We were lucky to have Michiko as our guide to Kanazawa & Noto.

We first did the Kanazawa Half-Day Tour with Michiko Kamatani, and the next day we did the Noto Full Day Driving Tour with her. She is a great guide. During the Kanazawa tour we walked and took public transportation throughout the central city. Michiko was very well prepared, with an abundance of background & historical information. She also shared wonderful insights about Kanazawa and its role in Japanese history. Besides her expertise about the usual Kanazawa sights, we also enjoyed our rather deep discussion comparing the roles of “forgiveness” in Western and Japanese religions. The trip to the Noto Peninsula was memorable and turned out to be an unexpected highlight of our trip. Michiko helped bridge the cultural gap between us and the Japanese people we met on the tour. She made us feel like friends and colleagues, rather than tourists. We wondered why she was taking pictures herself, and we were pleasantly surprised when, several days later, we received a link from her to a beautiful photo & video album, with highlights of both trips. It was an unexpected gift of wonderful memories.