Inside Japan Cultural Tour
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Overview
Highlights
- Experience walking Tour of Osaka
- Walk through main areas of the city and through the Yasaka Shrine
- Tour to the famous Fushimi-Inari Shrine, this shrine is famous for its thousands of red torii gates
- Explore Tokyo
- Visit the Meiji Jingu Shrine, ‘cause you can’t leave Tokyo without visiting this spectacular Shinto Shrine next to the Yoyogi Park.
What's this trip about?
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Details
Travel Themes
Destinations
Attractions
Activities
Trip includes
- Boutique accommodations (4-5 star hotels)
- Airport meet & greet with private transfer upon arrival
- Limo bus transfer to Tokyo airports upon departure
- Ground transportation during tour
- All meals except 2 evenings for dinner at your leisure
- Entrance fees for all sightseeing
- English speaking local guides
- 24/7 wi-fi access*
- Clean drinking water
- Basic travel insurance with optional upgrades
- All taxes & gratuities
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Itinerary
Meal: Dinner
Welcome to Japan! Upon arrival at one of Osaka’s Interntional Airports (KIX or ITM), a driver and an English speaking assistant will be waiting for you. They’ll take you into the heart of the city in a private car, approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour...
Meet your tour leader and the rest of your group for the first time in the hotel lobby. We will have a short introduction and welcome before meeting our first local friend. We’ll walk through neighborhoods where the locals live and stop at small izakayas (casual pubs)...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Meet our tour guide in the lobby of our hotel for a walk around Osaka’s most popular sites on our way to our first cooking class!
Tie on your apron and prepare for a lesson unlike any other. Learn the trick to making the perfect, chewy udon noodle (hint: it’s not using your hands) and the delicious dashi-based broth for either hot or cold noodles.
After our lesson, we’ll dine on our own p...
We’ll have a private driver take us about 1 hour from the center of Osaka to a smaller town. We’ll visit a private property with small houses surrounded by beautiful gardens. In the midst of this stunning landscape, we will witness an artisan at work as he makes a bam...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Your luggage will be picked up from your hotel room, and you’ll meet your group in the hotel lobby to check out and prepare for our journey towards a small tea town outside of Kyoto. We’ll drive about 1-1.5 hours depending on traffic.
You’ve seen how the tea whisks are made, now you get to see where the tea comes from. We’ll join our friends who own a small and growing tea business in their fields. Prepare to hike uphill about 20 minutes (wear good walking shoes!). The reward at the top is a beauti...
We will arrive in Kyoto and check in to our hotel where you can relax or explore on your own for a few hours.
Meet our local guide in the lobby as we begin to explore the city of Kyoto, full of culture and tradition. We’ll walk through main areas of the city and through the Yasaka Shrine before we walk to dinner.
Settle in for an exquisite dinner - a multi-course tempu...
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
We will drive to a local home to have a special, private tea ceremony as many families do at home. First, you’ll pick out your own kimono from a collection of real kimonos, handmade in Japan from silk (beware the impostors in many stores advertising “kimonos”). Many k...
After returning to our hotel, you’ll have the rest of the evening at your leisure to explore the city and have dinner on your own. We’re happy to help coordinate dinner reservations or recommendations.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Today you’ll start the day in a small, boutique restaurant where you’ll learn the proper Japanese way to turn a whole fish into your own sashimi lunch. First and foremost, you have to have the proper knife and - as any good chef can tell you - knowing how to sharpen a...
Meet our local guide at our hotel as we head to the famous Fushimi-Inari Shrine. This Shinto shrine is famous for its thousands of red torii gates. We will walk around the shrine (getting further from the tourists) for about an hour, so be sure to wear good walking sh...
You’ve worn kimonos, now see how they are made by a local family that is still dying fabrics in their own home. The fabrics are strung from wall to wall, as they hand paint each and every piece. Peek inside this private home, and see how locals are maintaining the tra...
