We plan to return to Japan next May, immediately after the Golden Week celebrations (when every hotel bed and restaurant are full!) and mirror our visit in 2025. We will stay in the heart of Kyoto for six nights giving time to get over the jetlag whilst allowing plenty to visit many of the key gardens & temples. We stay at one of a new breed of contemporary Japanese 4* hotels - Richmond Premier Kyoto Shijo which is in the heart of the downtown area of the city. During our stay we visit the Golden Pavilion of Kinkaju-Ji, Ryoan-ji and the most famous Zen garden of Japan, the Silver Pavilion of Ginkaku-Ji, Philosopher's Path, Kiyomizu-dera, the 1930's film star home and bamboo forest of Arashiyama & Nijo Castle. We have a day by bullet train combining a visit to the beautiful garden of Korakuen at Okayama (considered one of the top three gardens in Japan) and a visit to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum. There will also be time to enjoy the excitement of contemporary Kyoto with its wonderful covered Teramachi and Shinkyogoku shopping streets and Nishiki Food Market as well as the chance to visit the ancient Capital of Nara.
Our bags travel ahead by the excellent Black Cat service while we board a Bullet Train with an overnight bag to the Kanagawa region on the southern side of Mount Fuji and the intricate and fascinating area of Hakone and Lake Ashi. We stay the night at the beautiful 4* Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora where we have deluxe rooms with their own private soaking bath on the terrace (as well as a western bathroom inside!). On our way to Gora we visit the unique Hakone Open Air Museum where outstanding sculpture and contemporary art blends with nature at this huge outdoor sculpture park. Works by both Japanese and Western artists are framed by trees, grass and mountains and the Picasso Museum within the park is worth the visit alone. Time to enjoy the spa and facilities of the hotel and dinner here this evening.
Next day we are transerred by private coach to visit the neaarby Pola Museum of Art before we continue to Sounzan and board a cable-car high up over the smouldering sulphur fields of Ōwakudani (spoken of in Japan as the Great Boiling Valley from where we should (fingers-crossed) get our first view of Mount Fuji. We descend to Lake Ashi and join a Japanese styled pirate tall ship for a cruise along the lake which should again afford great views of this most holy of Japanese mountains. We rejoin our coach for the dramatic drive with a couple of hair-pin bends down to our lunch (soup & dandwich) stop at a complete unique 'only in Japan' cafe in the hamlet of Miyanoshita. From here we continue our drive to Odawara where we join a Bullet train for the 35 minute ride into Tokyo Station.
In Tokyo we stay at another of the excellent contemporary Japanese 4* hotels - the Daiwa Roynet Premier Kyobashi - located midway between (10 minutes walk in either direction) the great flagship store of Takashimaya (and museums of Nihobashi) and the glitzy shops of Ginza.
The hotel is just a three-minute walk from one of the truly great private art museums of Japan. The Artizon Museum (formerly the Bridgestone Museum of Art) houses a collection of more than 3,000 works of art which began with the personal collection of Ishibashi Shojiro, founder of Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tyre maker in its day, who acquired works of art over a period of half a century from 1927. 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Claude Monet’s death and, in association with the Musee d’Orsay including no less than 140 of his works in an exhibition entitled Monet – Questioning Nature.
We start our visit to Tokyo with a visit to the Meiji Shrine and Yoyogi Park. The Shrine is dedicated to the Emperor Meiji - father of ‘Modern Japan’ (1852 – 1912) is set in lush parklands but in the heart of the city and is a beautiful way to start our visit to what can sometimes be an overwhelming city. We visit the famous Shibuya Crossing and the ultra-contemporary ‘scene’ of Harajuku and Cat Street which lead into the sophistication of Omotesando Hills.
As with some much of ‘ordered’ Japan, specific areas have a specific purpose so we visit Guitar Street in Ochanomizu where almost all of the shops specialise in musical instruments. From heavy rock ‘electric’ and drum kits to the next store where a sales clerk wearing a suit and white gloves expertly draws a bow across the strings of a violin. Across the street children press their noses against the showcases filled with shiny brass saxophones, French horns and trumpets – it’s a blast!
We visit the Tsukiji Fish Market (although not for the 4am tuna auction!) and head north to the oldest temple complex of Japan the Sensjo-Ji Temple in Asakusa.
And then there’s the music….. at the moment we know that we will have one evening of opera and two symphonic concerts. In Kyoto we attend the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra concert with a performance of Gustav Mahler 6th Symphony (Maestro Sylvain Cambreling). In Tokyo we will attend the Tokyo Opera City production of Donizetti's l'Elisir d'Amore and finally an afternoon with the NHK Symphony Orcehstra a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto with Christian & Tanja Tetzlaff under the baton of Maestro Michael Sanderling. We hope to be able to add a performance at Suntory Hall once their programme for next year is announced.
Flights: We are not offering escorted flights for this tour as there are so many variables in guests departure points, class of travel and use of miles/points etc. We are happy to suggest solutions and will let you have details once you register for the tour.
As a guide Emirates via Dubai depart 11th May, return landing 26th May from London (Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted), Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh & Glasgow; Economy around £1,000; Premium Economy around £2000; Business class around £4,000.
Scandinavian Airlines via Copenhagen and Seoul from Heathrow and Manchester (depart 10th May with 1 night Seoul Incheon Airport hotel return landing 26th May)
£
£2600 Business class
Deposit £1,000 per person plus any flight costs.
