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.

Lanterns outside izakaya in backstreet of Tokyo

Izakaya experience

Can you be a professional at bar-hopping? Some of our Japan team have dedicated years to the art, and this insider’s eating-and-drinking extravaganza is the result.

Beloved by Japan’s legions of office workers, the izakaya is something like a cross between a pub and a tapas bar. Typically relaxed, down-to-earth and affordable, it serves everything from spaghetti and fried chicken to gyoza dumplings and sushi, all washed down with quantities of frosty beer. Anyone can stumble in and muddle their way through (you’ll probably do so several times on your trip), but they're not always easy for the uninitiated. This experience removes the angst and uncertainty. With your itinerary, navigation, etiquette and ordering taken care of by one of the most accomplished drinkers we know, all you need to do is abandon yourself to the fun of a night out – Japanese-style. Then, you're an expert for the rest of your trip.

Taiko drumming

Japanese taiko drumming is an all-sensory experience that’ll have your brain and your body racing to keep up.

Forget marching bands and driving rock beats, taiko is an all-kicking, all-dancing, all-jumping-around endeavour, with tightly choreographed performances including shouts and calls, sweeping arm movements, and other musical accompaniments. Taiko is competitive (Japan’s professional groups perform all over the world), but it’s also incredibly accessible. Join a taiko lesson (dressed in traditional garb) and you’ll find yourself letting loose in no time, throwing in all manner of lunges and flourishes as you get the hang of the basic rhythms. It’s a super-fun way to dive into Japanese culture without feeling like you’re being educated, and it’s particularly great for families.

Theme parks

Combining a kawaii sensibility with a love of orderly queues, Japan might as well be the spiritual home of the theme park.

Japan has exactly the right combination of safety-consciousness, cleanliness, and sheer, off-the-wall wackiness to ensure that every theme park visit is an absolute dream. There are the biggest of the big names: Disneyland, DisneySea and Universal Studios (the latter complete with a full-sized Hogsmeade Village at Harry Potter World). There are the rollercoasters of Fuji Q Highland for the thrill-seekers, the immersive Ghibli Museum for lovers of Japanese animation, and historical parks like Meiji Mura and Nikko Edomura to introduce you to different periods of Japanese history. Then, we get to the weird and wonderful — including a Dutch-themed park, several Hello Kitty lands, and even an onsen theme park in Osaka. Forget pushy crowds and inedible, overpriced food: this is fun done right.

Two ladies in traditional dress sweeping front of wooden shrine

Temples & shrines

Wedged between skyscrapers, sprawling across islands, perched on mountaintops and scattered throughout the countryside: temples and shrines are everywhere in Japan.

Strictly speaking, temples are Buddhist and shrines are Shinto, but the two faiths are so deeply intertwined that most Japanese make little distinction between the two. For both quantity and quality, head to Kyoto — home to many of the oldest and most beautiful in Japan. For the most sacred, see the grand shrine at Ise, dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu and rebuilt in its entirety every 20 years. For opulence there’s Toshogu Shrine at Nikko, for size there’s Todai-ji at Nara, and for atmosphere there’s the temple-top community of Mount Koya. Sometimes, however, the best discoveries are the ones you make yourself — like the shrine to business hidden in a shopping arcade, or the mossy temple tucked away on a forest path — so don’t forget to explore.

Monks in orange robes lined up to pray outside wooden temple

Temple stay

You don’t need to be particularly spiritual to agree that staying at a shukubo, or temple lodging, is one of those only-in-Japan experiences that’ll stay with you long after you’ve returned home.

We wouldn’t call it roughing it, but staying at a shukubo isn’t for the high maintenance. These Buddhist temple guesthouses were (and still are, for the most part) pilgrims’ hostels, not plush ryokan — though both have tatami mats, sliding doors and shoji paper screens. Ranging from the simple to the austere, shukubo usually have shared bathrooms, chilly corridors (in winter) and few mod-cons. Don’t expect Wi-Fi or a TV, but do expect to enjoy delicious, beautifully prepared vegetarian cuisine, and to get up early to absorb the sombre, incense-infused atmosphere of morning prayers. It’s all about disconnecting from the modern world and immersing yourself in a way of life that’s remained unchanged for centuries, and for us that’s a magical experience.

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.