Our favourite Japan tours and excursions

Japan is where it all began for us. We led our first tour here in the year 2000, and we’ve spent the years since building a network of the very best guides, tour leaders, hoteliers, inn owners, enthusiasts and experts across Japan.

Over the years, we’ve learned that a trip to Kyoto isn’t just about ticking off the top ten temples. It’s about peeling back the layers of history with one of our favorite Kyotoites, Kiyono-san, whose passion for traditional culture will bring the city to life. Likewise, a visit to Miyajima isn’t just about seeing the stunning World Heritage shrine, it’s about staying at the tiny inn run by Shinko-san and her son, who’ve known us for over two decades and will serve you the best baked oysters in the whole world.

Our guided tours and excursions cover everything from tea ceremony to cycling tours, and from traditional festivals to kitschy theme parks. Some of them are things you could do without a guide, and some are things you couldn't — but what makes them all special is the people. These are people we’ve known for years, who’ve been on this journey with us and who are passionate about taking you beneath the surface of Japanese culture, and that’s something you won’t find anywhere else.

Two people preparing food on kitchen table

Kanazawa cooking class

No sooner have you stepped inside Moe and Chikako’s front door than you’ll be seated at the kitchen table, chatting away and sipping the latest batch of their home-made plum wine.

Japanese cooking might seem intimidating at first glance, but Moe and Chikako make it a piece of cake. With their help, you’ll make your own classic dishes from scratch – including vegan options such as miso-marinated tofu and veggie sushi rolls. They’ll explain every technique and ingredient as you go, whether you’re rolling out noodle dough, whipping up a marinade or trying to master that perfectly packed nori seaweed roll. Then, you’ll all sit down to lunch together while Moe and Chikako share their insider tips and local recommendations. Whatever’s on the menu, their charm, passion and enthusiasm for sharing the secrets of Japanese cooking are infectious. We can’t help wishing we still had them all to ourselves!

Group cycling tour through rice fields of Hida, Takayama

Cycling tour of Hida

Our favourite cycling tour takes you out of old-town Takayama and into the slow-paced rhythms of the countryside.

Start in the little town of Hida Furukawa, where the streets are lined with carp streams and sake breweries. From here, head out into the Hida countryside: mile upon mile of pancake-flat paddy field and steep-roofed farming villages, all surrounded by the thickly forested peaks of the Hida mountain range. With your guide to interpret, you’ll be able to say hello to whoever’s about — whether it’s schoolchildren on their way home from lunch, or elderly locals selling strawberries at the local market. Stop to refuel with snacks at a local deli or farm shop, and find out what life is like outside of Japan’s big cities. We’ve never met anyone who hasn’t had a smile and time to stop and chat.

Illuminated floats at Nebuta Festival in Japan

Japanese festivals

A matsuri festival is a chance to get beyond that famous reserve and meet the Japanese at their wildest.

These local and regional rituals range from the sublime to the ridiculous, honour everything from gods to penises, and celebrate with sumo tournaments, snow sculptures, historical re-enactments and mountain fires. Nearly every shrine or temple in Japan has its own matsuri, complete with lantern-strung floats, yatai food stalls, traditional dancing, taiko drumming and martial arts performances. It’s a chance for the locals to dress up in their traditional yukata robes and have fun – and boy, do they let their hair down (if you think the Japanese are straight-laced, just head on down to the “naked man” festival). We couldn’t possibly list them all here, but the Awa Odori dance festival on Shikoku and the giant illuminated floats of the Nebuta festival in Tohoku are two of our all-time favourites.

Japanese tea ceremony

Developed and refined over centuries, tea ceremony is intrinsically linked to Japanese concepts of aesthetics, spirituality, nature, the seasons (actually, pretty much everything).

In fact, the precepts behind tea ceremony run so deep that some Japanese spend a lifetime training to master them — a fact that’s sometimes lost in the myriad tourist “experiences” out there today. A good tea ceremony experience won’t just take you through the motions, it’ll help you understand why. Why a certain utensil is used in a certain season; why the ideal teahouse is rustic and simple; why each movement must be performed just so. Tea ceremony isn’t just a ritual, it’s a meditation on life, and beginning to understand it is the first step towards understanding Japanese culture. One thing’s for sure, you’ll never look at a cuppa the same way again.

Nose of the shinkansen bullet train at a station in Japan

Ride the Shinkansen

Since it first opened in 1964, the Shinkansen has become as synonymous with Japan as Mount Fuji, sumo and sushi.

Other countries may now have faster high-speed rail (Shanghai’s Mag-Lev, we’re looking at you) but there’s still nothing quite like the experience of riding the Japanese bullet train. As you settle into your comfortable seat and watch the landscape whip past, you’ll feel barely a shake or a rattle to indicate that you’re travelling at 240-320 kph. Impeccably dressed conductors and car attendants bow as they enter and exit each carriage, and instead of dry sandwiches and overpriced coffees, the refreshment trolley brings with it beautifully presented bento lunchboxes, chilled beers and sake. Plus, it makes connecting amazing places across Japan a total breeze. What’s not to love?

Group of Japanese ladies wearing colourful kimonos

Kimono wearing

If you think you’re a bit old to play dress-up, hear us out. Donning a Japanese kimono isn’t a tourist gimmick: it’s a timeless ritual whose layers, knots and patterns all have a story to tell.

A kimono can be playful or serious, formal or informal, exquisitely simple or phenomenally ornate. It can come in all manner of patterns and materials, and reveal things about age, status, season and occasion. Light yukata robes are worn at bathhouses or summer festivals, simple kimono are worn to tea ceremonies or ikebana classes, and the most formal are reserved for weddings. We understand a hesitancy around treating traditional costume as fancy dress. That’s not what this is. Whether you choose to try one at your hotel, before a tea ceremony, or in a photographer’s studio, it’s about understanding the significance behind the beauty of Japan’s national dress. Plus, we can guarantee you won’t have felt this elegant in a while.