Your Japan Private Tours: guided & self-guided tour packages & city tours

15/06/2024

*Anger begets more anger, and forgiveness and love lead to more forgiveness and love.* Mahavira, 600 BC, royal Indian 24th preacher of Jainism

These words were said 100 years before the Gautama Buddha and 600 years before Christ. How many wise truths are taught in kindergartens or elementary schools or high schools across planet Gaia? Very few . . . In Japan too . . .

*Jainism:* Jain monks take five main vows: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (chastity ; *bummer*), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). These principles have affected Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly lacto-vegetarian lifestyle. *In Jainism the function of souls is to help one another.* It is the faith's motto, and the Namokar Mantra is its most common and strongest prayer.

26/02/2024

It was never meant to be a Teddy Bear! The cute white head represents our emotions, the next stone our thoughts, the next our bodies and the final big stone represents our auto-conscious mind (fck un-con or sub-con!!!). But it’s also a Teddy Bear. So sentient life is both complex & cute! Who knew?

28/11/2023

Nezu short for nezumi or rat is my only netsuke or old ivory samurai or Edo merchant sash waist accessory. And in the Chinese 12 animal characters the rat (and yes I’m a rat) reached the reposed and dying Siddhartha Gautama or the Buddha first. Rats are clever! Nezu rode on the back of the cow, saving his energy, and then dashed to the Buddha. The cow was second, and the erratic wild boar arrived last of all (no focus!). 2024, from Feb 10, is the year of the Dragon, the wood dragon (just in time for heightened CO2 awareness!). In Feb, Japan is awash in a subtle sea of pink; timeless hardy plum blossoms arranged on zig zag dark boughs, all imported from China, unlike cherry trees, which are native to Japan and China (momiji maples too!); cherry blossoms start from March 20 or so and Dragons love them! Learn more!

03/08/2023

Kids just wanna have fun and that has been true in Japan since they invented fired ceramics! Don't forget manga and anime but do consider the old-world ways of kids in Nippon. Japanese kids: heroes, foods, games, and naming traditions: https://www.kyoto-tokyo-private-tours.com/travel-planning-resources/japanese_kids_heroes_foods_games_names.html

18/07/2023

Not everything in Japan is kawaii or cute. Far from it! In the old worlds of Japan (and in the Japanese horror films) Noh masks like this one could be possessed by all manner of malicious spirits . . . And like Shakespeare plays, the modern Japanese generally have no "deep" understanding of their Noh theater form . . . The Japanese are different but in the end we are all the same . . . But not quite and that is why travel is so amazing!

01/07/2023

Here is what the glory of a sunny day in October looks like in the countryside (if you're lucky!)

01/07/2023

October on deck and let the Momiji madness begin!

There are two truly crazy months in the Japan travel calendar: October and March. Until 10 years ago the over tourism months were November and April! Yes, climate change! Big time!

Autumn in Japan is all about momiji maple leaves, orange persimmons, and golden gingko leaves. Now, post Covid, Japan's crazy season for autumn foliage now begins on October 20th (used to be Nov 10).

For the foreign tourist the problem is the Japanese tourist. Kyoto gets 52 million visitors a year; 50 million are Japanese and overwhelmingly day trippers . . . So, book hotels for October months in advance, please!
It’s not hard to plan around Japan tourism madness. Think timing and out of the way places (go to the famous ones early or late).

The Japanese are famous for going home at 16:00-16:30, like clockwork almost . . . But do note that the car | taxi gridlock persists until 19:30 in certain zones; so, use public transportation and your legs as much as possible. Parallel streets, especially in Tokyo, are also a way to get away . . . to reduce the “noise.”

Tours, walks, off the beaten track, anime | manga, special interests, transportation, restaurants, for families, couples and small groups of friends on all 5 Japanese islands since 1990 . . . Contact me today! WhatsApp +1-415-230-0579; yourjapanprivatetours AT gmail.

16/06/2023

The top things foreign tourists don't like about traveling in Japan in 2023!

The highly-popular website, Good Luck Trip, has just released the top things that foreign tourists complain about in Japan in 2023!

1. Accessing wifi, with 31.5 percent of respondents highlighting this issue. That's why I recommend spending less than USD 4 a day for a pocket wifi device from Japan Wireless . . .

2. Not surprising, number two, at 20.2 percent of respondents, complained that communicating with staff at shops, restaurants and attractions was not easy or even possible on many occasions.

3. Another 17.5 percent felt that multilingual signage was missing in many places . . .

4. Another 16 percent felt that moving around cities or in the countryside using public transportation was challenging and required lots of planning time to figure out . . .

5. Another 16 percent complained about the lack of garbage cans in large cities and towns . . .

6. Fifteen percent of foreign travelers to Japan were frustrated that their mobile payment apps didn't work in Nipon!

7. A health-conscious 14 percent said public smoking was confusing or too easy or strictly forbidden depending on where you went.

