Sandy Ren

Sandy was able to fulfill all the requests we asked of her. The responses to e mails was exceptional.
The accommodation was varied in style ,with all of them being excellent. Highly recommend the Miyako City in Osaka, Ryokan Koho in Kyoto, Metroploitan in Sendi and Shibya Excel in Tokyo. All for different reasons. The Kanazawa Zoushi and Hotel Wood in Takayama were also unique. We could not have managed such unique stays on our own.
Thanks Sandy for all the train bookings. Each trip was wonderful, and seating could not have been better. We managed to have luggage room on all trips and did not need to "on send" our luggage. All vouchers and tickets for tours and travel arrived well in time for the experience. The one time we had to book train tickets on our own-we had a minor issue. It pays to use the professionals!!
The suggestions for free time were invaluable -as we did them all.
The private drivers ,although most had limited English ,added their own uniqueness to each day.
High lights for me were:
Nara park
Bike ride in Kyoto(so many cherry blossoms),
Full day bus trip with Kaci in Kyoto, Sunrise Tours. Kaci was one of the best tour guides-so knowledgeable and witty.
Matsushima bay cruise - Despite the fact that the weather was wet and cloudy
Sky tree in Tokyo
Trip to see Mt Fuji and the visitors/museum on Fuji .This suggested by the driver and well worth the visit.
Hike and chair lift on Mt Takao. Also saw street theatre and musical performances by the ticket office.
Day walk in Kanazawa. The guide- Yasuko- was the best we had.
Bike ride in Hida hagiwara. A long train trip to get there but the young man was knowledgeable and informative. He helped us get a bus back to the hotel due to an unprecedented train delay.
Bus trip to Shirakawago
These least inspiring tour was the Yanaka historical tour in Tokyo- Nezu shine was stunning with the azaleas, however too much time making the maneki-neko cat and not much else.
We also had two hiking tours amongst the time planned with Sandy.(with another tour company) She managed to make it all flow seamlessly. In hind sight I did not realize the number of trains we were catching-however it was the best way to see Japan at its most picturesque-cherry blossom time. We managed to see the blossoms in every town and city at their very best apart from Tokyo. I would highly recommend Sandy and Kim Kim to other travelers.
Big thankyou to Sandy for managing to satisfy all our requests and added suggestions.

This was our first visit to Japan and started as a 25th wedding anniversary trip, which eventually lead to a family vacation. We are a family of five, with 3 teenagers ranging in age from 16 to 19 years old. The interests within our group varied from wanting to explore big cities, learning about the history and culture, to experiencing life like a local. Despite these differences, we all had fairly high expectations and Japan did NOT disappoint!

Our itinerary was fairly ambitious - Tokyo, Disney Seas, Hankone, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Nara, Miyajimaguchi/Hiroshima and Osaka. Perhaps we could have scheduled more 'down time' but we wanted to see and do as much as possible in our two weeks. Our Kim Kim travel expert Sandy was outstanding! We had 5 or 6 trip versions before we made our final itinerary and Sandy was always prompt to respond to our requests and questions. Even while on the ground in Japan, she was in touch and checked in to ensure the trip was running smoothly. She went above and beyond to ensure it was a once in a lifetime experience for us and even arranged a surprise anniversary cake during our trip!

We also arranged a few guided tour days during our two weeks and it was money well spent. And while all of our guides were friendly and extremely knowledgable, we would like to specifically thank Nick Sakurado in Tokyo for helping us on Day 1 to navigate the city and the subway/train systems. This allowed us to confidently use public transportation for the remainder of our trip. He was also brilliant in his lunch food recommendations!

We'd like also thank Tsuyama Hiroshi (Hiro), for walking us through Kyoto and Nara. He thoughtfully planned out our days to ensure we would avoid the peak tourist times at the more popular attractions. And lastly, we would like to express our appreciation to Kigami Masako for her patience and sharing her knowledge of Hiroshima both past and present. This travel day was very warm and she thoughtfully made lunch accommodations to allow those of us in the group extra time to cool down, before continuing on with our day.

I could go on and write much more but it would be a book length review. Each member of our travel group simply loved every minute of our trip and Japan exceeded all of our expectations. I know we will be back again one day. Arigato gozaimasu!

We had a great time in Japan during peak cherry blossom season. Really enjoyed our tours in Kyoto and Osaka. Hotels were all well located.

Hotel Reviews

RIHGA Royal Hotel Kyoto

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed was uncomfortable

Osaka Excel Hotel Tokyu

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Asakusa View Hotel Annex Rokku

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mitsui Garden Hotel Ginza gochome

Tokyo

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bamboo Grove and Monkey Park Tour with a Boat Ride

Kyoto

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchi & Oishi Park

Tokyo

Not sure if it is worth the 2 hour drive from Tokyo since you may not be able to see the mountain due to cloud cover.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guide was great but driver almost fell asleep and it was a scary moment.

