Kimkim Trip Reviews for Japan

Easy check in/out. Get location to Shin Osaka train station. Clean & safe. Very friendly staff. Good breakfast.

Host family extremely warm & friendly. Guesthouse very comfortable & private. Amazing view from dining area. Amazing authentic food. Fantastic experience.

Approached guesthouse walking through a junk yard. Bare bones inside. No decoration. Had to walk through several rooms and entry to get from bedroom to shower. Several rooms with many boxes stacked against the walls. Food brought in from somewhere and was not very good. Staff not readily available or friendly. Was clean, safe & had comfortable bed.

Clean, comfortable. Private indoor & outdoor onsen. Very friendly and attentive staff. Great food. Authentic experience.

Fun atmosphere. Japanese sleeping on floor with bean pillows. Large guesthouse, so a bit impersonal. Good food.

Little bit of a walk from bus/train station to ferry. Has both Japanese & Western bedding. Good buffet.

The onsen had many options, private and separated. It was lovely to sit outside which was beautifully decorated

Good hotel. Close to metro train station and the local fish market. The breakfast buffet had a good variety of food and drinks.

My brother and I ate authentic Japanese dinner and breakfast. We appreciate the option to dress in a traditional yukata. The onsens were relaxing. I also enjoyed the private open air bath located in our hotel balcony. The hotel also offered free snack bar, complimentary ramen, popsicle and yogurt drink. I bought some Hakone souvenirs from the hotel gift shop.

Great breakfast buffet! Hotel is walking distance from Gion District and Pontoco Alley.

The monkey trail offered pit stops for us to pause and learn more about them before feeding them. To avoid overfeeding the monkeys, each group is limited to feeding the monkeys a pack of apples or peanuts. The Bamboo forest is beautiful and well maintained.

The weather was clear enough for us to see Mt Fuji! We learned the floating Tori Gate at Lake Ashi is meant to provide good luck for couples. Our guide also said Hakone used to be a crucial checkpoint between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Our guide gave good background info about both sites. After our hike up Fushimi Inari we ate delicious green tea ice cream infused with gold specs. I learned the original golden pavilion was burned down and had to be rebuilt! At Kinkaju Temple, we stopped by a station where you pick up a rock. The effort it takes to pick up the rock provides estimated time for your wish to come true. We also saw a rock island shaped as a turtle that symbolizes longevity and a waterfall where if a koifish jumps above a waterfall it becomes a dragon; similar to how Magikarp eventually evolves into a Gyarados!

Great dinner in our room at the hotel! It was amazing and since we don't drink alcohol they gave us a great juice alternative. The location was good and room comfortable...

Great Kyoto location very close to the main train and subway station...very nice staff. Helpful and efficient. Room was a good size and well stocked. And their English skills made communicating easy, whiteout our translation app!

Room was poorly laid out and the smallest of all our cities we went to, including Tokyo and Kyoto, and Osaka is not that expensive. They had a very sharp light fixture right over my head on one side of the bed, almost seriously hurt myself, and I spoke to the manager....which by the way was about the only staff member who spoke English....since no hotel has good instructions for running the HVAC, they are all in Japanese, I had to use my translation app to try and get the right room temp...and when I asked the front desk to help...two people even with the translator took 10 minutes to understand that I needed them to fix the temp. The location is ok...very high-end part of town....and not really very many restaurants for dinner. The hotel restaurant was very expensive and only had about 5 main courses to choose from. So we had to walk a bit to find some decent places to eat.

YUKI as a guide was amazing....explained everything....and the highlight for us was some "Quite time" in a small temple garden, beautiful and wonderful. The special temple lunch was fine....not as "private" as I expected, since they had several rooms for about 20 people each, but the food was fun and the overall meal and removal from the major crowds were nice. The tour and YUKI made what could have been a crowded tourist day very enjoyable.

Enjoyed the day and the guide was knowledgeable...about what I expected from an overview of Tokyo highlights. He had prepaid subway cards for us which we gave back at the end of the day....so we never had to stop and wait for him to purchase tickets we all just went right trough the gates. And we enjoyed having a private tour!

Guide was great...group was good size with 10 people...weather was marginal, since we were having a typhoon, but that is NOT the guides fault and the weather opened up for about 2 minutes so we could see Mt. Fuji....then we saw it from the train the next day in Blue sky!

