Join us for an intimate journey of inspiring visits to highly acclaimed gardens, hiking through mountain villages and vistas, exploring World Heritage temples and shrines, museums, and artisan workshops, and sampling the creative, healthy and aesthetically-pleasing cuisine.
Our guides will enchant you with total immersion into the heart of Japanese culture, life, and tradition, with an authenticity and passion for details. Discover what it truly means to experience Japan and feel as if you have come home. Your soul will delight at what awaits you at each turn as a welcomed guest into the everyday beauty, discipline, and enlightenment of Japan. We look forward to creating the memories you have been dreaming about!
Meet Your Guides!
 Marilyn Tsuchiya | Marilyn Tsuchiya has been visiting Japan since 1984 and leading tours since 2005. Her passion for the plants, arts, and traditions of Japan is evident in her excitement to engage you its rich history. She also volunteers as a docent at the Japanese Garden in Seattle’s Arboretum where she shares her extensive knowledge of Japanese gardens, culture, and history. To Marilyn, to experience Japan is to do so through enjoying the side of Japan that most tourists overlook. Her attention is to the details, which is at the heart of the disciplined Japanese culture and truly where the beauty of Japan is beheld. | |
 Kazuo Tsuchiya | Kazuo Tsuchiya is Japan-born and raised. As a native of Japan, he enjoys returning home and to share his extensive, intimate knowledge of Japan with guests. He loves cooking and sharing his passion for delicious and imaginative Japanese cuisine. Kazuo is fluent in English and Japanese. | |
 Asher Ramras | Asher Ramras serves as interpreter for JSGT. His skills in aiding in the communication between Nippon Fern Club members and our tour participants is excellent, especially as scientific knowledge was necessary. His interest in Japan started as a child growing up with friends and surrounded by the Japanese art and cuisine in the Pacific Northwest. He began his studies in Japan as an exchange student and assistant language teacher and has a profound respect for Japanese culture, language and way of life. Asher’s favorite places in Japan include Kyoto for the balance it strikes between its relevance as a cultural center of Japan today and its legacy as the ancient capital and Kagoshima, where the rich dialect reflects a warm welcoming people and calm rural life. | |
 Cara Izumi | Cara Izumi was born and raised in Japan - her Japanese American father from Hawaii met her Japanese mother when both were living and working in Tokyo. After a rewarding career emphasizing her commitment to cross-cultural communication via working with international students at the University of Washington, Cara now enjoys sharing her Japanese cultural heritage as a Seattle Japanese Garden docent and by visiting Japan as often as she can! She looks forward to facilitating your own discovery of Japan through its gardens, arts, crafts, language… and cuisine!! |