FAQs

For a typical two-week tailor-made journey, we recommend a budget starting from around £4,000 per person, excluding international flights, with many journeys costing more depending on the time of year, accommodation, private guiding and experiences included. Shorter journeys can cost less.
The important question isn't simply how much you spend, but what that budget gives you. We look carefully at where spending more will genuinely improve your journey and where it won't, using your budget around the things that matter most to you.

A standard package can be a perfectly good way to visit Japan, but it is designed to work for many different travellers. A tailor-made journey starts with you. We consider how you like to travel, the pace that suits you, where it is worth spending more and where it isn't, and how the different parts of the journey work together. You also have support in Japan from the team involved in planning your trip, rather than simply being handed an itinerary and left to manage it yourself.

We can arrange the main elements of your journey, including accommodation, transport within Japan, private guides and selected experiences. International flights can also be arranged through our UK flight partner. Just as importantly, we help decide what not to include, so the itinerary has a sensible pace and each destination has a reason for being there.

We begin with a conversation about you rather than a list of destinations. We want to understand what interests you, how you like to travel, your preferred pace, budget and what you want from Japan. We then work with our specialist team in Japan to develop the route, accommodation and experiences into a coherent journey. Once the overall direction feels right, the detailed arrangements are developed and booked in Japan.

Yes. We have example itineraries on the website because they are useful for ideas, but they aren't packages that we simply reproduce. Your route is developed around your interests, priorities, dates, budget and travelling style. Sometimes that means including famous places; sometimes it means going somewhere quite different. What matters is that the journey makes sense for you.

You have English-speaking support from our team in Japan throughout your journey. Importantly, these aren't people encountering your holiday for the first time if you need help. The team supporting you has also been involved in developing and arranging your trip, so they understand your itinerary, the decisions behind it and what matters to you.

For most journeys, planning six to twelve months ahead gives considerably more choice, particularly if you want to travel during cherry blossom season or the autumn colours. Certain ryokan, smaller hotels and specialist experiences can fill much earlier than people expect. We can sometimes arrange journeys at shorter notice, although greater flexibility may be needed.

Absolutely. You don't need to arrive with an itinerary. Tell us what interests you, what you've enjoyed on previous holidays and how you like to spend your time. We can then work out which parts of Japan are likely to suit you and how they can sensibly be connected. Working out the right route is an important part of what we do.

Yes. Different travellers need very different journeys. Families may need more downtime and carefully chosen accommodation; solo travellers can benefit from a different balance of guided and independent time; and mobility requirements can influence everything from hotel choice to station access and transport. These considerations are incorporated into the journey from the beginning rather than dealt with afterwards.

Start by telling us roughly when you would like to travel, who is travelling, how long you have, your approximate budget and anything you already know you would particularly like to experience. You don't need to have worked out where to go or how everything fits together. That's part of what we're here to help with.