hour to the viewing area. It felt like the itinerary wasn't well-planned. Also, the so-called viewing spot was just the tour guide leading us to secretly climb up a slope, avoiding the police, to get to the normal viewing area. But that's not right, it was really dangerous! When we were climbing up, the police even stopped us and lectured us, but the tour guide just walked away? Luckily, the police let us go, otherwise we would have rolled down the slope. When we were leaving the viewing area, we found out that we could have walked further, from the parking lot to the viewing area, and it wasn't as crowded there. It felt like the tour guide was just doing whatever they wanted. We also got stuck in traffic on the way back to Tokyo and didn't get back to Tokyo Station until almost 1 AM. But because of this, another group of tourists from a different bus were able to ride back with us. I don't know if their tour guide didn't wait for them and left or what. Our tour guide, in fact, left some customers behind at the park parking lot. They walked to the entrance and realized that half the bus hadn't gotten off, so we had to wait at the entrance for a while and with the help of the park staff, we were finally able to enter. Overall, it feels like the company didn't plan the itinerary well, and the tour guide wasn't experienced enough. Some of these situations could have been avoided. I hope you can continue to improve.

The tour and the guide were both great, almost too great, which led to some people being late. It was initially stated that there would be a 5-minute grace period for lateness, after which the group would leave without them, but the guide continued to wait, causing a significant delay in the return time. By the time we got back to Tokyo Station, the trains had stopped running, and we had to figure out our own way home.

There is not much to do in the seaside park in an hour. The weather is still very hot. I think it is okay to go straight to the point without this part. The position I was given should be the back of the fireworks. The view is quite open. If there is no drone performance, the text should not be visible, haha. I think it would be better if there is no intermission in the one-hour performance. There is no traffic jam on the way there and back. The one-hour drive is very moderate.

The trip to the park was in a hurry and it took an hour. It took 15-20 minutes to reach the flower garden, and I didn't stay for more than 5 minutes at all. The place to watch the fireworks is a bit far away and not close to the venue.

Very convenient, it is equivalent to saving myself from renting a car. The fireworks are also very beautiful. Ibaraki is too remote. It is very troublesome to go there without a car. The tour guide is very good.

The tour guide Yan-san was very good. He explained every detail of the itinerary carefully and recommended Tokyo delicacies. At the last meeting, some members were late, which affected the departure time. Yan-san also pointed out that he had a positive outlook. Thumbs up! Needless to say, the fireworks festival, the free area is also great, recommended!

For those who didn't buy the included seats, the location is good. You can watch the entire fireworks display. It's not crowded and there are many local Japanese watching the fireworks at the same location.