8. And around 14 percent of respondents said they had issues exchanging foreign currency. You should never bring foreign currency to Japan. All you need is an ATM card and your PIN (and you can withdraw USD 800/day/card) and 7/11 convenience store international banking ATMs.

9. The last big complaint was that discounts on tickets were confusing, promised but not easy to get, and so on . . .

Tours and adventures on all 5 Japanese islands since 1990 . . . Learn more! Contact me today on WhApp +1-415-230-0579 or by email.

11/06/2023

Japan private tour insights for September 2023. September is off season for Japan travel for a couple of reasons: 1. All the Japanese kids are back in school (second semester) and their moms and dads are working and not on vacation. 2. Foreign tourists visiting Japan tend to behave like a mob and the mob is totally absent in September (until about October 20, when maple leaf season creates mobs of mobs). So, in September you have the country to yourself in a way and certainly when touring the edges of Honshu Japan. Think pristine beaches and warm enough to swim weather and hardly anybody around (the east side of Chiba Prefecture, next to Tokyo; Shiga Prefecture for freshwater adventures and swimming). And think some of the best festivals and festival parties of the year. For offseason fun consider Kyoto’s top September festivals.
Matsuo Taisha Hassaku Festival (first week of Sept.): Matsuo Taisho Shrine was founded in 701 by the Hata, an agrarian clan from Korea, who introduced sake brewing to Japan. For more than 1,000 years, the shrine has been an important place of worship for sake brewers. This festival includes costumed children carrying a portable shrine (mikoshi) made of sake casks; a rare form of dance; and sumo wrestling. The day before the festival thousands of paper lanterns are lit in the precincts and a folk dance is held. Many street stalls are set up on the main festival day.
Karasu (Crow) Wrestling Festival (second Sunday of Sept.): In ancient times, the Kamigamo area was home to a clan of people known as the karasu, or crow clan. As part of one of their ancient shinto ceremonies, wrestling matches were held between young boys of the clan. This tradition, in which two shinto priest start things off by cawing like crows, has survived for well over 1,000 years.
Hojo Festival (2nd or 3rd week of Sept): The Hojo Festival enacts the Buddhist practice of releasing animals, said to be very beneficial for human karma. During the three days of the festival, there will be bouts of sumo wrestling between local boys, and stalls selling all kinds of things. The festival is held at Miyake Hachiman Shrine.
Kushi Matsuri (end of Sept): Long, straight black hair is a symbol of Japanese feminine beauty. And frequently, in public, traditional Japanese women continue to tie or pile their hair high on the head, held in place with special hair pins or combs called kushi. Every year a festival is held in honor of these beautiful accessories. On this day visitors come to watch countless women dressed in kimono with their hair perfectly arranged, in all the classical styles, pay their respects at the shrine.
Tours and adventures on all 5 Japanese islands since 1990 . . . Learn more! Contact me today on WhApp +1-415-230-0579 or by email.

05/06/2023

Most people have made their summer plans, and some are my clients in the Japanese Alps and Hokkaido June-August (summer). So, I am going to focus most of this post on Japan travel in fall 2023 and also a small section on the 2023-24 Japan winter travel season (from Dec).

September is the beginning of the rice harvest and lots of festivities related to the end of the ag cycle. In Tokyo there are 5-6 festivals in the first week of Sept. And in Kyoto you can see young sumo wrestlers, just boys, at Kamigamo Grand Shrine during the popular Karasu Sumo on Sept 08 and 09 . Sept. continues to be super great for swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving. Check out the Izu Peninsula, an hour west of Tokyo, or for a wilder place explore the north Honshu coastline from the Tango Peninsula west to Matsue in Shimane (no tourists and exotically lost in the past).

If you can’t make Japan in autumn then join the Southeast Asian crowds in winter, kicking off with December (one of the busiest months of year for my business!). Snow boarding in the Alps or in Hokkaido. Crab season and the best fish catches of the year . . . And if you don’t want too much snow, then just go to the southern coast of Honshu: Hamamatsu Beach, the surfing beaches of Chiba, and the Ise Peninsula and its pearl divers and seafood elegance . . .

Learn more! Contact me today on WhApp +1-415-230-0579 or by email at yourjapanprivatetours AT GMAIL . . . YJPT: Tours and adventures on all 5 Japanese islands since 1990 . . .

29/05/2023

Nothing loves water as much as rice. June is traditionally the month when rice is planted on the Japanese islands. If you are lucky, starting from the first days of June, you will see people stooped over ankle-deep in the fields, patiently sticking rice seedlings through the water into the rich bed of muck below. For tourists, just find the city’s edges, where the distant past collides with suburbia. Even today, it’s not unusual to see hand planting in smaller fields at the edges of Kyoto (north and south), Tokyo (Western Tokyo), and Osaka (east Osaka).

