A relaxing day seeing real Japan. - Amazing natural scenery and beautiful ancient structures. Off the beaten trail temples, shrines and other sites almost untouched by tourism. Minimal other tourists and guide has great knowledge and an amazing personality. Authentic local restaurant and meal for lunch made it seem like we were Japanese ourselves. Excellent tour.

Excellent host. Very... - Excellent host. Very knowledgeable and fun to be around. Would definitely book a tour though Jeremy again.

First experience with a guided tour and it was fantastic! - What a fantastic experience this was! My wife and I have been to Japan multiple times and have done some exploring on our own, but it is much better with a guide who is so knowledgeable of Japanese culture and history. We visited the Dragon Taming Temple in Ogose, the incredible Kannon statues in the village of Naguri, and Shoutenin in the town of Hidaka. I can safely say we would have never found any of these places on our own, and we largely had them to ourselves during our visit, something I can't say about any other place we visited during our week in Japan. Jeremy is a great guy, very personable, and really knows his way around. Even the drives between the sites are enjoyable. And you will not have to navigate the train system because Jeremy picks you up at your hotel! I highly recommend his tours!

Unique private tour to some extraordinary sites that are rarely visited by tourists. - Jeremy showed me some extraordinary, beautiful and unique sites. He has a deep knowledge and appreciation of Japanese history and loves to share. We had some engaging conversations on the way to Saitama. I hadn’t anticipated how forested, mountainous and sparsely populated this countryside would be. It was rare to come across any other tourists and we had ample time and space to explore each location. I had a lovely lunch at a delightful cafe. After the tour I received notes with Jeremy’s commentary throughout the tour.

A beautiful day outside of Tokyo - Jeremy was very friendly and knowledgeable tour guide and a great driver as well. He took me on a tour of beautiful countryside of Japan on beautiful mountain roads, where the air was fresh and clean. He took me to see a few ancient temples, a few beautiful lakes with cherry blossom surrounding them as it was cherry blossom season and a delicious lunch at an authentic Japanese restaurant was included as well. All in all I’m happy I did the tour and got a day outside of Tokyo.

Good Vibes in the Countryside! - I truly can't say enough about this wonderful tour. Jeremy curates an outstanding day of beautiful and unique locations and views in the countryside and shares his wealth of knowledge about Japan and its culture, history and people. Julian is also a wonderful guide whose native knowledge is outstanding. Jeremy and Julian make an outstanding duo to guide you through your back country day. My wife, 19-year old son, and I Ioved our experience - we were sad to leave them when the day was over! We will be back for more tours next time we come back to Japan. I can't say enough about this amazing day. Great guides, great locations, great learning and great vibes! I highly recommend you join Jeremy and Julian for an afternoon the countryside!

What a great tour. ... - What a great tour. Jeremy and Julian were so knowledgeable and helped us learn so much about Japan and the culture. Getting out of the city was stunningly beautiful. It was a terrific day and I would highly recommend.

Buyer beware, driver danger - This is a definite two fold review on Jeremy. He was wonderfully knowledgeable about the history and culture of every temple or location we visited. Well done. The second part, and most important, is his driving behavior. Clearly the worst experience from my 30+ Viator driver/guide tours. Firstly, tour was scheduled at 9:00a. Jeremy called at 8:25a saying he would be 20 minutes late (9:20a) due to an accident. At 9:45a he called again saying he would be 10 more minutes late (9:55a). He arrived at 10:15a. Upon arrival his personal appearance and hygiene were dreadful. Truly looked like he pulled an all night outing, woke up late and threw on something laying on the floor. He stunk from his clothing that was dank, musky. Very unpleasant for 9 hours. Now, the driving behavior. The ride was herky jerky to say the least. Sped up, slow down, over and over again. Not a comfortable ride. We had 3 separate events of his acceleration then sudden breaking causing head slamming. He ran through 3 clearly red lights. We could see they were fully red from the back seat. He doesn’t know how to use his dashboard GPS. Jeremy missed numerous turns, then would sit in an intersection trying to figure out what to do while traffic was honking at him to move. His favorite saying all day was “Please let me in, please let me in” as he was in the wrong lane. He would just stop, causing all sorts of traffic danger on major roads throughout the city. He even took wrong turns in an area he said he drives every day. Jeremy droned on and on about the traffic accident, over 3 hours. My wife repeatedly asked him to stop and move on from the topic. He continued. Conversation topics bounced from his ex-wife, to his 2 daughters and their boyfriends, the ex-wife’s husband, his 3 cats, he lives alone. Just a never ending dialogue that he repeated 5-6-7 times during the 9 hours. Lunch was part of the tour. We heard about this special restaurant he chose for us….from 10:30a until 2:30p. He tried making reservations during the tour but no luck. We arrived at the restaurant at 2:30p, it was closed. We went to another restaurant he bragged about, it was closed. We then traveled to a third restaurant, it was closed. Finally drove another 15 minutes to a restaurant that was open. The menu was BBQ and spaghetti. I didn’t fly 14 hours from the USA to have a spaghetti meal. We rated this experience as average because of Jeremy’s passion and site specific knowledge. During the tour Jeremy drove the car into a parking bollard, causing us to get jolted out of our seats. He tried pulling out of a parking lot, that had zero cars, and he drove off the road into the ditch. We were able to get back on the road. Finally, on the drive back to our hotel Jeremy drove straight thru a red light for the third time, then accelerated with a sudden braking event. I had enough and told him I don’t care what time we get back to the hotel but I want to be alive. Please focus on the road so we can make it home alive. This worked for the next 30 minutes until we got close to our hotel. He again, was in the wrong lane to access our hotel. He just stopped in the intersection trying to calibrate his next move. Scared us. He made 2 more wrong turns until the GPS finally got him to out hotel. I hope someone close to him convinces him to stop driving and just manage his business, as he alluded during the tour. Also, please take his wardrobe to get professionally cleaned. I did see a similar hygiene comment from another customer. Again, driver beware.

Mixed bag - The places we were taken too were good. Jeremy provided us with relevant information. But we were not taken to all the places listed in the itinerary. One specific feedback to Jeremy would be on his hygiene and presentation. The smell got unbearable towards the end of the tour.

Our private tour to... - Our private tour to explore the Tokyo countryside had its ups and downs. The pick-up time was scheduled for 9:00 AM, but Jeremy, our guide, called around 7:45 AM to inform us that he would arrive by around 8:00 AM due to light traffic. He assured us that it was no problem for him to wait in the car until we were ready. Throughout the day, Jeremy frequently mentioned that he was feeling awful due to a shoulder inflammation. He shared that he had been uncertain about conducting the tour and had hoped to sleep in the car while his colleague Julian, who was unfortunately sick, would drive. Jeremy also mentioned that his guests from the previous day had offered to end their tour early and that canceling tours could affect his ranking on Viator. We had approximately 30 minutes to visit the first temple and about 15 minutes to admire some statues with an amazing view mostly from a distance. After lunch, we visited another temple, where we also had around 40 minutes for exploration. Additionally, we drove past a reservoir and a lake. On the way back to the hotel, Jeremy's car unfortunately grazed a truck on the highway. Fortunately, it was only minor damage, and Jeremy immediately checked to ensure we were unharmed. Once all formalities regarding the accident were settled, Jeremy arranged a taxi for us, as his car needed to be towed. It is worth noting that Jeremy possesses an incredible wealth of knowledge about Japanese culture, and the sites we visited were among the most beautiful we encountered during our tour of Japan.