Chizuko's interest in travel began early and she attended the Traveling High School in Odawara, a special school allowing students to travel in Japan, Asia and the U.S., visiting many cities and meeting local people. She then attended a junior college in Southern California. Upon returning to Japan, she studied simultaneous translation while working at a travel company.

Wanting to expand her work in the communications field and beyond, she moved to San Francisco and studied hotel and restaurant management, and culinary arts, finally opening a French-style delicatessen with her husband, an executive chef. She also worked in San Francisco as a tour guide for Japanese tour companies, showing Japanese visitors around the bay area.

She returned to Japan with her husband and son 14 years ago and now works with Esprit as a local guide, showing our guests around Tokyo and the surrounding area, revealing the city in all its splendor as only a native could.

She also writes for several U.S. and Japanese publications on food and travel, including the San Francisco Examiner and Forbes. She recently published a book on bagels and continues to teach American and international cooking.

Masa is originally from Osaka, Japan and he has long been an aficionado of the Japanese arts of tea ceremony, flower arrangement, gardening and cooking. In 1996, he brought this passion for Japanese arts to tour guiding. He says, "Being a tour guide for Esprit is a real pleasure, because I enjoy meeting all different kinds of people and sharing my love of, and expertise in, the aesthetic side of Japan."

Masa studied at Doshisha University in Kyoto, then spent the next 10 years in the U.S., where he studied solar home design. He returned to Japan in 1988, settling in Kyoto and established the architectural design firm Master Design, which combines Japanese construction techniques with Western innovations.

Steve has been involved with Japan and its people for most of his adult life, including the six years he lived there, teaching English. His love for the traditional arts and culture of Japan led him to create Walking Tours of Japan ten years ago. Now, under Steve's enthusiastic guidance, Esprit offers over 25 tours per year. He says, "Leading tours gives me the opportunity to take people to some of most exquisite sites in the world. It has allowed me to develop friendships with Buddhist and Shinto priests, world-class artists and craftsmen, gourmet chefs, musicians and actors, tea ceremony masters, weavers, dyers, ikebana masters and more. Being a tour leader is my life's dream come true."

As for his abiding love for Japan, he says, "I find the beauty of Japanese architecture, gardens, music, theater, cuisine, spirituality, design and craftsmanship very life enhancing. Also, Japan is a very sane society. The crime rate is very low. The level of civility and courtesy is exemplary. Japan is like my second home".

Steve is the founder of Esprit Travel’s Japan tours. He has a B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Chico and an M.A. in Applied Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. He is fluent in Japanese and Spanish, and has recently moved to Japan.

Kiyo's first encounter with her ancestral roots was in 1972 during a year abroad in Kyoto as a foreign student immersed in language studies, classical Japanese dance and Noh drama. Modern dance aspirations later led her from UCLA to New York, but a return visit to Kyoto set the stage for what has become a life-long residency grounded in an ever-deepening infatuation with all aspects of Japanese culture.

She is an event planner and in-country facilitator for international artists and corporations, as well as a translator, teacher, writer and active participant in architectural restoration and preservation projects. Because of her extensive network, she has assisted in feature articles on Japan for such newspapers as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. For the past 7 years, she has also been coordinating and leading tours throughout Japan. "I am naturally inclined to dive into anything that allows me to savor and share the bounty of Japan's cultural heritage. In that sense, leading tours has been a particularly rewarding experience for me," says Kiyo.

In addition to her multi-facetted activities, Kiyo is an aficionado and collector of Japanese art, crafts and antiques. Her traditional farmhouse has been featured on television and in numerous magazines and books.

Keiko was born and raised in Japan and has a background in gallery management and art museum education. She practiced the Japanese tea ceremony and flower arrangement while at Shirayuri University in Japan. After graduation, she spent 6 years in New York and received a Master of Arts with a concentration of art museum education from New York University. While completing her studies and afterward, she worked as an assistant educator for a family program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 2001, she returned to Japan and worked for a ceramic critic and Japan Times columnist, Robert Yellin, for a year and then for Yufuku gallery in Tokyo, where she not only planned and implemented contemporary ceramic art exhibitions, but also provided guiding and interpreting service for clients and artists. Since 2005, she has worked as a freelance art consultant and guide for Esprit Travel.