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Kyoto Trip 2007 Evaluation Feedback

The following questionnaire was sent to all 14 of the guests on our May 2007 trip to Japan. Numbers are averaged and comments appear in their entirety. Several guests have said they would be glad to correspond with other who are considering going on the trip. Email me if you would like to speak to one of them personally.

Please rate the following items on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent) and feel free to add comments under any of the items.

General logistics

Communication prior to the trip             8
Communication during the trip                8.5
Price of the trip                                      10
Quality of service during the trip             10
Variety of things scheduled                     10
Local Guide (Junko)                              9.3
COMMENTS: Translation skill at workshops was a bit short, but she made up for it with her choice of restaurants and food selections. 

Palace Side Hotel                                  9
COMMENTS: I actually could have stayed here the entire trip.  I loved being across from the Palace Grounds and having a room to myself so I could scatter my stuff around, etc.  I guess that comes from living alone for 30 years.

Rikiya Ryokan                                       10
COMMENTS:
- What a gorgous location!  My only problem is that I'm not good at sharing a room.  It sounded like a fun idea, but wasn't so much in practice.  Loved the experience though of staying at a ryokan.  However I would have paid extra to have a room to myself.

-  It was a real treat to stay here! The area was so lovely I'm still thinking about it.

Temple Markets                                    10
COMMENTS:
- Wow they were fun but rushed
- The first market we went to was lovely and so overwhelming! I've never seen so many things for sale!

Fushimi Visit (Shrine, Sake Factory, Boat ride) 7
COMMENTS:
-Fun but rushed
-The shrine was really nice to visit.  I could have passed on the Sake tour personally, but that is not to say that it wasn't a nice museum.  The Boat ride was quite enjoyable.  Maybe on the next trip this day of activities could be offered as a choice with having free time in Kyoto. 

Maiko Dance                                        9.5
COMMENTS:
- It was nice to see a performance while we were there but some parts were hard to follow due to the language barrier.
- Wish we had more of the story and an English version prior to attending to get better idea.
- 10++++

Ryoanji (Zen Rock Garden)                   10
COMMENTS:
-This was gorgeous!

Silver Temple and Philosopher's Path     9.8
COMMENTS:
- This part was definately a favourite
- The landscaping was lovely.

Any places you would add in the future?  
COMMENTS:
- I was surprised we didn't go to the Gold Temple as a group…
- I would be willing to see pretty much anything in Kyoto.

Workshops

Rozome (wax resist)  workshop             9.8
COMMENTS:
- I am not artistic, but I did enjoy this, it made me feel somewhat creative!

Indigo Workshop                                  8.5
COMMENTS:
- Too serious

Katazome Studio Visit        8
COMMENTS:
- Interesting

Vegetable Dye Workshop (in Ohara)     10+
COMMENTS:
- This was my favourite day in Japan.  I can't stop talking about Ohara, and wanting to live in Ohara, and maybe going back and working there one day! The leaders of this workshop were so friendly and a pleasure to talk to.  I loved the setting and the mountains all around.  The pickles were also to die for!
- Yes, (I wrote) eleven, it's not a typo!
- I enjoyed visiting with “the family” more than the actual dyeing, but once again, I am not very artistic. I like looking at others productions and talking to Renshi and the family.

Which are "must do" for next time:

- Ohara, Indigo dying, Silver Temple/ Philosophers path, temple markets. 
- Rozome, Indigo, Ohara
- Ryoanji, Fushimi, Flea Markets. Maybe a trip to Uji.

and which ones should we consider dropping?
- Sake Factory, Tondaya (kimono dressing)
-Add a better one on kimono dressing, schooling, I love the 2 books(on kimonos) I ordered on Amazon.com – is there a video we could see before the trip?

Any workshops you would add in the future?
- Everyone seemed to enjoy the ones we had. 
- There's a fan painting workshop in Gion I saw in a magazine that sounded fun.  I would have liked one on tying the fabric before dying. 
-For textiles, I would be interested in having a weaving workshop.  Outside of textiles, I would have been interested in basketweaving.

Would you have wanted more free (unscheduled) time? If so, how much more?

- I felt comfortable taking my own time away from the group and was glad I did.  By the last day of the trip I was pretty tired to do anything too far away.

