It was a pleasure to follow Yoko’s guidance off the beaten paths and learn about Japan and her history. It gave us an insight into how everything is connected within the Japanese culture and the way it’s interwoven with its ‘religions’ / way of life. We definitely recommend! 🫶😊👍

My wife and I decided to go on this tour because we had a special interest in gaining a deeper understanding of how Buddhism and Shinto are intertwined and impact Japanese culture/way of life. We consider ourselves very open minded and empathetic people.
While we got some of that on this tour, the guide had a difficult time separating her personal views from being informative. She went on several personal views rants, unfortunately. As a guide overall, she is extremely knowledgeable about the topics and overall friendly, but she needs to organize her tour content/talking points more.
We were also late due to some train issues, so that’s our fault. But she sent me some rude messages about it when I told her we were running late and the reason. It was as if she didn’t believe me unfortunately. Even though we were the only ones booked on the tour that day. Also, the night before the tour, she asked if we’d be open to cancelling the tour via Airbnb and paying her directly instead.

This is an in-depth look at Shintoism and Buddhism in Japan through the lens of a few lesser-touristed, beautiful temples and shrines in Kyoto. I really enjoyed being away from the crowds and Yoko’s enthusiasm for sharing her knowledge of Japanese culture. Sometimes we were the only people on the grounds of a beautiful temple, which was very special and the best way to experience these serene places!

Speaking of hidden gems, Yoko herself was a gem of a tourist guide. She deeply cares about sharing what she knows with her guests. She happily shared with us various hidden gems (no other tourists, very quiet and peaceful), explained concepts of the Shinto and Buddhist way of life, and taught us how to respectfully enter and offer reverence at shrines and temples. For anyone looking for a genuine way to learn about Japanese culture, values and the deeper meaning behind the WHY, this is an excellent tour.

We ate lunch right before the tour so our tummies were full and that helped us pay attention to all the cool info. Yoko also took breaks and paused at shrines, temples and super scenic nature spots along the way so we had some short rests along the way.

Many others described Yoko as your BFF in Kyoto and they are absolutely right. Yoko was super friendly so she made us feel at home.

Thank you Yoko for a wonderful day, definitely a highlight of our time in Kyoto!!