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.

Mark Rawlins
Insider
Email: [email protected]
Location (Japan)

Originally from Bristol in the UK, Mark's proudest moment to date was representing the UK at a European battle of the bands competition in Barcelona, where he took home second prize!

Mark first came to Japan "almost by accident", and consequently had absolutely no preconceptions about the country or its culture before he arrived. This gave him a clean slate to work on, and over the course of his time in Japan he has developed a keen interest in all aspects of life in Japan.

As a student of Law and Politics at Kyushu University, Mark has developed a particular fascination with Japanese politics. He sees Japan as providing an alternative method of government to that in the West and other autocratic societies, likening it to a country run "like a flock of Sandpipers". Each individual chases their own instinct on the ground, but when they take to the air the whole group flies together without need of a leader.

During his degree, he has spent three years living in Fukuoka and is now completing his final year whilst living in Saitama and tour leading for InsideJapan. When he is not studying or introducing Japan to our customers, he can be found playing football or reading European history and Russian literature.

Mark's top tip for travellers to Japan is to realise the value of the numerous convenience stores. They are open 24/7, sell hot food, alcohol, coffee, underwear and shirts, and everything else. They also have rubbish bins, which are in short supply in Japan. But most importantly, they usually have clean toilets!

Where is your favourite place in Japan, and why would you recommend it?

"My favourite place in Japan is Fukuoka. It has a great beach, accessible mountains, a simple and clean subway system, a modern downtown area, a good bar scene, the best food in Japan, and very warm people. I recommend going to an oyster shack down in the port area - you get a bucket of oysters to grill, a draught beer, and you can talk to all the locals who are doing the same thing. Another great experience in Fukuoka are the yatai noodle bars that line the riverside in the downtown area."

Relive a favourite moment in Japan...

Hitch-hiking in Kyushu

"My favourite memory of Japan was during a hitch-hiking trip I took with a group of friends on the island of Kyushu. A mother and her young son picked us up and during the ride south the mother asked if we would like to stay in a spare house she had for a couple of nights. In exchange she asked if we would visit the nursery school she ran in the morning to talk to and play with the kids there. It was in the middle of nowhere and was a very unexpected but fun experience."