Our best day in Japan (May 1, 2024) - From the Viator website, I liked the picture of Takashi who was our guide for the day and his description “let’s uncover secrets of majestic Kyoto history” does just as he says and more. Takashi was hands-down, the best experience my son and I had for the duration of our stay in Japan (Tokyo to Kyoto and back to Tokyo for a total of 10 days). We did a number of tours through Viator including a trip to Mount Fuji, Teamlab Borderless, Go-karts plus our own exploration. At the end of it (May 5, 2024), my almost twenty-year-old son concludes that, “my experience with Takashi in Kyoto has changed my life and as a result, I’m okay with the transition out of my teenage years into my twenties”. Thank you from both of us now that we are back home. We continue to say to friends, family and colleagues that our day with you was simply the most remarkable. And, as said Takashi, we welcome you to our Calgary home, should you ever choose to come back to Canada. For anyone who sees Takashi through Viator or other – DO THIS TOUR WITH TAKASHI. You will spend a day with a remarkable, intelligent, gracious young man, and be delighted with the unique venues that he chooses to share with those who choose this tour with him. In conclusion, the ease of just being with Takashi combined with his willingness to meld his itinerary and ours, plus having the ease of a vehicle at our disposal, we saw everything and so much more than we could have ever imagined. I will be forever grateful to have shared this experience with my son, and with Takashi. Melaney and Dante.

Super experience! Take the tour. - Excellent tour, we want to many places and saw many things that the “busy tourist” never gets to see. The place, the food and our guide were awesome. I would highly recommend to others.

Exceptional Tour Guide - Exceptional young man who did research and organized tour itineraries of Kyoto and Nara based on our requests. Takashi Kikuchi is a self made tour guide with a spacious and comfortable minivan. Highly recommended to any one interested in getting a tour of hidden locations that are off the regularly visited tourist sites.

Exceptional Tour Guide - Exceptional young man who did research and organized tour itineraries of Kyoto and Nara based on our requests. Takashi Kikuchi is a self made tour guide with a spacious and comfortable minivan. Highly recommended to any one interested in getting a tour of hidden locations that are off the regularly visited tourist sites.

Personal guided tour - Takashi and his student chicka were brilliant they made our tour really personal and took us off the touristy track

!00% Recommended — Great way to experience Japan! - Takashi was an excellent guide who showed us the hidden gems of Kyoto and Osaka. He was kind enough to share interesting facts and insights about life in Japan. He was also very flexible and accommodating to our needs and preferences, especially since we had a senior in our group. We highly recommend Takashi to anyone who wants a flexible and authentic Japan experience!

Great alternative for main temples - Visited great sites, all with minimal people, just as impressive all the main temples. Lunch stop was delicious and at unexpected location, a pleasant surprise.

lovely - This was a great tour. The guide, Takashi, was very friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating. He spoke very good English. We went to one more visited shrine and then to three temples which were smaller, less visited and absolutely beautiful. With this tour, I feel I have seen some of the best that Kyoto has to offer and have been left with wonderful memories.

Two tumbs up for Mr. Takashi - I liked the way the tour guide chose the locations to go to. Also, the tour guide is good and speaks English fluently. We also experienced the usual Japanese lifestyle as well as their authentic foods and snacks. Highly recommend the tour guide Mr. Takashi, he is very friendly and very accomodating even though we didn't feel well because of the climate, he still managed to entertain us. Two thumbs up.

A peaceful tour through Kyoto. - We were picked up from our hotel at 9:00 AM by Takashi, who speaks very English very well. We headed to one of the larger shrines in the that had stunning views of the shrine gates and bamboo forests. We then drove to a few different temples, go inside each time. The temples all had different historical significance, which made them special to us. For example, on of the temples had only Women monks, which is very rare, but the reason why is a powerful story. It was truly humbling to learn more about these places. We then went to another temple where my hobbit feet could barely fit in the slippers, which gave everyone a good laugh, but we made it through just fine. We observed pieces of historical artwork from the 7th and 8th centuries of incredible detail. We also had lunch at one of Takashi’s favorite ramen places in town, and my Wife and I both agree it was the best ramen we’ve ever had in our life. We also tried some local eats along the way, including some caramelized miso mochi across from the shrine, and a sampling of some pickled mushrooms and bamboo from one of the local families. The shrine was the most crowded place we went to, but the temples were very calm and serene. It was truly an amazing experience. My only recommendation to Takashi would be to speak to the context a little more about the destinations on the way there, but otherwise you’ll learn much while at each location. Hint — Stop and read the signs at the temples and shrines, they’ll give you a lot of info as well and many have English translations next to them.