Akiro was our bilingual guide for our group of six riders. Despite doing this tour in the beginning of Aug, the trip was very enjoyable and we saw a lot of both local and 'touristy' sights, with lots of variety (water, parks, bridges, architecture, castles, etc.) Exploring on a bike rather than on foot meant that we could easily "chase the shade" -- e.g. stopping well before a red-light intersection where there was shade, or crossing over to the shaded side of the street. We also had a fabulous (included) japanese lunch at a very nice (air-conditioned, ahh!) food-court. Bike was in good conditioned and shifted smoothly.