Our day with Mieko chan! - Mieko was a blessing to have on our visit to Kumamoto! She was very flexible and allowed us to customize the tour to our interests. Once we settled on an agenda for the day, our party of 6 embarked on a wonderful, adventurous, fun filled day! We started off by visiting Foodpal Kumamoto, an out of the city venue that we had discovered through researching things to do in Kumamoto. Although the venue was partially closed, we were able visit several specialty shops and met the gracious owner of Hashimoto Shoyu! Mrs. Hashimoto even went out of the way to escort us from her shoyu factory to main market place, giving us a tour of the area and sharing the history of her 5 generation family business. What a treat to have met her and experience such hospitality from her! Our next stop was lunch at a grilling izakaya that Mieko found within walking distance of Kumamoto Castle. This was a special request that we put on her and she came through with flying colors! We loved grilling experiences on recent trips to Niigata and Hachinohe. For lunch we feasted on the freshest seafood harvested from Kumamoto's waters, abalone, oysters, scallops, hokkigai clams, snow crab and jumbo tiger prawns! To top it off, Mieko suggested we try a taste of the special Kumamoto horsemeat sashimi and ordered us a platter to sample, which we tried with apprehension and found it to be a little chewy but nicely flavored, dipped in shoyu with green onion and grated ginger topping. After lunch we headed to Kumamoto Castle to walk off the feast. All I can say is that Mieko is an expert at navigating the Castle through heavy tourist traffic and providing expert commentary and historical information on the Lords and families that occupied the castle during the edo period. Especially drawing my attention was her familiarity and talking points on Miyamoto Musashi, Lord Hosokawa, Lady Gracia, Saigo Takamori and the other Daimyo lords under the shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu! After sweeping through the Castle, we had enough time to visit the Sakuranobaba, shopping area right outside the castle. There we were able to do some sake tasting at a liquor shop and browse through the shopping area before heading back to our hotel. Mieko gave us a full day of fun and adventure that we would not have been able to experience on our own! We have made a lifelong friend and will be sure to refer our friends and family to Mieko when they visit Kumamoto!

Kumamoto Castle Highlight Tour! - Professional and knowledgeable guide. Mieko was also extremely flexible in working out details of final itinerary. Her knowledge of Kumamoto Castle made it an enjoyable and informative tour. Highly recommend!!

Kumamoto castle, Suizneji Park, a fabulous lunch in a traditional shop and wonderful crafts! - This was a wonderful tour! Our guide, Mieko san, made it meaningful and interesting on various levels. Culturally and historically, she was a wealth of interesting facts and stories. It was a great tour with a great guide.

Great custom private Mt Aso tour. - Mieko was a great guide - she contacted me days before already to talk through the itinerary, was providing good suggestions and did fully accommodate our preferences. She was a great guide during the day as well giving lots of background and information for our tour around Mt. Aso and helped us finding the OnePiece Kumamoto Project statues and the shops to buy the memorabilia figures.

Wonderful Meiko - Mieko is wonderful. So caring and concerned to make sure you see as much as possible. And so organized.

Kumamoto City Tour - We had an enjoyable trip in Kumamoto with Mieko as our guide. We learnt a lot about the culture and food in Kumamoto. We are glad that we made this stop at Kumamoto.

Kumamoto day tour with guide Mieko - Miekoさん、お元気ですか？review遅れて、ごめんね！Miekoさんのおかげで、my boyfriend and I created such a great memory in Kumamoto. We arrived an hour late due to that we were not familiar with the traffic, I was telling Mieko we can shorten the tour because it was my fault. But she still spent the full six hours with us, very thankful! In addition to the Kumamoto Castle and places of interest, she also took us to a sword smith shop, over there we saw the 本物の日本刀! Also, Miekoさんは、細かなところに気がついて、we were at a natural water fountain, drinking that water can make a person 10 years younger 😀 so I had to try, and she had the disposable cups 用意してくれました。Miekoさんは，九州出身の芸能人のことが詳しくて、会話するのもとても楽しかった！共通の好きなバンドは、世界の終わり！to travelers who are looking at my review, please come to Kumamoto and let Mieko guide you!

Mieko is the best. - Mieko was absolutely the best. I told Mieko to meet us at the Kumamoto cruise terminal, but the ship docked in Yatsushiro!! She was gracious enough to tell us how to get to Kumamoto, so off we went in a shuttle from the ship to the train station in Shinkansen, and then a bullet train to Kumamoto. AND THERE SHE WAS waiting for us. She guided us all over Kumamoto. We went to the Kumamoto Castle and the Suizenji Jojuen Gardens. Mieko was patient, understanding, knowledgeable, gracious, and tireless. Please always ask for Mieko.

Great guide and lots of fun - I booked this tour as I am very interested in the History of Japan and it seemed like a great way to experience Kumamoto. My guide Mieko was great, we met just outside the hotel I was staying at and then proceeded to visit various Shinto shrines, taking a lot of pictures along the way. Around noon, we went to eat very tasty lava grilled Aka-Ushi (brown cow) and Horse meat, which we got near Kumamoto castle. We finally visited Kumamoto castle which was the tour’s high point for history. Mieko explained everything in detail and it was very interesting to hear about the turbulent history of the Satsuma rebellion and how Kumamoto castle was burned down during a siege by those forces. I think it was a great experience and would recommend it to everyone, especially if you are not able to read or speak Japanese well

A Fun Day in Kumamoto - I got to explore Kumamoto with Mieko. She is a very knowledgeable and fun individual. During the tour we had a nice time discussing many topics and exploring historic sites such as Kumamoto Castle , Suizenji, old town and Koizumi Yakumo former residence. The experience was enjoyable and included a brief stop to taste some delicious Kumamoto Nihon-shu. Thanks for a great day in Kumamoto Mieko!