I'm Scott. I've been based in Kansai since 2018, which means Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nara are places I explore regularly — not destinations I ask AI about for your trip. Before moving to Japan, I spent years in event management and corporate travel planning. That combination means I can tell you where to go and how to make the logistics work once you're there.

Walking Tours

Follow me on a 4-hour guided walk through an area of Kyoto that you want to explore, without the guesswork. Each walk will be customized for you, starting from a limited set of options for different sections of the city.

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Consultation

Japan trips often fall short in the planning stage — too many options, not enough local knowledge. I'll work through your itinerary, fill the gaps, and make sure you're spending your time in the right places.

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© Atypical Japan 2026

Guided Tours · Kyoto

These walks are for visitors who want to go further than the highlights — and don't want to spend their trip figuring out how.My guided walks cover your preferred stopping points — plus some things you wouldn't know are there. I've lived in Kansai since 2018 and will guide you through the areas you want with a local's perspective. I'll show you the Kyoto that falls through the cracks of the guidebooks, and take you on shortcuts that the locals would use.Each 4-hour tour is built around a focused area of Kyoto. The route is shaped around your interests and pace.

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*Max Group Size is 12 people

· A ¥10,000 deposit confirms your booking. Full payment options are also available.· Bookings open 3 to 60 days in advance.· One bottle of water is provided per guest.· Entrance fees and any food or drink along the way are at your own cost.

Arashiyama

Most visitors spend an hour at the bamboo grove and leave without seeing what makes Arashiyama worth a full day. This walk pushes past the crowds into Saga Toriimoto's preserved Meiji-era street and out to two temple cemeteries that almost nobody visits.

Possible stops: Bamboo Forest · Togetsukyo Bridge · Tenryu-ji · Jojakko-ji · Gio-ji · Saga Toriimoto Street · Adashino Nenbutsu-ji · Otagi Nenbutsu-ji

Central Kyoto

Most visitors treat this area as something to pass through on the way to a temple. It's actually where the city lives — covered markets with century-old knife shops, a national garden that locals use as a park, and an alley dining district that requires knowing when to arrive and where to turn.Possible stops: Nishiki Market · Teramachi Market · Nijo Castle · Kyoto Imperial Palace · Kyoto Gyoen · Shimogamo Shrine · Pontocho Alley · Kamogawa

Fushimi

Fushimi Inari is one of the most visited sites in Japan, and the lower gates earn that reputation — but the crowds thin sharply the higher you climb, and almost nobody walks the upper mountain. The real surprise is what surrounds the shrine: a cluster of Zen temples with some of Kyoto's finest gardens, and a hall containing 1,001 golden statues that most visitors walk straight past.Possible stops: Fushimi Inari Shrine · Fushimi Inari Bamboo Forest · Tofuku-ji Temple · Komyo-in Temple · Unryu-in Temple · Chishakuin Temple · Sanjūsangendō Temple · Imakumano Kannon-ji Temple

Higashiyama - A

This walk follows the Philosopher's Path — a canal-side trail that connects some of Kyoto's quieter northern temples — and the value is less in any single stop than in what sits between them. Honen-in hides behind a thatched gate that most people walk past, and Shinnyodo is the kind of temple that serious autumn foliage seekers plan their entire trip around.Possible stops: Keage Incline · Nanzen-ji Temple · Eikando Temple · Philosopher's Path · Otoyo Shrine · Honen-in Temple · Ginkaku-ji Temple · Shinnyodo Temple · Konkai Komyo-in Temple · Heian Jingu Shrine

Higashiyama - B

This is the most tourist-heavy corridor in Kyoto, and the honest reason to walk it with a local guide is timing and routing — knowing which crowds to move through, which alleys to duck into, and when to leave the main street entirely. Yasaka Koshin-do is the best example: a vivid, photogenic temple tucked in a side lane off Sannenzaka that most visitors walk straight past, and the Shirakawa Canal in Gion is a quieter and more beautiful stretch than the famous main street a block away.Possible stops: Kiyomizudera Temple · Sannenzaka · Ninenzaka · Hokan-ji Temple · Yasaka Koshin-do · Kodai-ji Temple · Ryōzen Kannon · Gion District · Shirakawa Canal · Yasaka Shrine · Maruyama Park · Chion-in Temple · Shoren-in Temple

Kurama-Kifune

This is the one walk on the list that leaves the city entirely — a mountain hiking course through Kurama Temple's sacred forest and over the ridge into Kifune's narrow river gorge. It takes two to three hours of actual hiking, and the reward at the end is a shrine built along a stream where, in summer, restaurants extend wooden platforms out over the water for outdoor dining.Possible stops: Kurama Temple · Mountain Trail · Kifune Shrine (Note: This is a hiking course, not a walking tour. A reasonable level of physical fitness is recommended.)

Northwest Kyoto

The northwest holds two of the most photographed landmarks in all of Japan and, within walking distance of both, some of the emptiest temple grounds in the city. Myoshin-ji is a working Zen complex large enough to be its own walled village — with sub-temples, stone paths, and almost no foreign visitors — and most people pass its front gate without realising what's behind it.Possible stops: Kinkaku-ji Temple · Ryoan-ji Temple · Ninna-ji Temple · Myoshin-ji Temple · Toji-in Temple · Kitano Tenmangu Shrine · Uzumasa Kyoto Village

Shugakuin

This is Kyoto's northeast foothills — the least-visited area on this list, and the one most worth the effort to reach. Ruriko-in is known among photographers for maple leaves reflected in polished wooden floors; Shugakuin Imperial Villa requires an advance reservation and rewards it with some of the finest landscape garden views in the country; and Enkō-ji offers autumn foliage on the scale of more famous temples, without the crowds that make those temples difficult to enjoy.Possible stops: Enkō-ji Temple · Shisen-do Temple · Manshuin Temple · Shugakuin Imperial Villa · Renge-ji Temple · Ruriko-in Temple · Eizan Cable Car · Ichijoji

Consulting & Itinerary Planning

Planning a trip to Japan from scratch is genuinely complicated — the train system, the regional differences, the seasonal timing, the things that look fine on paper but don't work in practice. I've been living in Kansai since 2018. Bring me your wishlist or your half-built itinerary, and I'll tell you what's missing.

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© Atypical Japan 2026