Kate Long

Our local guide was really good - kept us organized, helped with restaurant planning, and good overview of places, e.g. shrines and traditional places.

Support in-country, and especially with language barriers, was really helpful and important. Itineraries include pretty touristy stuff, but also things you don't want to miss! Kate was very kind and responsive - added a special touch when I had my birthday in Japan! Second time using KimKim and it is very useful.

We were extremely happy with the planning / booking stage. We had lots of demands for what we wanted to cover and, for the most part, we got what we wanted.
In particular, my wife injured here foot a week before travel which significantly reduced her mobility. We had feared that we might have to cancel but Kate came through with organising additional private vehicles and guides plus access to a wheelchair. Without this, I am not sure we could have done the trip. We truly appreciate the effort to make these accomodations at such short notice.
Just a few minor quibbles which, to some extent, I think we should or could have addressed had we been more on the ball. We had wanted an authentic Ryokan experience with a traditional onsen . I think, on reflection, doing this in Kyoto was not the best option. We should have looked at Hakone for this. To some extent, we should have realised this ourselves.
The other issue is with the local guides. For the most part they were all pretty inexperienced or new. They we all very helpful. We had Mori in Tokyo. He was supper supportive to my wife, ensuring we could access the sites on the itinerary and make our trip smooth. He, however, was not that knowledgeable about the places we visited.
In Kyoto we had Dione. Again she was helpful but her anxiety towards looking after my wife often meant that she would apply an abundance of caution to various places on our itinerary. She would often start out say something wasn't possible until we had Googled it ourselves and pointed out that accessibility was possible. She had only been in Japan 2 years herself and so had little or no knowledge of the places we visited. In fact, in most cases it was her first time to visit a place too. In Osaka we had Naoki - he was more experienced than our other guides and knew many of the places we were visiting. Again, he was really helpful. In general, I think a guide should be familiar with the places on the itinerary and provide context and insight on those places and on the country, people, history etc. In time I am sure that all our guides will gain this experience but I am not sure I would really call all of them guides (except Naoki) yet.
All that said, we enjoyed our trip to Japan very much and would certainly recommend Kate to anyone planning a trip to Japan.

Our trip to Japan included many items and logistics which were managed by Kate. Overall, my family, who were first time visitors to Japan, were excited and felt like they got to see the major sites in each city. For me, a return traveler to Japan, it felt like a series of generic tours to the major tourist attractions which could have been hired individually through other services (Viator, etc). Personally, I was hoping for more unique experiences but I did appreciate that fact that KimKim was a 'one stop shop' for the logistics (cars, tickets, etc).

In terms of tour guides, our first guide, Peter Wong (Yoon) in Tokyo, was not a proficient English speaker. It turned out that our driver (who was excellent!!!) was a better English speaker than Peter. Hence, we did not receive very much information about the tours and the sites we were visiting. We spent most of the time googling the background information at each location. Peter is Malaysian (not Japanese) so a number of local questions we asked had him googling as well. When we first started, Peter did not have the agenda we were sent from KimKim so we had a bit of a disconnect on expectations for each day. He finally took a screen shot of the pages I received to align the agendas between what he had and what we were expecting. For the most part, everything logistically went well but we had one or two instances were the tickets were not accepted or procured. In the end, it worked out.

During our time in Tokyo, I booked the fish market auction separate than KimKim since the auction was not able to be organized by KimKim in the schedule (according to Kate). This event was a highlight of the trip. We hired a guide for this morning through the hotel and had a amazing experience since she was very knowledgable about Japanese history/architecture/politics/etc. In addition, as we were interacting with others, we would ask her questions and she would ask the host and then report back to us the responses. Our KimKim hosts (Peter and Naoki) did not behave like this and would just google to respond or listen to the Japanese response and then not revert back to us. We learned more from this lady about Tokyo in 4 hours than we did from Peter for the 5 days we had him scheduled.