Whether it’s raining or not, June is the greatest month of the year for frogs. For an adventure, take the time to walk after sunset in some of the Tokyo or Kyoto residential areas where rice fields are still plentiful and listen to the endless and often unbelievably loud choruses of frog song.

On evenings when it’s not raining, especially right after it has rained, you might be lucky to experience the wonder of hotaru (fireflies). Some good places to go and see hotaru fireflies in Kyoto are as follows: 1) along the stream running down the length of Tetsugaku-no-michi (The Path of Philosophy). 2) Along the stream running beside the road from Kibune-guchi Station to the start of Kibune village. 3) Along the canal running east-west from Shimogamo Hondori, just north of Kitaoji Street.

Your Japan Private Tours, on all 5 islands since 1990. Learn more!

21/05/2023

Japan’s “tsuyu” rainy season: floods, mist, and mystery

There are many words for rain in the Japanese language. For example, samidare is used for intermittent on-and-off rain and saiu for drizzling rain. Tsuyu means the season of rain that begins in June and ends in mid July.
Translated literally, the kanji for tsuyu mean "plum rain", which comes from the fact that plums for umeshu plum wine and sour, but healthy umeboshi pickled plums, is a June thing.
For people new to Japan’s rainy season, be prepared lots of rain, heavy rain, and high humidity. For a really good time, tourists will have to learn to love an umbrella, while exploring Japan cities and countryside attractions.
But the rainy season comes with its benefits: it creates the conditions for rice to grow. And the rains make Japan’s moss gardens lush and super green. During tsuyu bamboo shoots up so quickly that you can literally watch it grow (bamboo reaches its maximum size in one season and then does not grow higher). Rain also activates insect life and especially the beloved fire fly. And rain creates mists that rise and fall like slow-moving dragons in narrow valleys . . .

And, lest we forget, the rainy season can lead to flooding and the stretch between Kurashiki and Osaka is especially vulnerable to this and so do take care and pay attention to the weather forecast. But most of all, enjoy the rain like the Japanese do . . . because for believers in Shinto or Buddhism rain and sunshine are no different . . . Just two sides of the same coin!

04/12/2022

For aesthetics Japan reigns supreme for ceramics, like this heavy hand-sculpted off-white vase that cost me $500 in 2005 (from my English student!) and fronting it one of a pair of cranes still made in the back lanes of 12th-century Kamakura, an hour west of Tokyo. No wonder the French say Planet Japan!

18/10/2022

Japanese wood working skills in art, furniture and structures is unmatched on planet earth today! Learn more! Email me and get your self-guided tour of Japan started now!

18/10/2022

Japanese art moves you in contemporary ways and if you’re going consider Your Japan Private Tours: on all 5 Japanese islands since 1990!

08/10/2022

Japan private tours, like the ones Your Japan Private Tours: guided & self-guided tour packages & city tours provides on all 5 Japanese islands since 1990, are all about Japanese people and here is a video of people portraits that brings you up close with the priests, monks, bride and groom getting married at a Shinto shrine, schools kids of all ages, and the elderly. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/fD0NGRXBtwA

28/09/2022

27/09/2022

Unrestricted tourist-visa Japan travel is on again from Oct 11 and there's more good news! You can now purchase your Japan Rail Pass (or passes) online at jrailpass.com. Standard class passes: 7-day: USD 214; 14-day: USD 360; 21-day: USD 450. Green first-class passes: 7-day: USD 296; 14-day: USD 478; 21-day: USD 620. However, it's important to note that the JR Rail Passes do not permit riding on the Nozomi class bullet trains, which are the fastest and the most frequent (every 15-20 minutes). With the JR Rail Pass you can only travel on Hikari trains; between Tokyo and Kyoto you either gain or lose 20 min; with a train an hour for sure. The normal roundtrip fare from Tokyo to Kyoto on the fastest trains is about Yen 26,000 (about USD 185) so you really have to decide if your next Japan trip is a train trip and then you can quickly figure out how much you would save . . . Of course, planning a trip for heavy train usage for just 7-days and the rest using buses or rental cars is also smart. Let me know how I can help you on your next trip to Japan. Your Japan Private Tours: All 5 Japanese islands since 1990!

25/09/2022

Japanese school girl on her way to school again in perfect uniform and no mask! Japan is open again and I can help you with all your tour needs on all 5 Japanese islands (since 1990).

23/09/2022

Wow! From Tuesday, October 11, 2022 Japan will be open to international tourists the way international tourists prefer: tourist visas, total freedom of choice, no restrictions at all (except triple vaccinated). Welcome back! Email me if you have self-guided or guided tours questions or just travel services. Everything I do is retail priced and no expectations! Learn more . . .