Recommendations for private car (van) hire with driver in Tokyo

[jukebox333]

I'm putting together the building blocks of a trip to Japan next Spring, and having done the Hakone Free Pass thing, was contemplating a visit to the Lake Kawaguchi area in another attempt to see Mt Fuji, this time from a different perspective

We are a party of five, so after I did the numbers on train tickets out to Kawaguchiko Station plus an area day pass for the busses, it worked out that a private tour in a minvan was only marginally more expensive. But I also see that many/most of these operations are wedded to certain commercial tourist ventures, so you end up at Luxury Factory Outlets, or other tourist-centric "experiences" - and that the fine print says these day trips cannot be customised...

Have any AFF'ers used a driver + car/minivan hire service out of Tokyo - the sort of thing where you have the vehicle and driver for 10hrs/300km, and set your own itenerary? I didn't want to book a cookie cutter private tour if I can't delete the stuff that is of zero intererst - or better still substitute it for stops nearby that *are* of interest.

Cheers.

 

[elanshin]

I'm putting together the building blocks of a trip to Japan next Spring, and having done the Hakone Free Pass thing, was contemplating a visit to the Lake Kawaguchi area in another attempt to see Mt Fuji, this time from a different perspective

We are a party of five, so after I did the numbers on train tickets out to Kawaguchiko Station plus an area day pass for the busses, it worked out that a private tour in a minvan was only marginally more expensive. But I also see that many/most of these operations are wedded to certain commercial tourist ventures, so you end up at Luxury Factory Outlets, or other tourist-centric "experiences" - and that the fine print says these day trips cannot be customised...

Have any AFF'ers used a driver + car/minivan hire service out of Tokyo - the sort of thing where you have the vehicle and driver for 10hrs/300km, and set your own itenerary? I didn't want to book a cookie cutter private tour if I can't delete the stuff that is of zero intererst - or better still substitute it for stops nearby that *are* of interest.

Cheers.

Haven't booked a driver for hire, but would just regular car hire work? I found driving in Japan relatively easy personally.