As a side note, the KimKim agenda indicated we would be touring from 9am to ~5-6 pm each day (8 hours). This schedule was only true for some of the days. I highly recommend to KimKim to inform tour participants on expectations start and stop times to allow for meals and meal times. Since dinners were not included in the tour agenda, I worked off-line to book a variety of dinners and/or spa appointments in each city only to be told that we would not be back to the hotel in time or that we might need to skip something to fit the dinner schedule. In addition, on many days, lunch was not until 2 pm or later which also would have been good to know since we were having breakfast at 7-8 am and dinner at ~7 pm. If I had known this up front, it would have saved a lot of re-planning between myself and the tour guides and we could have brought snacks on the tours.

In Kyoto and Osaka, we had Naoki as a tour guide. Naoki was more engaging than Peter at a personal level and he had a better command of the English language. Unfortunately, Naoki is also more of a 'host' than a 'guide' and his college major was hospitality. For some of the places we visited, Naoki indicated he had not been to them prior to taking us to the see them so he was learning about them just as we were. When we visited the Palace in Osaka, he did not pre-book tickets (in fact, he told me he could not) so we spent time standing in line in the rain while others went through the 'fast track' to the entrance. I finally looked on-line and realized I could have booked them while standing in line to save time. These are all items that I would have thought they would have checked prior to our arrival.

For both guides, there were points when there were Japanese explanations of things we were seeing or touring instructions (no photos, etc) from the hosts at the sites and neither guide translated the information to us. We spent a lot of time trying to understand what was going on and what was next.

When we arrived in Okinawa, our driver was not at the airport arrivals. I called the number for Kate to check on the driver and no one picked up. There were two other numbers on the itinerary so I called the second number and got a voice mail which was responded to about an hour later. Finally, the person at the third number picked up the phone and asked why I was calling her (indicating we were bothering her.....not in a helpful way). I explained what was going on and she said Kate needed to help me so she transferred me to Kate who was sitting at the desk next to her. This was very frustrating that it took 3 international calls to locate someone and that Kate was at her desk while I was calling other travel agents in her system who were not aware they were on my agenda as a help desk person.

In total contrast, Wendy, our host in Taipei, was outstanding. She was well prepared and well educated. She explained each day in detail and worked with us to understand what we were seeing and why it was important (context). She was also very good at engaging my son. If there were any suggestions or updates to the agenda, she had us sign professional 'change orders' which we appreciated. Wendy was the type of tour guide that we anticipated for the entire trip. In addition, Wendy took a number of photos of us which was very helpful as we toured each location. We cant say enough about how much we learned from Wendy and enjoyed her tour. We wished we had her for the entire time.

We have been on many trips with Kim Kim but this was t disappointing. Asia highlights provided a very poor guide In Tokyo who both had no knowledge and a poor attitude. The other guides had good attitudes but also not knowledgeable except Mei at the end, who was both knowledgeable and hard working. Kate droppe the ball many times and never had good suggestions for activities, I would not recommend her or Asia highlights.

Activity Reviews

Full Day Tokyo Tour by Private Vehicle and Guide

Tokyo

It could have been a lot better with a warm knowledgeable guide who did more than just take us to places. She knew nothing, had no explanations and seemed generally unhappy.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Harajuku

Tokyo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our trip to Japan was amazing! Working with the Kimkim team was Simply wonderful. I have not used Kimkim previously and was initially skeptical of going with an online travel agent/agency. But it was the best decision I made. My travel contact was Katie and she was prompt with communication from the very beginning and especially during my stay in Japan. Starting with planning they came up with sample itineraries based on the number of days I was planning to spend and the cities I wanted to visit. I went off some suggested itineraries on the Kimkim website and looked up the cities on travel guides like lonely planet, and worked with Katie to find the itinerary further. I visited Tokyo, Matsumoto, Kamiki, Takayama, Kyoto with side trips to Nara, Araya and Hiroshima. Katie provided me with the local guide who is very helpful in navigating transportation, especially in Tokyo and Kyoto. Booking tickets for Japan rail, including Shinkansen trains was all done by them! The hotels they booked were simply amazing both in terms of location and service. I would highly recommend using them

Hotel Reviews

Shiba Park Hotel

Tokyo

A great hotel with a wonderful breakfast buffet That allowed me to sample Japanese cuisine (besides sushi). The hotel’s amenities and staff were simply wonderful. A great mid-century modern decor with a library. I have not seen a similar concept in any of the hotels I have visited in the US. The hotel location was walking distance from Tokyo Tower and subway stations. I will definitely be staying here again if I visit and reserve one day to spend at the hotel exploring there, Library.

