Olivia Luang

I was planning a two-week trip to Japan as a surprise for my partner. We didn't want to be part of a tour group, and wanted it to be a couple's trip fir the two of us. We had never been to Japan, and I started by looking at guide books but it was so overwhelming. I foudn kimkim online, and the reviews were good. I reached out through kimkim about a year and a half before our trip, and the local expert, Olivia, was so patient with me. She asked me our interests, and suggested an amazing itinerary, to introduce us to history, art and culture in Japan. She listened and helped me tweak certain parts of itinerary. She set us up with English-speaking guides in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka, and suggested other places in each town that we could explore on our own. Once we arrived at the airport, there was a driver there to meet us, and we had specific information (in my kimkim app!) for every tour guide who would meet us, every hotel, all transportation, and our itinerary was fool proof. There was also flexibility so we could explore on our own, as we wanted. Every stop was seamless, and we felt so well taken care of everywhere we went. I recommend kimkim and Olivia very highly and have already recommended them to friends who are planning a trip to Japan. We loved our trip and plan to come back, and will contact kimkim again. Arigato!

Hotel Reviews

Asakusa View Hotel Annex Rokku

Tokyo

Fantastic location in Asakusa! Plenty of things to walk to from this hotel, and easy to get to other venues (like Meiji shrine and Imperial Palace Gardens). Excellent breakfast. Will go back when we visit Tokyo again.

Authenticity & Character

Modern and clean, great breakfast with Japanese and western selections

Location

Great walkability

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora by IHG

Hakone-machi Ashigarashimo gun

The hotel was elegant and the in-room onsen bath was AMAZING. What holds it back from 5 stars was that ours came with a pre-selected dinner that wasn't great, and the hotel felt more corporate than authentic. The breakfast was much better than the dinner.

Authenticity & Character

Onsen bath was great. The hotel and staff felt corporate

Location

We arrived by taxi -- nowhere to go but the hotel for dinner

Staff

Nice and attentive, but corporate

Cleanliness & Comfort

The room was great and the bed was really comfortable

Mitsui Garden Hotel Kanazawa

Kanazawa

Onsen on the roof made this a great experience. We could walk everywhere we wanted to go from this hotel. And the obansai breakfast buffet was the best we had in Japan.

Authenticity & Character

Try the Onsen! Having this truly Japanese experience was great. And the Obansai buffet was incredible for breakfast!

Location

Central Kanazawa near the Omicho market

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

FAV LUX HIDATAKAYAMA

Even though the hotel was built recently, it felt dated and tired. If you are a family traveling and need a room with lots of beds, it might make sense, but we were a couple traveling without kids and we could hear the kids in the room next door late into the night.

Authenticity & Character

The breakfast was really limited.

Location

It was near the train station, like a lot of other hotels, but the neighborhood at night felt deserted

Staff

Staff was friendly

Cleanliness & Comfort

The carpet was dated, and the bathroom had a window into it from the bedroom. It was odd.

Mercure Kyoto Station

Kyoto

The hotel had a terrific staff and an excellent restaurant. The breakfasts were great -- lots of Japanese and western options. Our room was very comfortable.

Authenticity & Character

Modern and clean, but we definitely felt like we were in Japan with the great meals and decor

Location

Easy to get to with our bags from the Kyoto Station

Staff

Friendly and helpful!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mercure Tokyu Stay Osaka Namba

Osaka

Good location and comfortable room

Authenticity & Character

Good breakfast options -- lots of Japanese selections as well as westerno options

Location

We were located near the prime shopping area of Osaka

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The bathtub in our room was great!

Activity Reviews

Half Day Artisan Tour in Kanazawa

Kanazawa

Our English speaking guide took us to the outskirts of Kanazawa where we met a kimono maker. He told us (through our translator) about his artistic process, how kimonos are made (hand-painted and dyed), and showed us some of his work and techniques. One of the most memorable experiences of our trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Shirakawa-go, Hida Furukawa, and Takayama Tour from Kanazawa

Kanazawa

Our driver and guide, Junpei, was very knowledgable and so courteous. He was able to give us a lot of history about the towns. The house tour in Shirakawa-go was incredible.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Junpei was amazing! We learned so much from him!

