Japan Tour Guides Help

[Mylisa]

Hello.  I’m going to Japan in March 2025.  I am looking for small group tour referrals for my ports of call.   Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  If you have Guide email addresses or websites that would be helpful as well.

 

thank you in advance for your help.
 

Here is my itinerary:

 

DAY	PORT	ARRIVE	DEPART
Mar 21 Fri	Hong Kong, China	Embark 1 PM	6 PM
Mar 22 Sat	Cruising the Taiwan Strait
Mar 23 Sun	Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan	7 AM	5 PM
Mar 24 Mon	Cruising the East China Sea
Mar 25 Tue	Busan, South Korea	10 AM	7 PM
Mar 26 Wed	Nagasaki, Japan	7 AM	3 PM
Mar 27 Thu	Beppu, Japan	11 AM	6 PM
Mar 28 Fri	Osaka, Japan	11 AM
Mar 29 Sat	Osaka, Japan		5 PM
Mar 30 Sun	Nagoya, Japan	8 AM	5 PM
Mar 31 Mon	Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan	7 AM
Apr 1 Tue	Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan	Disembark 8 AM

 

[Pearl64]

You may have trouble finding tours for some of your ports. Our cruise is April and tours with availability are difficult to find. Reason: cherry blossom time. Off hand I would check Tours by Locals or Pinpoint Traveler. On our cruise all ship tours are waitlisted.   In April I was having trouble finding tours. They may be out there but you may need to really search for them. Hotel prices will be high if you are staying before or after your cruise. Good luck. You may need to be flexible with what you find.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[Jack1]

On 10/6/2024 at 8:38 AM, Mylisa said:

Hello.  I’m going to Japan in March 2025.  I am looking for small group tour referrals for my ports of call.   Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  If you have Guide email addresses or websites that would be helpful as well.

 

thank you in advance for your help.
 

Here is my itinerary:

 

DAY	PORT	ARRIVE	DEPART
Mar 21 Fri	Hong Kong, China	Embark 1 PM	6 PM
Mar 22 Sat	Cruising the Taiwan Strait
Mar 23 Sun	Taipei (Keelung), Taiwan	7 AM	5 PM
Mar 24 Mon	Cruising the East China Sea
Mar 25 Tue	Busan, South Korea	10 AM	7 PM
Mar 26 Wed	Nagasaki, Japan	7 AM	3 PM
Mar 27 Thu	Beppu, Japan	11 AM	6 PM
Mar 28 Fri	Osaka, Japan	11 AM
Mar 29 Sat	Osaka, Japan		5 PM
Mar 30 Sun	Nagoya, Japan	8 AM	5 PM
Mar 31 Mon	Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan	7 AM
Apr 1 Tue	Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan	Disembark 8 AM

 

We are on the longer version Singapore to Tokyo March 10 - April 1, 2025...  on our roll call a gentleman named 1jcraig arranged a private tour for Beppu.  Perhaps contact him to see if he has any room left on his tour.  We are joining him.

[Hlitner]

When we were in Japan (and also cruising around Japan) in 2023, we met quite a few folks who had good luck using "Tours by Locals" to arrange some small group tours.  In fact, we joined another couple (who had booked through tours by locals) in one of our ports with OK results.

 

I should also mention that we spent 12 pre-cruise days in Japan and did everything DIY (including trains from Tokyo to Kyoto and a day trip to Hiroshima) with very good results.  There are ports, like Nagasaki, that are relatively easy to DIY, since one can use public transit or taxis to get around (with the main site being ground zero and the museum).  

 

Taipei is another example of an easy port for those of us who like DIY.  It is an easy walk from the cruise terminal to the train station (Keelung) and inexpensive (less than $5) trains to Taipei run about every 30 minutes.  In Taipei, we walked everywhere (about a 6 mile walking day) but one could use public transit or grab a taxi to get to any of the sites.  

 

Hank

[monkey@cruise]

Keelung to Taipei train (fare: NT$42 (US $1.40) runs every 20 min, 40 min travel time)  ticket vending machines support English language. Purchased a metro day pass for NT$150 (US $5), all metro stations had area maps and display signages in English and Chinese. Went to Lungshan Temple, Taipei 101 Observatory, and Ximen; lunch at Din Tai Fung.

 

Nagasaki: Purchased a tram pass in cruise terminal, 25-30 min tram ride to the Peace Park, then a stop at Chinatown (very small),  tram ride to Ishibashi Station to ride the Glover Sky Road Inclined Elevator to Glover Garden hilltop entrance, down the hill and the garden exit is 1000 feet from the cruise terminal. 

[thehowlingroad]

Hong Kong is an easy DIY port to start with; I don't know how long you're staying in the city beforehand, but the MTR (subway) is extensive and reliable, the streetcars (ding-dings, as called by the locals) and buses augment the system quite well, and much of the city still has English signs/names and there are English announcements on the subway. I recently returned in April for a longer visit after 7 years away and it still felt familiar.

 

In Busan, we used Korea Go Tours; Dylan runs the operation (we communicated through email easily and also ran into him with another group at the temple!) and brings in his tour guide friends if he needs extra people to handle all his bookings. We were able to book a March 2024 private tour for a very reasonable cost, but I know he can also arrange for slightly larger groups too: https://www.koreagotours.com/. It looks like he's added small group tours to his offerings since then...

 

We had an easy time exploring Nagasaki on our own; their tram system is easy to navigate and the visitors center at the port has lots of helpful maps, and you can purchase all-day passes there too. We went up to the the Inasayma observation deck and then took a cab to the peace parks. We found ourselves picnicking with the locals for lunch at the Hypocenter Park, under the cherry blossoms in full view of the beautiful memorials, with food purchased from the konbini across the street. It was a moving experience, and one I really didn't expect. We also visited the Megane Bridge and then made a brief stop at Glover Gardens. We didn't go inside, but I had a fun time shopping outside on the hill and petting the shop cats.

 

We opted for going into Kyoto during our Osaka stop and we hired our own guide, Hiroyuki-san. We absolutely could not have done it without him because Osaka's train station is a labyrinth, but he knew exactly where to go at all times. He also has some Osaka walking tours to pick from if you'd rather stay in the city. https://gowithguide.com/supplier/25006