Authenticity & Character

I have not stayed at a “book/library” hotel before! Each floor was dedicated to a category like cooking, art and architecture with books by Japanese authors! I regretted not spending enough time at hotel

Location

Close to subway, Tokyo tower, restaurants. It had a coin laundry which was convenient to use. Had luggage forwarding service and a currency exchange that had a better rate than I got at my US bank!!

Staff

Everyone was friendly.. many had excellent English speaking skills

Cleanliness & Comfort

The rooms were small by US standards but so well laid out with such excellent design features that beats the top US hotels at a similar price range

Iroha Grand Hotel Matsumoto Eki-Mae

Matsumoto

Excellent location 5 minutes from train station, clean spacious room for our party of 3 and good breakfast buffet

Takayama Green Hotel

Takayama

A large hotel with 2 Onsens! We had a Japanese style room which was so spacious for our party of 3. The staff came twice a day to set up and remove the futons for sleeping. Had a great souvenir shop with Tax free option that was better than the one at Haneda. 3 great restaurants and the BEST breakfast buffet!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

They came to make and take down our futon beds twice a day.. room was the larger than any suite I have been to at comparative range of hotels in US!

Kyoto Ryokan the Kinoe

Kyoto

I could not have asked for a better Ryokan experience! It is a 70 year old hotel that seems small on outside but Rooms were large and convenient. The Onsen was clean but not the best Onsen I had seen on this trip ( after experiencing a hot spring Onsen in Takayama one would not opt for this “usual” style of Onsen ). The breakfast experience was so authentic! Everyday was slightly different than the next. The location was EXCELLENT.. so close to Kamo river.. watching the sunset there was unforgettable!

Activity Reviews

TeamLab Borderless: MORI Building Digital Art Museum

Tokyo

I was really looking forward to visiting the teamLab Borderless at the MORI Building, but we ended up going to teamLab Planets instead. Initially, this change was a bit confusing and inconvenient since Planets was further from our hotel, but the experience turned out to be amazing. The guide informed me about the change the day before, which was really fortunate. TeamLab Planets had around five exhibits, and though it’s a smaller attraction compared to MORI, it was still a beautiful and immersive experience. Communication about the change could have been better, but overall, I was happy with the visit.

Full Day Hakone Mt Fuji National Park Excursion from Tokyo by Private Vehicle and Guide: National Park, Cable Car up Mt Owakudani, Pirate ship across the Lake Ashinoko

Tokyo

I had a fantastic time on the Mount Fuji National Park excursion. The car that picked us up was very comfortable, and the guide was great. We took a cable car up Mt. Owakudani, which offered stunning views, and then we enjoyed a pirate ship ride across Lake Ashinoko. The whole day was well-organized and enjoyable. Despite one minor issue with a driver, which was quickly resolved, the experience was memorable.

Geisha (Maiko) Tea Ceremony & Show

Kyoto

The tea ceremony experience was not exactly what I expected. I anticipated a traditional setup with a Geisha or a Maiko (Geisha in training). However, the tea experience we had was different from what was described in the itinerary. Instead of a traditional setting, it was held in a dry sculpture garden, where we did some gravel art meditation. Despite this, my kids enjoyed it. We were served tea and a dessert, but it felt like something I could have gotten at a local tea shop. Knowing that there were several tea houses near our hotel in Kyoto, I might have opted for a more traditional geisha tea ceremony if I had known.