Private Tour: Chartered Car to Mt. Fuji and Hakone Lake Ashi

There are many options for viewing the area, but I opted for this private tour as my mum would have difficulties keeping up with a general tour group. I definitely got the door-to-door flexibility and convenience that I hoped for, with Tom Harada our guide and Higashi our driver taking care of all the needs our family of four. Tom was attentive and knowledgeable, and tailored his sharing of the info to our different interests. Speaking of, there were many opportunities to customize the tour we interacted over email/whatsapp prior to the trip, and during the drive out of the city, Tom discussed multiple options before settling on a few targets and being a private tour, we also made changes along the way. In our particular case, we decided to spend our time in the stretch from Arakurayama to Lake Kawaguchi to Fuji Shiba-sakura festival with several stops along the way. Tom also makes recommendations shops, snacks etc along the way - definitely follow-up on his ice-cream recommendation :

Lastly, we had the amazing fortune of having clear views of Mt Fuji throughout the entire day!

An excellent tour and many thanks to our guide Taiji-Endo! The private day tour by private van started at our hotel at 8.30 and we returned to our hotel about 18.00! The itinerary was packed with some program stops as per original schedule plus some special stops as per our requirements. Taiji San was a professional, friendly and knowalgable guide with a super personality. His knlowlage was also impressive regarding Japanese History and his English was outstanding! We 2 of us can highly recommend this private tour by Star Agency Tokyo and we certainly will again call upon their service for our next Japan trip. We stopped doing organized group tours with many participants a long time ago and there is absolutely no doubt that an exclusive private tour is the very best way of sightseeing and enjoyment with maximum flexibility to our personal needs! Thanks again to Star Agency and Taiji-Endo! Cheers Mike and Joe

Taiji's private tour was fantastic. The tour to Mount Fuji and The Hakone Lake was great but what impressed us the most was how Taiji took into account what our objectives were. We aren't a family of shoppers so visiting lots of shopping centers wasn't for us. We were after something cultural so he took us to places where there we local artists, some fine local fashion manufacturers, important cultural shrines defining Shinto and Budism and this amazing Komono artist 's residence. Our children as well as my wife and I learnt a lot about Japan that day and would highly recommend Taiji's tour service.

Masa was an excellent guide. One of our main highlights in our trip. Highly recommend to others.

Masa - san was a good driver and good guide to our family. The explanation was understandable and he was very considerate to our family. Our family were so happy on that day. We were be able to see Mt Fuji clearly and he was chased for us to be able to go through Komagatake Ropeway before sunset so we could take a picture with Mt Fuji and Sunset as its background. And we did it. Thank you Masa - san.

My family had an amazing time during this private tour! Our guide was this amazing gentleman, Taiji Endo and he went out of his way to make the trip so wonderful! His English was perfect and he brought Mount Fuji to us in its full glory! Thank you Taiji for being such a great host! You are the best!

It has been a beautiful and memorable day. We were not sure to be able to see clearly the Mount Fuji and we had a wonderful surprise when a strong wind dipelled the clouds at the minute we arrived, The rest of the day was also very nice from a visit to the lake to a relaxing moment in the Janese hot springs. Our guide was fluent in English and French and very knowledgeable.

Our guide was incredible! He was knowledgeable, courteous, and he listened to our needs. We visited on a rainy, cloudy day. Even though we were unable to actually see Mount Fuji. our guide made up for the weather! A GREAT experience!

A truly wonderful day in the company of Teddy Ishida. He was very knowledgeable about the sights we saw and was completely at our service on the private tour suggesting alternatives towards the end of the day when we were footsore! We were extraordinarily lucky in the weather and Mt Fuji showed in her full glory - no cloud and visible from afar. Highly recommend this tour.

This is a great way to see Mt Fuji and Hakone in a day. The weather was clear for us in the morning so we had a great view of the mountain. Our guide Endo was fluent in English and listened to what we wanted to see me happily change d the itinerary to meet our interests. For us the Ropeway was interesting! In that the clouds had come down and the wind had picked up, we still managed to see Fuji through the clouds but were glad to go back down to the valley. The Hot Springs were lovely, just remember to pack a towel. Endo was a very good guide to newcomers to bathing etiquette. We had a great day and would highly recommend this tour!