Makoon is seriously amazing! We spent 7 days in Japan and had 3 tour guides, 2 in Kyoto and 1 in Tokyo. The only reason we had 2 guides in Kyoto is because we booked our guides only a few weeks out and Makoon was only available for one day of our trip. We are from the US and had never been to Japan (or even Asia!) before. All three guides we had in Japan were excellent, but Makoon was amazing!! I never write reviews, but felt compelled to write this one. Here are the reasons I feel Makoon made our trip most memorable. 1) He developed a wonderful rapport with our 15 year old son right away – they got along famously the whole time and he kept the day entertaining for both my son and me and my husband. 2) his knowledge of Shintoism (sp?), Buddhism, Kyoto and Japan history is incredible. He took the time at each temple and shrine to educate us on each of the traditions and made the experience very very fun! 3) during our shopping experience in Arashiyama he took us to authentic stores with reasonable prices for us to purchase souvenirs. He also provided us samples of many things as we walked through the shops such as green tea chocolate, rice cake treats, and even various kinds of Saki including one non-alcoholic one for my son to try. There was never any pressure to purchase anything he just wanted us to experience the culture. 4) He took us to a wonderful raman restaurant as my son could not wait to try true raman. Our day with Makoon included Monkey Mountain, Arasiyama, and Fushimi Inari Shrine, This day with Makoon was our very favorite day in Japan and I would highly recommend him.