This was fun for us becasue we have a particular interest in Bonsai...and we got to meet Master Kunio Kobayashi himself! He signed a book for us and we got to see his famous prize winning tree and watch him do some pruning on a new tree he was working on....

The castle is amazing!!! And we were their for the fist "fire" in its history! A child accidently hit the fire alarm when we were in the very top of the wood castle! So it cleared out fast and gave us a fright for a few minutes until they figured out what happened...then we got a few fun photos of the fire brigade! And it was very quiet for a while....since everyone else was evacuated...but the castle in amazing.

Really enjoyed the Torii Gates at the Shinto shrine and the hike up through thousands of gates....even though we only went up half way....and our guide was careful to be sure we were safe on a slightly rainy day....private tour met our expectations in a crowd.

You have to like deer...they have 3000 that wander the city....but seeing the area was interesting...though the oldest pagoda in Japan is not to be seen since it is under renovation until 2032....but the area was interesting....for a first visit to Japan.

We never stayed there because of a typhoon

The etching of glass was interesting and not as difficult as I thought it would be The instructor was great. I would recommend it

Very tedious and difficult It’s not something that you could do on your own It was a very interesting experience which is unique to japan

Great guys who were helpful. Hard work. 3 hours it took to make the knifes There were two different places to make the knives. One is for a private lesson and the other is for a group. I would strongly recommend the private lesson. It’s not easy because you pound the steel until the metal is thin

He was fantastic. Fun. Friendly and easy to talk to. Lots of walking Helpful when we were looking for a map. Went to dinner with him to a local restaurant which was great

The driver spoke no English and told us to the front of the department store and the guide was at the back of the store which took 1 hr to meet the guide

She was great. Lots of food and interesting food. Enjoyed your company and was knowledgeable Would strongly recommend her and the tour. Lots of walking Need to be in reasonable shape

He was great Went to bars and had a drink. Bars are very small. Area was weird with lots of young women outside trying to talk to men. Very safe

We did not do the evening tour because of a typhoon which affected our time in Kyoto She was great interesting with different food

Excellent service. They specially prepared vegetarian food for us and the presentation was superb! Amazing private onsen. Great views from room.

We stayed here on the way in to Japan and on the way out.Very conveniently located providing easy access to public transport. Room very functional despite the small size. Very friendly staff. Adequate breakfast options.

It was basically a long bus ride followed by a trolley ride (admittedly a beautiful scenic ride) We were not taken to the Shomyo Falls apparently due to time constraints ( not very credible). It happened to be the first day that the trolley resumed the full ride till the final station but there was nothing to do there as construction was ongoing. This time could have been better spent at Shomyo Falls or at any other scenic spot, for a stroll through nature. The halt at Unazuki Onsen wasn't worth the time. Anyway the onsen was lukewarm and unimpressive.

Taku was an amazing guide and gave us a lot of history that helped put our tour into perspective.

We had a nice ride through neighborhoods to Arashiyama and a little bit of country side. Once at the forest, you really have to walk your bikes because of the crowds. The bamboo forest was cool but not sure the bike riding part was anything special.

This was a great hike and the area was very cool. Beautiful forest and Tribune seemed like a neat little village. It was lightly raining so we didn't get to eat at one of the restaurants over the river but that looked like it would be a great experience.

This area was very beautiful and we loved the falls. The description of the tour made it seem like we would hike from the Temple to Minoh Falls but we took a taxi. The guide said if we hiked it would be along the road however, the tour write up made us think the hike would be in the woods. Despite wishing we had more hiking time, we loved the experience.

What a fun tour with delicious food. We had a great time making our own okonomiyaki. The only thing we didn't get that was mentioned in the tour description was the box of Takoyaki.

wonderful experience. it would have been nice if there had been 4 beds. The meal from across the street was a real gem and would recommend for anyone.

very very nice. central location in Gora, Hakone.

good. guide was flexible because of poor weather

pretty touristy.

too regimented and cookie cutter.

maybe too long of a day

maybe too long of a day

Terry our guide was so good. The full day spent venturing went by so fast. We learned so much about Kyoto.

This was a life saver, as if you are coming from a city with no transport, getting on the train system in Japan may seem over whelming, but having a guide help you get the basics and rhythm of how it works is worth it.

