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 tours and holidays.

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.

Sophie Walker
Global Sustainability Manager
Email: [email protected]
Call: UK 0117 244 3376
Location (Bristol, UK)

Having caught the travel bug early, Sophie spent her gap year travelling from Estonia to Thailand overland, has taught English in Kathmandu and used to lead tours of Cambridge. After graduating from university she spent two years teaching English and travelling in Japan before joining our team.

Studying anthropology at university, Sophie became fascinated by Japanese culture. Everything about Japan seemed so different from Western society; the culture of respect, the work culture, the apparent homogeneity of the population, the mix of the traditional and the modern. Japan seemed so alien in so many ways and she wanted to get to understand it from the inside.

It was this that led Sophie to Takefu, Fukui Prefecture, in 2012. Takefu is a little town known for its traditional arts and crafts (it features on our Hands On Japan Small Group Tour!), and whilst there she taught at a rural elementary school with only three students per class! Meeting and making friends with the local people and feeling part of the community (especially at times when she had the chance to get involved - helping students plant rice or joining local festivals) are the things she remembers most fondly about her time in Japan.

If you find yourself in Fukui, Sophie recommends a visit to Eihei-ji Temple - a Zen Buddhist training temple where you can see monks going about their daily routines while you explore. The name Eihei-ji means "temple of eternal peace", and it's a great place to soak up some Zen!

Sophie's best piece of advice for travellers to Japan is to do some research before you set out. The more you know about Japan, the more it will fascinate you!

What is your favourite Japanese food?

"A tonkotsu ramen (a noodle dish in a pork bone broth) from Fukuoka on Kyushu Island has to be the most delicious food there is in Japan, if not the world! It's the type of meal you can't just have one bowl of!

"I recommend anyone visiting Japan to be really adventurous with the food - try everything! You won't regret it."

Relive a favourite moment in Japan...

Taiko drumming on Sado Island

"One of my favourite trips was to the Earth Celebration festival on Sado Island, where I watched the awe-inspiring Kodo taiko group and instantly became a fan of Japanese drumming. It was the most exhilarating and energising show I've ever seen. My friends and I were all dancing together and camping next to the beach. It was the perfect trip.

"This experience also inspired me to take up taiko drumming myself - I joined a local group and took part in a couple of small performances. Now that I'm back in the UK I'm part of the Bristol taiko scene and hope to keep playing regularly!"