- First let me say that I live in a small town and live a very laid back life style.  I felt very rushed because there was so much to do.  I would have liked a morning or afternoon off every 3 or so days.  But Guy thought we could have done even more things, so there you go.

- I would want more unscheduled time.  I was surprised, but when I got to Kyoto after a few days I felt more independent than I had expected.  I always wanted to go off on my own but also wanted to do things with the group.  I would say another day of optional free time would have been nice.

- We packed in a lot, but there were free times, I didn't go to a couple of things by choice – maybe the second morning, more “kick back” but then that was the day of the temple market and going at 6 AM is a must.  

- I enjoyed the free day, and I think 2 or even 3 free days would be good.

Meals

Which are "must do" for next time and which ones should we consider dropping?
- I loved the variety.  “Food on Stick”
- I thought all the meals were outstanding!  (Well maybe the Goodbye dinner was too much fish, but not so terrible.)  I thought they were a vital part of the trip and I would have been at everyone of them except I kept pooping out.
- Over all I guess I felt we ate at too many restaurants.  I would have preferred one big/nice meal a day, with more option to have a more casual lunch on the go.  I feel like maybe this would save some money as well.  All the meals which I did eat though were amazing and very tasty.  The "must do" places are the noodle/ramen restaurant and the Zen Temple one!
- I was surprised at how much food was served at each meal.  We got such great variety, this is a tough one.
- Why did you want to drop some of the meals?  I thought they were an outstanding part of the trip.
- Must do – breakfast at the ryokan, lunch on the river, the Italian buffet at Sun Route (rainy day) because it gave us bread that was lacking in the traditional Japanese meal. I'd say keep the breakfasts, lunches, and maybe eliminate a few ( 2-4) of the evening meals as we were worn out by then, maybe just needed a snack of choice, but meals were a good bonding time.   
- Keep Ganko, the restaurant in Pontocho on the veranda, the vegetarian meal at the temple, Food on a Stick, and I rather liked the place that you, me and Katie went to the last night, not that I will ever remember the name of it. Also the place with the cool woodblock prints. I would also keep the one Japanese breakfast at the ryokan. Everything else, while good, just kind of blended in. But I can honestly say I did not have one bad meal.

What was the least enjoyable part(s) of the trip for you?
- The Kimono dressing and house visit/tour.
- Doing not typical tour activities, getting to know the culture and the life of the real people, not just a tourist trap.  The fact that you, Sylvia, Sabrina and Junko all live(d) there really made the trip special.
- Maybe getting to Kyoto from Nagoya and back again. Next time I will strongly consider going to Osaka KIX airport. But really, it was not that bad.
- Cabs were a great way to get there quickly and easily.  But we were always slow to get in groups-more of an “us” problem than your problem.  I felt a few of us were hard “get going”.  It shouldn't matter who is in our groups . . .
- Lugging luggage from the airport to the Palace Side and changing hotels.
- Sometimes when there were people in the group who kept complaining about things that weren't happening and projecting their own unhappiness on others. 
- I kept wanting to walk faster and keep a quicker pace.  But at the same time there were others who wanted to go slower.  Although I understood (and I thought it was stated about the trip in advance) that one should feel comfortable with a steady pace, maybe this should be stated more?  I'm not sure.

Other comments

- I did appreciate the fast pace of the tours and the ability to see so much.
- I appreciate your extreme flexibility with all arrangements.  I felt you were very flexible with others too. 
- What an experience the trip to Japan was!  It can be frustrating at times, but oh so wonderful.  You'll never forget it and I can't recommend it highly enough.  The people are wonderful.  I plan to go back by myself for 30 days in 2010.  So that tells you how great I think it was. 
- Next time I would definitely get a cell phone-maybe just a throwaway from the Family Mart. Other than that, please consider that you already have a customer for the next trip-me! Maybe both of them, spring and fall. If not spring, definitely fall.
- Thanks for a really lovely time!! I will never forget it!!!
- I really viewed this trip as a fact finding trip for a future extended trip.  So it was all good Nancy.  You & Junko did a fantastic job.  Arigto gozaimasu.
- I loved meeting Gary and Fu and Junko, and everyone else, too!