Continue your extremely ‘local’ day by returning to the neighborhood of Gion. We will duck into a dimly lit machiya (tea house) for a private performance by a Maiko, Kyoto’s Geisha-in-training. You’ll have an opportunity to play games, ask questions, and gain some ins...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
We’ll check out of our hotel and meet in the lobby. You will pack an overnight bag to take with you to the ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) while the rest of your luggage will be transferred directly to our Tokyo hotel. More information will be provided about what yo...
Upon arriving in the small town, we will have a traditional soba noodle lunch.
Then we’ll take a short woodworking class, learning how to make local handmade crafts. You’ll make a small wooden tea bowl which will be perfect to use when you return home with your...
After arriving at our ryokan, you will have a short introduction about what it’s like to stay in this traditional inn, including how your Japanese rooms with tatami mat floors will be prepared with futons. You’ll also learn about the customs for using the traditional ...
Please note that this is a small, traditional inn with just a few rooms. As such, not every room is the same. The standard room included with your trip package is for a Japanese style room with a private shower facility. You will have access to the shared hot spring b...
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Have a leisurely morning on your own as you relax in the hot spring bath or visit the town again.
We’ll depart the ryokan together by private vehicle for about a one hour drive to the train station.
There you will choose from a variety of bento box options to take with you on the train. Then we’ll board our bullet train and head to Tokyo. The speeding journey lasts about 3 hours.
Upon arrival in Tokyo, we’ll be met by our English speaking assistant and driver who will take us for a short drive to our high-in-the-sky hotel in a quieter part of the city. It has easy access to a subway station in the basement so we can get around like locals!
After settling in to our hotel, we’ll head to the Ebisu neighborhood to contrast the izakayas in Osaka to those in Tokyo. Indulge in local fare as we taste our way through Tokyo with a local guide.
We’ll return back to our hotel - full and happy - approximately 9:00 PM.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
We’ll meet our tour guide for a day full of sightseeing like a local - taking the cleanest, fastest, most punctual public transportation in the world to visit small eateries, you’ll get to see Tokyo from the inside perspective. We’ll visit the outer market of the old ...
We will end our day in Asakusa, where you will have the rest of the evening free. We’ll provide you with a day pass for all public transportation, and you can join us as we go back to our hotel or you can explore Tokyo on your own. We are happy to suggest neighborhoods or restaurants.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Our tour guide will pick us up from the hotel lobby, and we will venture out for a day of seeing the major sites in Tokyo. We’ll visit the Meiji Jingu Shrine, ‘cause you can’t leave Tokyo without visiting this spectacular Shinto Shrine next to the Yoyogi Park. We’ll a...
Gather with your fellow travelers to drive about 30 minutes to a Tokyo restaurant surrounded by gardens, which feels like a sanctuary within the city. Enjoy our farewell dinner together in a private room with a choice of tasting menus.
We’ll return to our hotel approximately 10:00 PM.
Meal: Breakfast
On our day of departure, we will have an optional group breakfast at the hotel. Given the distance of the airports in Tokyo, we have arranged for travelers to take the LimoBus shuttle departing from our hotel to either Narita (NRT - approximatel...
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with The Table Less Traveled.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
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Logistics
What's excluded
- International airfare
- 2 dinners at your leisure
- Trip cancellation protection
- Hotel room incidentals
- Premium alcoholic beverages (+taxes & fees on beverages)
10 Breakfasts, 9 Lunches and 8 Dinners
Additional upgrades available
- Ryokan upgrade to Japanese private onsen $295 per room (3 available on first come, first served basis)
- Private transfer upgrade to Haneda Airport (HND) $290 per transfer
- Private transfer upgrade to Narita Airport (NRT) $520 per transfer
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Want to explore more of Japan? What about Hokkaido or Hiroshima? We can create a custom itinerary built specially for you to explore a variety of regions after you part ways with the group.
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