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.

Shirley Payne
HR Manager
Email: [email protected]
Call: UK 0117 244 3275
Location (Bristol, UK)

As HR Manager for InsideAsia Tours, Shirley looks after the welfare of everybody in our Bristol office � although her most important role is keeping us stocked up with chocolate-coated flapjacks.

Shirley's career history in recruitment, as a police officer, and in the HR teams of various departments of the local council means that she is more than prepared to take on the task of managing our ever-growing team in Bristol.

No stranger to foreign climes, Shirley has visited corners of the globe as far-flung as Australia, Singapore and Alaska, and has travelled all over Europe (many of those visits on the trail of a mysterious pop star, whom she declines to identify). She has also dabbled in the travel and leisure industries, as a cashier at a bureau de change in London, as a member of staff at a hotel in the Cotswolds, and as a chambermaid in the French Alps for a whole winter season (during which we were disappointed to hear that nerves prevented her from hitting the slopes a single time!).

A woman of hidden talents, Shirley is a keen runner, swimmer, and hiker - and has climbed the three highest peaks in Britain: Scafell Pike, Snowdon, and Ben Nevis. Until recently, she also volunteered at the local Explorer Scouts, leading trips for camping, surfing, climbing, caving, and night hiking.

No longer running half marathons or charging through the hills with her cross-country running team, these days Shirley is more likely to be found at the theatre or cinema, eating out, or enjoying a nice pint of real ale.

Where's next on your travel bucket list?

Getting the job as HR Manager at InsideAsia Tours has made me really keen to visit Japan - the more I hear about all the different destinations, the huge busy cities, the cultural history, the fantastic scenery and all the opportunities for hiking and outdoor activities, the more I want to go, to experience it all for myself!