Naritasan Shinshoji Temple before Your Flight

Just myself, my wife and our guide Hideaki taking a leisurely walk from our meeting point to the Temple. We were able to ask him all the questions we wanted and he stopped in many local shoppes he thought we would be interested in. Then we explored the temples and gardens. A wonderful and relaxing activity that gave us a nice insight to the Japanese culture.

We had a long lay over in Narita on way home from Sri Lanka. Our guide was kind, knowledgeable, able to answer our questions. Had nice mix of temples, gardens, local shops/restaurants, and a delicious sushi lunch. Got us back safely to airport. Would highly recommend.

We were able to take a shuttle from the airport hotel. From the drop off point it is about a 15 minute walk. You wonder where you’re going and then all of a sudden you’ve come across a real nice little street with lots of shops. Pretty soon you find the temple on your left. The entire grounds are free and very amazing. You can just wander around and enjoy the history. Unfortunately, most everything is Japanese and the people working there do not speak too much English. We were lucky to get there early, because at 9 o’clock in the morning they have a ritual service. It was extremely interesting! This is a two or three hour excursion, maximum, and very well worth it. We are happy that we went.

We would like to acknowledge Hideako, our tour guide for his excellent service! He is polite, kind and respectful. He was thorough in giving us great informations on the history and culture!

This is a great temple located close to the Narita Airport. It will be a nice short trip from the airport to Narita Station, and then a 20-30 minutes walk through the old town to the temple. You should also check to see if the hotel you are staying at Narita to see if they provide shuttle buses to the Narita Station. We are fortunate that our hotel does provide that shuttle. The temple covers a decent area and its buildings are both nice and historical, particularly the pagoda which is very well maintained and colourful. Adjacent to the temple is the garden with pond, waterfalls, pavilion and bridge, and is well worth a walk through.

Beautiful temple and not too busy. Great toilet facitilities right across the road at the Car Parking lot. Busy with school children but they are well behaved (Japanese). Allow 2 hours to walk from one of the regional train stations and to explore all of the Temple grounds.

Ee had a fabulous guide who enchanted us with many things: There was ice carving, a free concert, food tasting along the road to the temple , a baptism (of sorts) in the temple, a tea ceremony, wedding couples taking photos and the Japanese gardens-all crowned by delicious sushi served in the most generous portions at a restaurant our guide recommended. Don’t loose that guide!!

I am a travel advisor and accompanied several clients on this tour, which I booked only a couple of days before our flights, so kind of last minute. While our guide was very sweet and friendly, he was in no way equipped to give an informative tour in English. He imparted almost zero information or commentary about the history of the town as we walked through Narita's main street to the temple (Q: Can you tell us about this architecture? A: Traditional house."). He did point at several items displayed in front of shops: "Mochi" "Rice crackers" etc. No real context or narrative. We spent almost two hours at the beautiful Shinshoji temple, but he gave us very little info about its history, life at the temple, only the most basic info about Buddhism, etc. "Pagoda" "Smoke for blessing" "Carp" or Q "What is this building?" A: House. Many houses." Q: "What are the drummers performing or what is the meaning of their performance?" A: "Later." We learned what we could about the temple complex by reading the signs in English. He took us to a local place for lunch and helped us order--it was good. But my clients were dismayed at the language skills of the guide--I won't say his knowledge of the temple was limited, because he is a licensed guide and I am sure he knows plenty. He was just unable to communicate much of anything to us in English. As a travel advisor, it was embarrassing to have this guide with my clients and they let me know their disappointment, but fortunately it was not as expensive as some other similar tours. The worst part is that we had just finished two weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia with some of the best guides I have ever had in my 17 years in this business. So this wasn't a good ending to the trip! The other problem was that somewhere on the Viator listing it said that the tour includes private transport (I have the screen shot). It does not. I am perfectly happy to use the train but we had to scramble at the last minute to find airport lockers for our carry on bags, and the yen coins to put into them (we gave a French couple four euros for 600 yen); and then we had to withdraw 10,000 yen from the ATM to pay for 2300 yen in train tickets--the machine only took cash or a specific Japanese card. It would have been nice to know all of this in advance instead of stressing out and wasting time. The guide was extremely nice and warm, and emailed us pictures of us at the temple, helped us do some good luck things there, and chose a good lunch place, so I'm giving this tour three stars rather than two. I am sure he is a treasure if the clients he is guiding speak Japanese. But the agency who sent him should reconsider sending him out to guide clients in English. It was truly one of the least satisfying and least informative tours I have ever experienced.

I have been in Japan in March , it was a remarkable experience to see the Sakura (cherry bloosoms in full bloom ) but in autumn very beautiful to see the difernts colors .