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Our team in Nagoya Our Japan office is the administrative heart of InsideJapan Tours and ensures that all our packages and tours run according to plan. The staff are also on the end of a phone 24 hours a day, with an emergency mobile number supplied to all our customers; should you experience any difficulties whilst in Japan you know that a helping hand is just a phone call away. The office is based in Nagoya in central Japan; the city is the fourth biggest in Japan and has exceptional transport links to the rest of the country making it the perfect base. Ayako Koide - Japan Office Manager Tomoko Murase - Group Tours Administration Tetsuko Furusawa - Operations Assistant Akiko Imaizumi - Operations Assistant Asami Oba-Bennett - Administrative Support Ayako Kiyono - Professional Guide
Ayako Koide Office Manager Along with Alastair and Simon, Ayako is a founding member of InsideJapan Tours although perhaps she didn't realise it at the time! A good friend of both the Directors from their time living in Toyota, Ayako agreed to help them out researching hotels and guesthouses for the first tours. However, when an customer enquiry came in to help design a personal programme in Kyushu it was Ayako who provided the means to make it happen, supplying rail tickets and organising tours. She was quickly enlisted as a full time member of the team and is today at the heart of InsideJapan Tours' Japan office operations. Ayako's supreme skills of organisation ensure that all our programmes run without a hitch and she is also responsible for maintaining our excellent relationships with hundreds of hotels and inns all across Japan. Ayako is also the main point of contact for our customers travelling independently in Japan, providing peace of mind and also arranging all manner of services for clients whether that be forwarding on forgotten items or finding a dentist for an emergency root canal! Aya has a love of British indie music (fostered during a year studying English Literature at Warwick University, UK) and can be seen at all the best gigs in her home city of Nagoya. She has a keen interest in politics and current affairs, is never seen without a good book, and has a propensity to get rather over excited when the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya's local baseball team) are on fire.	Tomoko Murase Group Tours Administration Tomoko comes to our Nagoya office with an impressive C.V. behind her and an intriguing background. One of four children, Tomoko is the first to leave Fukui Prefecture moving to Nagoya shortly after joining the company. Before working at IJT, Tomoko was working as an English teacher at a Junior High School and holds the unusual distinction of a teaching license for elementary, junior high and high schools. Quite an achievement. Tomoko spent a year studying English in the picturesque surroundings of Cherry Hinton on the outskirts of Cambridge having been inspired as a young girl to study English by a love of teddy bears, English tea and the image of an English gentleman! Whilst in England Tomoko acquired a taste for curry and chips but says that the battered fish was not for her! In her spare time Tomoko enjoys independent cinema and Japanese college rock. However, she also used to be a dab hand at the violin and played in the school orchestra. Having joined InsideJapan's Nagoya Office in Spring 2008, Tomoko has made herself a vital cog in the administrative machinery taking sole responsibility for the small group tours. She also hold a professional guide licence and takes occasionally responsibility for assisting our clients during their time in Japan.
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Tetsuko Furusawa Operations Assistant Tetsuko joined InsideJapan's Nagoya team in Spring 2008 and has rapidly made herself an indispensable cog in the administration of all our tailored clients' packages, with responsibility for buying transport tickets, booking events and generally ensuring everything goes according to plan. Having been brought up in Toyohashi, a small city on the Pacific coast well known for its mild weather and extraordinary tedutsuhanabi (hand held fireworks), Tetsuko headed west to Kobe for university where she studied German literature and it is during this time she developed her allegiance to the nearby Hanshin Tigers baseball team. Famed for their fanatical supporters, Tetsuko certainly fits right in! Since graduating from high school, Tetsuko has travelled extensively through Europe, North American and Asia including a year spent living with a host family in Hawaii. She has also travelled a lot in the Kansai region and has a special love of temples, shrines and historical places which she describes as her 'healing spots'. Outside of work Tetsuko likes to read history books (she has plenty of opportunity each day on the 90 minute commute from Toyohashi), visit onsen resorts and of course, watch her beloved Hanshin Tigers. She also has rank of first-dan in a variety of martial arts including Kendo and Iaido (Japanese sword fighting!)	Akiko Imaizumi Operations Assistant A local to Aichi prefecture, Akiko was born in the coastal city of Toyohashi and moved to Nagoya in 2002 to study International Culture at university. After taking a holiday to Korea with a friend she was bitten with the travel bug and for her graduation trip decided to head west to Istanbul and Egypt. Visits to Paris and London followed before Akiko decided to head over to Canada to spend 6 months living in Vancouver Sadly travelling costs money so having returned to Nagoya Akiko found herself working for an English conversation school, a great opportunity to brush up on those business English skills. The pull of adventure was too much though and Akiko upped sticks again this time for two years in Surfers Paradise – Australia’s Gold Coast. During this period she worked in real estate but perhaps it was the laid back Ozzy lifestyle of BBQ, beach walks, home brew beer and fabulous wine which kept her there for so long! Outside of travel and work Akiko enjoys curling up on the couch and checking out the latest style, fashion, culture and of course, travel magazines. That is when she’s not out on her mini-bike finding the best new cafes and bars Nagoya has to offer! At InsideJapan Tours Akiko makes sure that all our clients receive the most up-to-date information with their documents and that all tickets and services are correctly booked and sent.

Asami Oba-Bennett Administrative Support Having joined InsideJapan in February of 2008 on work experience for her business course, Asami quickly made herself indispensible to our team in Bristol. However, after three years as a lively and extremely valuable member of the UK team, Asami and her husband Lucian made the decision to head back east. We were desperately sad to see her go but the UK's loss is Japan's gain and Asami was offered the chance to take up a post in our Nagoya offer and we were delighted when she accepted Asami originally hails from cosmopolitan city of Kobe, close to Osaka on the Pacific Coast. Although she will no longer be able to indulge in the odd West country cider at the weekend, moving back to Japan won't stop her participating in her self-professed favourite activity away from the office - sleeping! At IJT Nagoya Asami has slotted into our operations team, helping ensure that reservations are all correct and tickets are all delivered to clients in a timely fashion. And of course, she provide a very valuable insight into the ways of the sister office back west in the UK.	Ayako Kiyono Professional Guide Ayako Kiyono is InsideJapan's newest recruit and also takes on a brand new position as our very own expert professional guide. Born in Osaka (whose cotton industry made it the Manchester of Japan during industrialisation) Ayako is a typical Osaka-ite (or Osaka-jin in Japanese) - talkative, friendly and warm hearted! The residents of Osaka are famed for their love of good and hearty food and Ayako is no different making a full time hobby out of finding new restaurants, especially those of the reasonably priced variety! Ayako's interest in the traditional Japanese culture has led her to study tea ceremony as well as take kimono wearing lessons - all important accomplishments for a girl brought up in a Buddhist temple. Kiyono-san has been working as a full time guide since 2008 and unsurprisingly her favourite city to work in is Kyoto, the capital of traditional Japanese culture and history. Ayako will be assisting our clients with private tours across Japan as well as leading some of our groups. If you are lucky enough to have a day with Ayako as part of your trip, you are guaranteed an extra special time!