Transport

Full Day Kyoto City Tour with Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Fushimi Inari-Taisha

Kyoto

Our tour guide, Yvonne, was terrific. She explained the history (which we were really interested in) and showed us so many things that make Kyoto such a special place.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yvonne was amazing. She was extremely knowledgable about Kyoto! And so friendly and patient! She took us by train and taxi around the city, in ways we couldn't have navigated alone.

Transport

Sightseeing in Arashiyama - Boat Ride and Bamboo Grove

Kyoto

I didn't know what to expect but this peaceful day and beautiful day was a highlight of our trip.

Quality of Experience

It was so peaceful and serene, it was immersive for us

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yvonne was great guiding us to the boat, to visit a temple and into the bamboo grove (and insearch of matcha ice cream!)

Transport

We took a very comfortable train, with our guide's help

Tokyo: Sumo Tournament with Guide & Assigned Reserved Seat

Tokyo

If I had to choose ONE favorite thing about the trip, it would be the Sumo tournament. The pageantry was incredible. We loved the experience of watching sumo with 11,000 people. And the explanatory guide before hand was terrific.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Before the tournament we had an English-speaking tour guide (from a Latin country) who loved sumo. He was so enthusiastic that we got very excited for the tournament before we went in to see it.

Transfer from Kyoto to Osaka via Nara

Japan

Nara was beautiful, and the bowing deer have to be seen to be appreciated. I had read about the deer, but didn't understand how different they were to all the deer I'd ever seen. Really amazing and a highlight of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yvonne told us a lot about the temple, "Buddha's nose" and how to feed the deer.

Transport

kimkim arranged a private car.

Half Day Imperial Palace East Gardens and Senso-ji Tour

Tokyo

Sarah, our tour guide, was great. It was our first day in Tokyo and she took us on the subway (quite the experience) to the Imperial Palace garden and then to Senso-ji. She told us about the history, the traditions at the temple (handwashing, for example) and we felt like we got a grasp the first day. Both of these sites are really worth seeing in Tokyo.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Sarah was terrific

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

Masa was a great guide to food and Osaka culture. We had a small group, and he listened to what we were interested in (and we got to do some cooking at our last stop!)

Quality of Experience

We went to a part of Osaka we would not have found on our own!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Masa was amazing!

Transport

Went by subway which was fun!

Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

Dressing in a kimono and learning about the tea ceremony was a highlight of the trip.

Quality of Experience

The ladies who helped us dress in kimono and do our hair added to a great experience. We learned a lot about japanese culture and courtesy.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Samurai and Ninja Museum with Experience

Kyoto

This turned out to be even more interesting than we expected. There was so much excellent history about the samurai and Shogunate that we were able to get a lot more context for the history of Japan as a whole.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

I am so appreciative of all of the helpful advice, support and arrangements made by Olivia! This was our first trip to Japan, and she patiently provided options and advice to build an itinerary around our interests and budget. With Olivia, we were able to build a good mix of planned activities and unplanned free time, and set a relaxed pace that best suited us. Once we were in Japan, she was also extremely helpful in making some last minute changes when an excursions and or hotel accommodation did not go as planned. We had a wonderful trip. Thank you, KimKim!

Our trip to Japan was very enjoyable and we learned a lot. We found our local specialist to be very responsive and helpful. All the transfers worked really well. Some drivers were particularly memorable such as the one who took us to the falls and Mount Fuji. Our most impressive driver/guide was in Takayama and Shirakawa-go . She was outstanding as a guide and was an excellent driver. The guides were generally quite knowledgeable for the most part. One improvement would be more complete descriptions of what to expect on the guided tours. For example, a gentle hike to see the 10,000 Toriis was anything but.