Shu is the best

We had a wonderful stay at the Bellustar Tokyo Pan Pacific. The hotel is modern, beautifully designed, and has a very thoughtful feel throughout. Our room was extremely comfortable, and the views of Tokyo were absolutely amazing — especially at night. The location was also a big plus. Having easy access to several different subway lines made it very convenient to get around Tokyo and explore different parts of the city. It was a great home base for our stay. What really stood out, though, was the service. The staff were exceptionally warm, welcoming, and attentive without ever feeling overbearing. Any requests we had were handled quickly and efficiently, and we always felt well taken care of. Overall, the Bellustar Tokyo Pan Pacific was a fantastic choice for our stay. Between the beautiful modern design, comfortable rooms, incredible views, convenient location, and genuinely excellent service, it made our time in Tokyo even more enjoyable. We would definitely stay here again.

Staying at the Genji Kyoto Machiya Townhouse Annex was one of the most unique and memorable parts of our time in Kyoto. It gave us the opportunity to experience a classic Kyoto neighborhood and get a real sense of what it might be like to live in one of the city’s traditional machiya homes. The townhouse was beautifully decorated and thoughtfully styled, striking a wonderful balance between traditional Japanese character and modern comfort. The design, materials, and details really captured the spirit of old Kyoto without feeling dated. There was something very special about coming back each day to such a beautiful and peaceful space. The townhouse was also very comfortable for the three of us and gave us plenty of room to relax during our four-day stay. It felt much more personal and intimate than a typical hotel experience and really added to the feeling that we were experiencing Kyoto rather than simply visiting it. The breakfast each morning was delicious and was such a wonderful way to start the day. And the rooftop cocktails were absolutely divine! Enjoying a drink from the rooftop while taking in the surroundings was one of those experiences that made our stay feel truly special. Overall, the Genji Kyoto Machiya Townhouse Annex offered a wonderful combination of authentic Kyoto atmosphere, beautiful traditional design, comfort, and memorable hospitality. If you’re looking for something different from a conventional hotel and want to experience a more traditional side of Kyoto, this is a very special place to stay.

We really wanted to love our stay at Yamanochaya, especially because of its beautiful location and the wonderful onsen experience. Unfortunately, the property didn’t quite live up to our expectations. The property itself felt quite dated, and we noticed some areas in the common spaces where the decor and furnishings were visibly worn or broken. Our room also had a small area of mold on the floor, apparently from a leaking AC unit. While it wasn’t a major part of the room, it was disappointing to see and something that should be addressed. The biggest disappointment for us was the kaiseki meal. We consider ourselves very open to trying different foods and have traveled extensively, so we were looking forward to experiencing a traditional Japanese meal. Unfortunately, the meal left quite a bit to be desired. Some of the dishes didn’t seem particularly well prepared, and the steak was quite tough. Overall, we found the meal difficult to get through and it wasn’t the dining experience we had hoped for. That said, there were definitely some positives. The staff were extremely friendly, warm, and accommodating, and they did their best to make us feel welcome throughout our stay. The onsens were also a highlight and provided a wonderful opportunity to relax and enjoy the natural beauty of Hakone. Overall, Yamanochaya has a lot going for it, particularly its location, onsens, and genuinely kind staff. With some investment in updating the property, maintaining the common areas, addressing issues such as the mold, and improving the dining experience, I think it could be a much more memorable stay.

Our small group tour in Tokyo with Mami was one of the highlights of our trip! Mami was absolutely amazing — warm, personable, knowledgeable, and so much fun to spend time with. She took us to three completely different venues, and each one offered something unique. The food at every stop was wonderfully prepared, and it was such a great way to experience different flavors and sides of Tokyo that we probably wouldn’t have discovered on our own. What really made the experience special, though, was Mami herself. She made us feel comfortable right away and had such a genuine, engaging personality. She shared her knowledge of the food and the local area while making the tour feel more like we were spending an evening with a friend than being on a formal tour. By the end of the evening, we honestly did not want to leave her! It was such a fun and memorable experience, and Mami made it even better. We would highly recommend this tour, especially if you have the opportunity to have Mami as your guide!

Great capsule hotel. I don't think I would stay in one again. Great experience but I prefer regular hotels.

Great staff and beautiful hotel

For what it is, it's great