Judy Zhang






For our part, we realize that planning should have begun earlier — probably 6 months in advance, because certain tours, hotels, etc were already booked. Nevertheless, Judy was terrific and resourceful, getting back to us quickly despite the challenges of being in different time zones. Our goals (arts and hands-on) were different from those of a typical tourist; Judy was good at accommodating them. We could have used more advice about the differences in those programs, so we researched them on our own. That meant we had to request additional things and changes as we learned about them.

Also, we made a scheduling error, not realizing that the flight arrived the day after it began, so Judy had to adjust our bookings to accommodate this. We threw her an extra challenge by asking her to add a day-trip to Hamamatsu for a family visit. Also, a freak accident on the take-off of our flight to Tokyo caused us to be re-routed through Europe, hence losing another day. Altogether, this meant our proposed 14 day trip had to be jammed into a shorter number of days. Upon retrospect, even without these unexpected adjustments, we should have allowed ourselves three weeks to do everything we wanted to do and to give ourselves more time for exploring on our own. An open day in each city would have been preferable and made for a more relaxed trip.

Tour guides - Guides in Tokyo and Kanazawa were excellent and flexible. However, Michiko (Kyoto), though eager to please was less well-informed and had weaker English. She was too focused on Samurai/Shogun history and wanted to take too many photos of us. We were surprised that her tour involved walking and buses, which worked out fine, but we were surprised as we expected a driver in each location unless specified.

Workshops and presentations - Our first workshop (sushi making) was a disaster. We were told to get there on our own by local train, but had no previous instruction about how to navigate. When we arrived at the address we were given, there was no signage and no staff there to greet us, so we didn’t know if we were in the right place. After contacting Judy, we discovered that the company had made a scheduling error, which they corrected as quickly as possible. The workshop was ok in spite of the space with was filthy with cigarette butts and used cups on the table. Looking online afterwards, we saw that there were many other sushi workshops that might have been better choices.

The other workshops were all excellent: washi paper making, dyeing, the artisan visit (embroidery), and an unscheduled visit to a gold leaf workshop that our guide created since we had extra time.

Transportation - There was a lot of transportation that we had to navigate on our own. We found it quite challenging, especially at first. We would have benefited from more advance information about how to manage the different systems and locations (some with QR codes, some with one ticket, some with two tickets). Even after we requested more direction from Judy, we still found it difficult. Fortunately, we were assisted by train station personnel or sympathetic travelers or residents who saw us struggling and shepherded us to the right place.

Hotels - Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka were excellent; the hotel in Kanazawa was fair (amenities were better than we thought at first due to a communication problem). Still, the room was very small and one side of the bed was against the wall.

Due to the popularity of Naoshima, we were booked in Okayama, which required a ferry ride each way. There too one side of the bed was against the wall. Although it was advertised as a beachfront facility. In fact it was a block or two from the waterfront (not a beach) and overlooked a bicycle track. There was a night race one of the nights we were there, which was unique.

Judy was an excellent planner, responding cheerfully under a number of challenging circumstances. It would have been helpful to be advised about how realistic it was to see so much in a short time, especially given our age. Although we’re in good shape for our ages we are in our 80s. As mentioned above, we needed more assistance with independent train travel. It would also have been helpful to have advice about restaurants near our various hotels. We were told that the guides could help us, but they had no more knowledge than what they or we could find online.

Hotel Reviews

Miyako City Osaka Hommachi

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

SETOUCHI KEIRIN HOTEL 10 by Onko Chishin

Tamano

Inconvenient. Only recommended for bike racing enthusiats, adjacent to bike racing track. Description says beachfont but it’s over a block away from the water - essentially a small marina for fishing boats. No beach. We were only there because we weren’t able to book a place to stay on Naoshima and it was a 5 minute taxi ride to the ferry to Naoshima.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cross Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Intergate Kanazawa

Kanazawa

Functional, nothing special. Small room with one side of the bed against the wall.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mitsui Garden Hotel Jingugaien Tokyo Premier

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

Location

beautiful but far from anything other than an olympic stadium

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

We didn’t realize that we’d have to wear kimonos. Wouldn’t have chosen to but it ended up being fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Traditional Yuzen Dyeing Experience

Kyoto

Fabulous personal hands-on experience with a master artisan.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-Day Exploration: Arashiyama Bamboo Grove & Kinkaku-ji Temple

Kyoto

Unless you’re really into the bamboo grove and this particular temple, time would be better spent looking at pictures, avoiding the crowds and doing something else.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Gion Geisha Show and Walking Tour

Kyoto

We arrived too late for the walking tour but the Geisha show was fascinating.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We took a taxi on our own.

Half Day Artisan Tour in Kanazawa

Kanazawa

Wonderful embroidery folks. Unexpected. We wouldn’t have selected embroidery but it was terrific as was the guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kanazawa Highlights with Art: Gardens, Castles & National Crafts Museum

Kanazawa

Intead of having a guide and driver, we traveled by bus with guide. Her English wasn’t as good as other guides and she was focused primarily on Samurai/Shogun. Sweet lady, though.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Driver rather than buses.

Tokyo Sushi Making Experience & Japanese Cooking Class

Tokyo

Scheduled at the wrong time, difficult to find, no signage, dirty.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Exploring Futuristic Odaiba with Sumida River Cruise

Tokyo

Wonderful guide, flexible so we were able to make changes to personalize the day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport