Tōfuku-ji Temple චාරිකා

Yutaka was a fantastic tour guide, we had a memorable day visiting the temples & we learned lots along the way. He was full on interesting information and local knowledge. The temples were stunning and not too busy with other tourists. Lovely guided meditation session with a monk & a delicious vegan lunch to finish off the tour perfectly. We highly recommend this to anyone looking for an authentic experience.

Our guide, Sarah organized this tour extremely well. Her instructions were clear and she guided us to each attraction seamlessly. We had an amazing time both at Ine Bay and Amanohashidate. This tour is a must if you're in Japan!

Our guide Ms Shion was amazing! She is very enthusiastic and engaging. The walk covers quite a lot at a good pace but we didn’t spot any maikos or geishas which was my main objective. I wonder if the route could be reversed so there’s a higher chance of spotting the talented artistes at the the Queen of Geisha district?

I received my reminder and instructions the day before the tour and you are requested to join the WhatsApp group for the tour. We meet outside the Nippombashi Station Exit 2. A lot of other tour groups as gather there to London buses so make sure you arrive early enough and keep your eyes peeled for whatever marker they are wearing/carrying. For our tour we had two tour guides, Nox and Rex. They were engaging and shared stories of Japan’s history of Osaka, Amanohashidate, Ine fishing village, and Miyama. This was definitely the highlight of our trip! One tip I would like to share is, make sure you eat breakfast beforehand and also bring a few snacks in case you end up not having time to eat lunch while exploring. Plan to eat in Amanohashidate, because that’s the only place where you’ll have extended time. We opted to have our tour guides purchase tickets for the Ine sightseeing boat tour as well as the chairlift in Amanohashidate. Get the milk and milk pudding in Miyama!

පුදුමාකාර අත්දැකීමක්! ගේෂා/මයිකෝ කෙනෙක්ව මුණගැහෙන්න ලැබීම ඇත්තටම දුර්ලභ අවස්ථාවක් වන අතර, ඇය සමඟ මෙතරම් සමීපව ක්‍රීඩාවක් කිරීම ඉතා විනෝදජනක විය.

නයිජෝ මාලිගයේදී අයේ අපූරු සංචාරක මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙක් විය! ඔහු ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් දැනුමැති වූ අතර, මාලිගය, එහි ඉතිහාසය සහ අපට තනිවම දැකගත නොහැකි වූ විශේෂාංග පිළිබඳ බොහෝ සිත්ගන්නාසුළු තොරතුරු බෙදා ගත්තේය. මම මීට පෙර මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙකු නොමැතිව නයිජෝ මාලිගයට ගොස් ඇති අතර, මෙම අත්දැකීම 100% වඩා හොඳ බව මට අවංකවම කිව හැකිය. මම බොහෝ දේ ඉගෙන ගත් අතර මාලිගය සහ එහි ඉතිහාසය පිළිබඳ සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නව ඇගයීමක් සමඟින් පිටව ගියෙමි. විශිෂ්ට මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙකු වීමට අමතරව, අයේ ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් කල්පනාකාරී සහ අවධානයෙන් සිටියේය. අපගේ සංචාරය අතරතුර වැසි වැටීමට පටන් ගත් විට, ඔහු අපට කුඩ ලබා දීමට පවා ඉදිරිපත් විය! එය ඉතා කාරුණික අභිනයක් වූ අතර ඔහුගේ සංචාරවල සිටින පුද්ගලයින් ගැන ඔහු කොතරම් සැලකිලිමත් වනවාද යන්න සැබවින්ම පෙන්නුම් කළේය. මට අයේව ප්‍රමාණවත් තරම් නිර්දේශ කළ නොහැක. ඔබ කියෝතෝ හි නයිජෝ මාලිගයට යනවා නම්, ඔහුව ඔබේ මාර්ගෝපදේශකයා ලෙස සිටීම අත්දැකීම වඩාත් අර්ථවත් හා අමතක නොවන එකක් බවට පත් කරයි. එවැනි අපූරු සංචාරයක් සඳහා ඔබට ස්තූතියි, අයේ!

Our tour guide, who could switch between Chinese, Japanese, and English, and also spoke Korean, made sure every group member was taken care of. It was a huge benefit not having to research the history and stories of each attraction ourselves. They offered pre-ordered lunch, which allowed us more time to explore Kiyomizu-dera Temple and its surroundings, and the food was quite good. The itinerary was well-paced for the limited time (however, this tour is not suitable for travelers who prefer to savor sights slowly or spend a lot of time taking photos, as the time allotted for Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine doesn't allow for walking the entire Senbon Torii path!). The tour bus was clean and tidy, and the ride was smooth and steady. I'm prone to motion sickness and usually sleep on buses, and I didn't wake up due to poor driving.

This was such a great tour! Reon was our guide and he was fantastic. he walked at a good pace, had a picture book to show us everything he was talking about and knew soooo much about the topics he was talking on. he was able to answer all the questions. a very exciting part was we got to see a geisha in training (Maiko) walk by and it brought everything to life. Reon was quick to point her out so we didn’t miss the moment. great tour , lots of really cool information and not difficult walking. would highly recommend. was awesome seeing Kyoto at night!

This is Group 3 from the September 22nd tour! This was easily one of the most satisfying parts of our trip 😊 Thanks in particular to our guide, Oh Seok-bong, it felt like much more than just a sightseeing tour—we learned so much about Japan. Even during the bus rides, he kept sharing a wealth of practical information for travelers, such as Japanese culture, daily life tips, local hidden gems for dining, and shopping lists 🚌📌 Rather than the cliché information you easily find online, much of it was immediately useful on the ground, which also helped with the rest of our independent travel. I especially remember him telling us, "Don't buy your souvenirs here; go to Don Quijote instead, as these are overpriced" 😂 It was both funny and touching because it felt like he was genuinely looking out for our wallets 💸 The sightseeing itinerary and explanations were wonderful, and even after the tour ended, he told us to contact him anytime if we needed restaurant reservations. He even said that if we ever return to Japan after going back to Korea, we could reach out to him with no strings attached, and that he would help us if any issues arose during our travels, which gave us great peace of mind 🙏 It's common for relationships to end as soon as a one-day tour is over, so his continued care and support left a strong impression. We were completely satisfied with the sightseeing, the information, and the kindness, and he is a guide we would love to meet again on our next trip to Japan. We made wonderful memories thanks to guide Oh Seok-bong 😊 Highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