Transport

Driver almost fell asleep on the way back.

Kyoto Highlights: Kinkaku-ji Temple, Nijo Castle and Fushimi-Inari Taisha

Kyoto

The guide was great, saw so much in one day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Osaka Local Foodie Tour in Dotonbori and Shinsekai

Japan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I needed to book a last minute trip to Japan for my wife and myself and contacted KimKim after reading good reviews. Their specialist, Sandy, came up with a great itinerary that only needed a few modifications to fit our travel style. Despite it being the height of cherry blossom week, she was able to get us excellent hotels in great locations and set up several private tours with excellent private guides in Tokyo and Kyoto. She also arranged all of our transportation between cities and between airports and hotel. Everything went exceptionally smoothly and the drivers and guides were all excellent at communicating with us before each leg of the trip. Overall, it was an excellent experience and I would definitely use KimKim again. Their attention to detail was outstanding.

We just returned from an excellent two week trip to Japan organized by Sandy san of Odynovo in Japan, through kimkim! Some highlights were biking the Shimonami Kaido, spending the night in a ryoken on Miyajima with multi-course Japanese meals included, visiting the Hiroshima Peace Park and Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, plus the cherry blossoms, temples and shrines, and beautiful terrain. We had a mix of time on our own, group, and private tours.

The group tours were through Magical Trip: Kaiori san for the Hiroshima Peace Park and Fuji san for the Tokyo foodie tour were excellent. The groups were generally small, like 5-6 guests. Those were a lot of fun and well planned, and we learned a lot.

Our private guides Chinami san in Hakone, Hisako san in Kyoto, and Yuki san in Kanazawa were all knowledgeable and easy to be with. We ended up canceling one tour in Kyoto because we just needed a break, but since it was too late to get a refund, Jun san still showed up to drop us at the train station, and we instantly liked him too and felt a little sad that we missed his tour. The private tours can be interactive and customizable and are a great opportunity to learn more than you would on your own.

Accommodations and travel within Japan that were arranged by Sandy were all well planned. We had shinkansen tickets with luggage space reserved for most of the hops, and hired taxis between train station and hotel (easy!). Twice during the trip we shipped our checked luggage ahead with the help of hotel staff. The first time was required so we could do an overnight on bikes, the second time was just to avoid the hassle of big luggage on the ferry to Miyajima, although we probably would have been fine taking it with us.

We would probably do a couple of things differently next time:
1) On the Shimonami Kaido, we should have brought along a multi-tool so we could adjust the bikes along the way, and we had too much stuff in our backpacks. WAKKA turned out to be an excellent resource for us - super kind and helpful people who do bike taxi and rental returns, among other services for bike riders in that area.
2) We got excellent mileage from the tiny bit of Japanese we learned for the trip, which increased our enjoyment. Although we never really had any trouble communicating with the locals, we would like to learn more Japanese for next time.
3) We might spend more time in each location next time. Although this trip was a good first trip because it gave us a kind of overview of the highlights of Japan, it would have been nice to do more exploring in each location.

There are so many things to love about Japan (the food, the natural beauty, the public transportation, the clean cities), but I think what we will remember the most is the many kindnesses we received from random people, not just people in the hospitality business. For example, while biking we took a wrong turn and an older gentleman on a motorcycle stopped to tell us we were probably going the wrong way, then insisted that he meet us down the road to take our picture near a landmark! Japanese people are just so nice in general - at least that was our experience.

Anyway, kimkim and Sandy san took very good care of us. There is no way we would have had this good of a time if we had booked everything on our own.

Interactive development and tailoring of trip itinerary was excellent. Communications during trip were excellent. Local guides were excellent.

Hotel Reviews

Asakusa Tobu Hotel

Authenticity & Character

Authenticity & Character

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Location

Staff

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cleanliness & Comfort

Lake Biwa Otsu Prince Hotel

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kyoto Terrace Hachijohigashiguchi

Kyoto

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sheraton Grand Hiroshima Hotel

Hiroshima

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Forza Osaka Kitahama

Osaka

Authenticity & Character

Authenticity & Character

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Location

Staff

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sotetsu Grand Fresa Takadanobaba

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Full Day Tokyo City Tour with Shinjuku Gyoen (cherry blossom)

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transport

Full Day Arashiyama Bamboo Grove & Sagano Scenic Railway

Kyoto

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Chase Cherry Blossom in Osaka with Osaka Castle

Osaka

Quality of Experience

Transport

Osaka Private & Personalised Local Food Tour

Osaka

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day Mt. Fuji with Lake Kawaguchi, Oshino Hakkai and Oishi Park

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimono Tea Ceremony at Kyoto Maikoya

Kyoto

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Full Day Nara City Tour, Overnight in Osaka

Kyoto

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Full Day Miyajima Island and Memorial Park Tour

Hiroshima

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport