Japan culture guide

21/12/2024

Recently, I had a shocking experience.

I received an email from a customer I had guided a few months earlier, saying that I was the worst guide ever. I have guided over 400 customers so far, but I had never received such a foul message (the language was so dirty that I can't even write it here), and I felt very depressed.

I feel very sorry that I wasn't able to satisfy the customer, and I keep asking myself what I did wrong. Even looking at my record notebook, there is a note that it wasn't very exciting, but there were no particular problems. After all, it was a customer from a few months ago, so I couldn't remember the details of the exchange, and I couldn't identify the cause.

However, there was a message from that person that said something like “We very KINDLY helped you out during Covid”, but to be honest I don't know what that means. It's true that I received a reservation from that person during the corona period, but in the end it was cancelled and I returned the deposit properly. That person seemed to be hinting at something about the corona period (I don't have the impression that I was helped by that person), but it seems that my reply of “Corona was a long time ago” seemed to offend them.

I feel bad that I was unable to notice the customer's dissatisfaction due to my lack of language skills. However, I also do not want to see incorrect information based on misunderstandings spread on SNS and other platforms. I will not directly refute such distorted information, but I would like to take this opportunity to say that I have received many messages of gratitude from the majority of my past customers.

Ken Oka
Japan Culture Guide
ZENflow Planning LLC (ZENflow Tours)

18/12/2024

https://www.jcultureguide.com/golf/

I started to offer new service, a GOLF TOUR on Japan Culture Guide website. Please take a look and have a try playing with Ken Oka.

Are you a golf enthusiast? Japan is the world’s second largest golfing nation after the United States in terms of the number of golf courses. Did you know that there are also many golf courses in the Tokyo area? ZENflow Tours has started offering golf tours with car transportation from hotels in T...

11/11/2024

To all visitors to Japan: Before asking us to show you around Mt. Fuji, please read this basic information about sightseeing in the area.
https://www.jcultureguide.com/mt_fuji/

28/08/2024

https://searchguides.jp/2024/08/26/shigaraki/

Table of Contents Overview Must-see spots The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park The Miho Museum Asamiya tea Access Map Overview Shigaraki (Koga City, Shiga Prefecture) is a region with a long history. It was the location of Japan’s capital for a time in the 8th century, before Kyoto. Today, it is a ...

28/09/2023

Overcome Over-tourism! Introducing the spots not touristy - Wazuka & Kasagi

Theme: Tea fields, Green tea, History 1. Overview Wazuka-town and Kasagi-town in the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture are introduced as places to visit where you can avoid crowds and enjoy Japanese culture at a leisurely pace. This area has long been an important region connecting Kyoto, Osaka, and...

21/09/2023

Overcome Over-tourism! Introducing the spots not congested - Hachioji Kagai (Geisha town)

Theme: Geisha, Ramen noodles 1. Overview Affordable and easy to book are the geisha of Hachioji. Hachioji is a core city in western Tokyo but is also a rare place where geisha culture remains. At the end of the 19th century, when Japan opened its borders to the outside world and silk products were a...

14/09/2023

Overcome Over-tourism!
Introducing the spots not touristy - Iga

Theme: NINJA, little Kyoto, Ceramics 1. Overview Iga City, Mie Prefecture, is introduced as a place to visit where you can avoid the crowds and enjoy Japanese culture leisurely. This city, adjacent to Kyoto and Nara, has long flourished as a transportation hub and is known as one of the "little Kyot...

07/09/2023

Overcome Over-tourism! Introducing the spots not congested - TOHAKU Chakan

Theme: Japanese cuisine, ZEN, Japanese Garden 1. Overview One of the largest museums in Japan, the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno, is a great place to learn about Japanese history and culture chronologically. On the other hand, did you know that behind this huge building lies a beautiful Japanese gar...

01/09/2023

Overcome Over-tourism! Introducing the spots not touristy - Hikone

Theme: Samurai, Tea Ceremony, Religious Faith 1. Overview Hikone City in Shiga Prefecture is first introduced as a place to visit where you can avoid the crowds and enjoy Japanese culture leisurely. It is conveniently located between Nagoya and Kyoto on the Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo, making...

31/08/2023

Check out my blog post

Inbound tourists from this spring have returned sharply. That's good news for the travel industry, which has gone through three years of hardship, but it's also an instant problem of over-tourism. Kyoto seemed particularly intense, and the videos of the Gion Festival period showed a murderous crowd....

07/03/2023

According to the latest forecast, cherry blossoms will start blooming first in the west of Japan due to the recent hot temperatures in Japan (Fukuoka, Kochi). In Tokyo, it will be out on March 18, 2-3 days earlier than the previous forecast. If it's true, because cherry flowers last only for 2 weeks, the blooming season will end at the end of March in Tokyo this year. Japanese are very concerned about the cherry season as it is a symbol of the arrival of spring.

13/02/2023

Japan Culture Guide website has revamped! It is the 1st renewal since its opening in 2019. The new site is more friendly and well-organized than before, as it is designed by a web designer (old one was made by me...) It has more and more photos of my guest customers.

Please visit the webpage and take a look. If you know your friends planning a visit to Tokyo and looking for a private tour guide, please share the page with them.

www.jcultureguide.com

21/01/2023

2023 Cherry flowering will start Mar 20-22 in Tokyo

Two major weather organizations in Japan published this year’s cherry blossom forecast. Earth Communication Provider announced on Jan 11 that the flowering date of cherry blossoms in Tokyo this year would be Mar 22, two days earlier than the average year, and full bloom on Mar 30. The following day, on Jan 12, Weathernews forecasted that the flowering date in Tokyo would be Mar 20. If this forecast is accurate, the best season for cherry viewing in Tokyo will be around Mar 22-30 this year. Therefore, it is better to visit Tokyo in March if you want to watch cherry flowers. But be careful; the forecasts may change depending on the weather, especially temperature, from now on.

27/12/2022

This year's Christmas was my 60th birthday. Thanks to the tourism industry's recovery, I had customers from Canada even at the end of the year. They were kind enough to buy me a birthday gift from their country—a tablecloth with a printing of a moose and Canadian maple leaves. I love and appreciate this kind of small exchange of goodwill each other with my customers. Concerning maple leaves, the size of maple leaves is totally different in Canada and Japan, as well as the size of each country's land.

18/12/2022

Wishing you a beautiful Holiday Season and a New Year of Peace and Happiness

See you in Tokyo 2023!

01/12/2022

MLIT (Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism) announced that Japanese ports would accept international cruise vessels. The JICC (Japan International Cruise Committee) guideline was published on the 15th of November. According to it, all passengers must certify multiple vaccinations and negative PCR test results within three days before boarding. Though these rules exist, the reopening of international cruises is most welcome for local towns with arrival ports because a particular portion of visitors to Japan fly into Tokyo to stay there for a few days and then start the cruise tour all over Japan from Yokohama port. PRINCESS Cruise and CUNARD Cruise decided to resume operation in Japan next spring. We expect increased tourists will come to Japan next year.