Kansai DMC and land operator
Plans change. We hold them together. Send one brief, and stays, transport, guiding and tables across Kyoto, Osaka and Nara are arranged for your client by a single team.
What we arrange
Send us the brief you received from your client. We return a costed plan, hold the bookings, and stay with the party until they leave.
Hotels and ryokan across Kansai, with option dates tracked for you, and our own townhouses in Gojo.
Airport transfers, private vans, coaches and Shinkansen seats, timed against the day’s reservations.
Bilingual hosts raised between Japan and Australia, for a single day or the whole journey.
Restaurants chosen and negotiated in Japanese, menus translated in full, diets and dislikes passed to the kitchen.
Sake breweries, craft workshops, tea, kintsugi, bonsai and river boats, matched to what the party cares about.
Check-in handled, interpreting where needed, and someone to call when a plan has to change.
Hotels we have booked
We also book ryokan and smaller houses, and track each option date for you.
Shinkansen
Reserved seats go on sale one month before travel, and we book them as they open so a party sits together. Luggage over 160 cm in total dimensions needs a reserved oversized-luggage space, which we secure with the seats.
Tokyo, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka and onward. Timings are set against hotel check-out and the day’s first reservation.
When plans change
One group grew from 23 guests to 25, and from 21 rooms to 23, before it arrived. Rooms, tables and transport were adjusted each time, and the organiser dealt with one person throughout.
When a restaurant could not seat a party of 26, we moved the booking to another house, translated every dish and had the menu agreed before the group flew.
You hear about a change from us in English, with the fix already proposed.
Routes we have run
These are outlines of real arrangements from 2026. Yours will be built from your client’s brief.
Group, 3 days
A corporate group from Singapore, based in Osaka with a day out to Wakayama and a tea ceremony in Sakai, with rooming, dining and transport run from a single list.
Arranged
Hotel block, private microbus, group dinners with translated menus, bilingual host.
On the ground
Numbers rose from 23 to 25 and rooms from 21 to 23 before arrival. One restaurant was replaced and the new menu approved in advance.
Private journey, 11 days
Two guests, Kansai at the centre and west to Naoshima, Kurashiki, Hiroshima and Miyajima: modern architecture, kintsugi and tea.
Arranged
Hotels and ryokan, a private driver, trains and ferries, kintsugi and tearoom visits, daily tables.
On the ground
The same host met them each morning with their driver, translated and settled the bills, so the days could change with the weather.
Through a travel agent, 5 days
An overseas agent held the client relationship. We took the four nights in Kansai and reported back to the agent throughout.
Arranged
Stays, private transport, guiding, restaurant reservations, an itemised quotation for the agent.
On the ground
The agent stayed the single point of contact for their client. We handled the days.
Food-led, 1 to 2 days
Short stays planned around eating: one evening in Kyoto built around a single dinner, and days in southern Nara built around its regional dishes and breweries.
Arranged
Two two-starred restaurants in Gion compared side by side for the client, both held, one booked. In southern Nara, persimmon-leaf sushi, tea porridge and river fish, with sake brewery visits.
On the ground
Menus were read through with the guests at the table, course by course.
Southern Nara
We are based in the old merchant quarter of Gojo, south of Osaka and Nara city. Around it lie Yoshino, Asuka and Uda: cedar forests, sake breweries, and the fields where Japan’s first capitals stood.
Few English-speaking operators work here. We run four townhouse stays, an event house and a tasting room, so a group can sleep, eat and gather under one host.
Add a night here to a Kyoto and Osaka programme, or build a whole journey around it.
How we work
Dates, party size, interests and budget. A forwarded client email is enough.
A route in outline with a price range, so you can test it with your client early.
Day-by-day plan with photographs and an itemised quotation.
We host, drive or coordinate, and keep you informed as the days unfold.
A reconciliation after the party returns, with receipts for costs paid on site.
A 20% deposit confirms the booking, and the balance is due before arrival on the date set in the quotation. We quote in yen and can also invoice in your local currency. Third-party costs are listed line by line.
“You will not find a better guide in Japan than Shogo Iida.”
Send a brief
We reply with an outline and a price range.
Prefer to write directly?
shogo.iida@atrading.jp
WhatsApp +81 90 6555 4077