Dear Nobusan,
We enjoyed our tour with you, please use my review below to your testimonial.
When we attempted to book the tour, we were handled off to Nagata-san. He immediately contacted me - I booked this probably a month in advance - and started to set an itinerary for us. My wife and I lived in Japan for a couple years about 17 years ago and had been to Kyoto several times, so we had some specific requests. We were traveling with our two sons (13yo & 9yo), so it was mix of temples and shrines, but also some getting the wiggles out time. Nagata-san was great about this - he understood our needs to mix up the trip with a variety of things to keep the kids interested.
When we began the process, we thought we should see several of the 'standard' temples and shrines, after all there are only 2,000 to choose from. Nagata-san made some recommendations based on our time in Kyoto and even our hotel location since we could do some on our own. We started the day in the bamboo forest - wow! This was truly a very cool place to start and one that will be difficult to see on a traditional tour bus. We were driving on roads that barely fit his van - a brand new Toyota that was just 7 days old. That was probably one of the best part of the tour - going places that a traditional tour bus couldn't go, like the bamboo forest, 1,200 stone Buddha statues temple, and even Gion to see a Geisha and a few maikos(apprentice Geisha). Nagata-san also took us to a terrific place for udon - Alice Noodle Wonderbar - for homemade tempura udon.
Since this is a private tour, you're able to go when and where you want or even mix it up mid-tour. Frankly, I was surprised at the costs - when I compared this to a traditional bus tour for our family of 4, it was LESS expensive and we were able to see and do more. I highlight recommend Nagata-san.
From Mr. Scott Ford.
** *** ** *** ** *** ** *** **
Dear Mr. Scott Ford,
Thank you very much for your great review.
I really appreciate you approving to use your review as testimonial of my website.
All of you are very educated and friendly, I was so impressed that your young sons completely understood my explanation.
I hope I will be able to guide you again in the near future.
Please give my best regards to your beautiful wife and cute sons.
Sincerely Regards,
Nobuaki Nagata
