Aichi, Ehime, Gifu, Hiroshima, Hyogo (Living), Kochi, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Osaka, Shimane, Tokushima, Tottori, Wakayama, Kanazawa, Nagoya, Mount Koya, Kobe, Himeji, Other Hyogo Locations
Japanese (Native), English
5 hours on average
4 days ago
Hello, I'm HIDEo YOSHIda. Please call me HIDEYOSHI, the same name as the famous shogun who built the Osaka Castle in 1585.
I was born in Kobe and worked in Osaka for nearly 40 years. I would like to introduce the Kansai region to you ,including Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Wakayama.
Kobe is one of the two largest ports in Japan, along with Yokohama. After the opening of the Port of Kobe in 1868, foreigners built their residences on the hillside of the Kitano-cho area, overlooking the ocean. Many of the foreign residences are now open to the public as museums, including the Weathercock House, with it's symbol weathercock on the triangle-shaped roof.
In Meriken Park, the red Port Tower (the city's landmark), creates a beautiful contrast against the white Kobe Marine Museum. The museum's design was inspired by the waves and sailing ships.
When you have a chance to visit Osaka, please join my tour. I'm sure you'll enjoy the interesting and historical, scenic spots. For example, Shin-Sekai is a downtown area with a strange mix of nostalgic atmosphere and contemporary energy. You can try local foods (kushikatsu, sushi, tempura) at a reasonable price. Billiken (a famous statue of the spirit of luck) will be waiting for you!!. Dotombori is a popular street with a lot of flashy signboards. Osaka is widely known as a "Kuidaore-no-machi", or literally "drinking and eating luxuriously to death." Osaka Castle was built by Toyotomi HIDEYOSHI in 1585. Oh, it's my residence, isn't it !
These days "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" area in USJ, or Universal Studios Japan, is also attracting more and more people.
I'll be looking forward to seeing you !!
I guide you Sapporo, Furano, Otaru, Hakodate in Hokkaido / Aomori in Hokuriku / Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Kagoshima in Kyushu / Kochi, Matsuyama in Shikoku / Tottori, Shimane, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato in Japan Sea side. Please get in touch with me!!
Thank you.
Hideo was a fantastic guide for our recent visit to both Hakone and Kyoto. He was very knowledgeable and flexible as we had to make a lot of last minute modifications to accommodate our travel and dinner plans. It was a wonderful experience and we would highly recommend him to anybody looking for a great guide.
Thank you for your excellent review. In Hakone we could enjoy 4 different vehicles such as tozan train, cable car, ropeway, and pirate ship. At Owakudani, we could watch volcanic smoke rising up. In Kyoto we "were blessed with good weather. Your child could easily lift up a magical round stone called Omokaruishi" in Fushimi lnari Taisha. I'm sure his dream will soon come true. I wish you and your family all the best.
Hideo was great for our family of six. He listened to our requests and preferences and curated an itinerary for us that gave us the mix of history, education, and cultural experiences that we were looking for. He provided visual maps, took care of all of our ticket purchases, provided additional details that were informative and interesting to each place and in general was warm, kind and funny. He’s a great tour guide!
I'm very happy to receive your excellent review. Fortunately we could see the great vermillion torii gate that looks like floating on the sea at high tide. I was amazed that your children were interested in Japanese culture. They played Kurogo who manipulated Bunraku dolls. Bunraku is the traditional Japanese puppet theater. We enjoyed having Okonomiyaki, or a popular local food, for dinner. I wish you and all your family good health, happiness and success in the business.
Unfortunately the day of our scheduled tour was also the worst weather of our entire trip. It rained buckets. We were only able to go to 2 of the scheduled sites. One of which was the Arashiyama Bamboo Forrest which was pretty miserable due to the rain. The second was to Nijo Castle. Nijo castle was interesting and Hideo was quite knowledgeable regarding the castle history. We had inquired on the evening prior if the tour would still be occurring as we had been informed that there was a typhoon that may occur. We did not receive a response so the tour started the following morning as scheduled. There were 11 of us and at the total price we paid, the tour should have been cancelled. Especially since we were only able to visit 2 of the 5 sites originally included with the tour. I do believe if the weather was better the tour would have been interesting and as expected. However, given that this is a walking tour much more consideration should be given to the weather and the ability to at least complete the tour. Understandably, weather is not under anyone’s control but for $216 plus a bunch of train and bus tickets and the 1500yen for Hideos commute was truly not worth it. It should have been cancelled or we should have at least been offered a partial refund. Take your chances if you book this tour….
Thank you for your review message. On the tour day, the thphoon was approaching, so I knew the tour condition was not good, but I thought that I felt sorry to cancel the tour contrary to your expectation. I was going to do my best efforts to guide the tour. You mentioned I didn't response to your question, but I sent my reply to pick you up. We visited 3 of the first 5 sites (Bamboo forest, Tenryuji Temple and Nijojo Castle). Totally we visted 4 sites including Nishiki food market. I'd like you not to take bad weather into consideration about my review grade. ** Lastly I would say the following. ・I will check next time with the customer if they are comfortable proceeding in case of any unexpected weather disturbance. ・ I appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve my guiding experience. Thank you.
Hideo is very organized and prompt. He got our game tickets ahead of time and I paid him the night of the game. He picked us up at our hotel, got us on the right train and into the stadium perfectly. We sat in the outfield bleachers but really any seat in that stadium is good. During the game he shared some history and facts about the tigers. When the game was over there was a massive crowd headed out and I thought to myself, this will take forever. I was wrong, the Japanese have crowd movement down to a science. Hideo got us back on the right train and we didn't wait that long at all. All in all it was a lot of fun!
I'm sure you enjoyed Japanese baseball game. In the bottom of the 7th inning, fans of Hanshin Tigers supported by waving towels, flags and singing the team song. Before the pnademic, fans enegetically flied balloons. When you come back to Japan, undoubtly we'll be able to see balloons flying. I wish you all the best in the future.
Osaka, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Kochi, Japan