Accommodations varied. For the most they were fine. Our biggest challenges were the size of the rooms sometimes and features of a room that were difficult to navigate for older travelers such as the one in Kanazawa, Soki, due to the configuration of the beds and extremely small room,

The attractions and the historical sites were memorable and educational. The notable ones were the tea ceremony, the Buddhist Zen experience, and the visit to Shirakawa-go, and in general just exploring the different cities. We found traveling via mass transit from the local subways to the Shinkansen to be easy to navigate.

Overall, a good experience with no significant regrets. Happy we went.

I booked this trip with my travel agent, Cruises-for-Africa in South Africa who uses kimkim in Japan.

Generally speaking, it was a good trip with very few things to complain about.

If I were forced to complain, then my big complaint would relate to the size of the hotel room in the first hotel we stayed in when we arrived at Tokyo. You couldn't swing a cat in it. It's a pity that they chose to compromise in that way on cost. I would happily have paid more to get a room of similar size to the rest of the hotels on our itinerary. The room in the Mount Fuji Hotel was enormous. The only problem was that there were no normal beds. There were just futons on the ground, but it was interesting, nevertheless.

As for the rest of the hotels, they were excellent, and all hotels, including the first one, had very good breakfast buffets.

Your correspondents, KimKim were quite responsive, albeit at times a little slow. All in all, they did their job well.

The vehicles that were used to transport us privately from place to place were of very good quality, with really nice features.

Our guides were generally good, save for the last one in Osaka whose English was way below par.

From a personal point of view, I found the itinerary to be too busy, and I ran out of steam, forcing me to shorten the day by eliminating things that I wasn't particularly excited about seeing. These related primarily to temples and shrines. When you've seen a few, they all become the same. If I had it over again, I would exclude many of the temple/shrine visits and do something else.

Selecting food to eat was quite intimidating as there is very little description as to what each Japanese dish comprises. Towards the end of our trip, we became a little more adventurous and I must say we had some very nice meals.

If asked whether I intend to return to Japan, my answer would tend to be no. I found that there was very little unique about Japanese cities beyond the shrines and temples. Tokyo itself wasn't particularly pretty. It seems that every square meter of space has been populated by skyscrapers of the size that I have seldom, if ever, seen. They might have been interesting if the architects had shown a little creativity, but sadly, there was nothing pretty about them, just monoliths all standing in a row with remarkably little space between each building. Could never tolerate living there.

The highlight for me was the Japanese people themselves. Disciplined, extremely respectful and very kind people. If the world was populated by such people, it would be a much better world than the one we live in.

Therefore, all in all, a good trip, but not for me to be repeated.

Thank you very much for your help and support throughout the process. You were, as normal, excellent.

kimkim amazing service
Our guides were amazing in both cities we visited with tours.
Transportation was handled excellent.
Communication with our specialist was excellent.
We had an incredible and memorable experience!

The booking process was very easy. The pricing was a bit opaque, but in the end I feel it was a good value. Their planning made the trip very enjoyable. We had three guides ; Shira (Tokyo), Hal ) Kyoto and Mieko(Hiroshima) all were very good and extremely professional.

Olivia did a great job helping us plan and with daily reminders.

Our guides Taka, Meiji “May”, and Yuki were all amazing, knowledgeable, and friendly. Will recommend to everyone.

We had a wonderful time in Japan! We planned a 10 day trip that included time in Tokyo, skiing in Niseko, Snow Monkeys in Nagano and more skiing in Hakuba Our guides were very knowledgeable, extremely helpful and very personable. Our accommodations were very nice. Our drivers were punctual, and the cars were spotless. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. Twice during our stay snow delayed flights forcing us to improvise. Our travel specialist Olivia was extremely helpful as we searched for alternative flights and hotels. She worked tirelessly to try to keep our trip on track. We never felt alone knowing that Olivia would be there to help.
We'd definitely use KimKim again!