Our team at Inside Japan Tours

The sun never sets on the InsideJapan Tours team (well, maybe on Sundays) as we have offices in Bristol (UK), Broomfield, (USA), Brisbane (Australia) and Nagoya (Japan). On this page you can meet the people behind our Japan holidays and tours.

We have a wide range of backgrounds and interests, but you can be sure that the one thing that ties us all together is a love of Japan, Japanese culture and a passionate desire to share that with other people.

From the accounts department, through the travel consultant teams to the tour leaders and guides on the ground, you can rest assured that everything we do is to make sure you have the best possible experience of Japan.

Rie Johnson
Finance Assistant
Email: [email protected]
Call: UK 0117 370 9730
Location (Bristol, UK)

A member of the InsideJapan UK team since 2012, Rie originally hails from Yamaguchi, Japan - famous for Hagi-yaki pottery, Kintaikyo Bridge and the famous deadly blowfish!

Before settling down in the UK, Rie spent most of her life in south-western Japan, where she grew up learning tea ceremony and ballroom dancing from her grandmother, and once worked at Ube Airport (where she enjoyed wearing the cute uniform!). She has also travelled around the world (including Hawaii, South Africa and much of Europe), and spent two years as a student in Seattle, USA - where she enjoyed eating humungous beef steaks, going to baseball games and skiing on Mount Rainier.

It was in her home city of Yamaguchi that Rie met her husband-to-be, Mark, who is also a member of the InsideJapan team. Today both Rie and Mark are based in Bristol, where they live with their son Jun. Though she feels at home in the UK, Rie misses Japan's high-tech toilets ('you can stay on the toilet for hours!' she claims) and the 24hr convenience stores - perfect for tasty snacks and desserts at any hour of the day (or night)! Her favourite Japanese snack is anko mochi, pounded rice cake filled with sweet bean paste.

When she's not at work or looking after little Jun, Rie has been known to sing karaoke until the birds wake up at 5am - and sings Christmas songs all year round (to Mark's eternal irritation).

Where is your favourite place in Japan, and why?

"My favourite destination in Japan is Naoshima, a little island on the Seto Inland Sea that has become famous for its art installations, which are dotted throughout the area. I loved all the lovely little cafes on the island, and the funny old ladies that were always keen for a chat.

"If you visit Naoshima, I recommend hiring a bicycle so that you can explore all the outdoor artworks in their beautiful surroundings. You must also try a bowl of sanuki udon noodles and have a bath at the wonderfully kitsch 'I Love Yuu' bathhouse."

Relive a favourite moment in Japan...

Performing tea ceremony

"I began learning tea ceremony (an ancient and elaborate Japanese ritual) from my grandmother when I was only six years old, and one of my favourite memories from Japan is performing the tea ceremony in front of an audience. I still love tea ceremony and enjoy performing it, but it's a little hard to do it in Bristol!"