Real itineraries,and what they cost

Day by day

1. Day 1Tokyo

   Arrival and an evening in Marunouchi

   Met in the arrivals hall and driven to the hotel. After check-in, a stroll around Tokyo Station’s red-brick façade and the streets of Marunouchi — the first day deliberately left loose while the jet lag settles.

2. Day 2Tokyo

   Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Shimokitazawa — and Shibuya at Halloween

   Meiji Jingu in the morning, then the fashion streets of Harajuku and Omotesando; vintage shops and cafés in Shimokitazawa in the afternoon; then back to change before Shibuya on Halloween night, which happened to fall inside the trip.

3. Day 3Tokyo

   Asakusa, Akihabara, PokéPark — and yakiniku

   From old Asakusa to the anime and gaming culture of Akihabara, on to PokéPark Kanto in the afternoon and Shinjuku after — closing with a yakiniku dinner.

4. Day 4Tokyo

   Toyosu Market, Ginza — and sushi

   Toyosu Market first thing and a seafood rice bowl for lunch; Ginza in the afternoon, SEIKO HOUSE among the stops; a considered sushi dinner in the evening.

5. Day 5Kyoto

   Shinkansen to Kyoto, Gion and matcha

   On to Kyoto by Shinkansen, bags left at the ryokan. Gion Shirakawa, Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu-dera through the afternoon, with matcha sweets along the way; dinner in the lantern-lit lanes of Kiyamachi and Pontocho.

6. Day 6Kyoto

   Arashiyama, Nijo Castle, kaiseki at the ryokan

   Breakfast at the ryokan, then Arashiyama; Nijo Castle and Kinkaku-ji in the afternoon, following the thread of shogunate history; kaiseki served in the room that evening.

7. Day 7Koyasan

   Into Koyasan — temple lodging and shojin ryori

   From Kyoto into the mountains of Wakayama. Check-in at the temple lodging in the afternoon, time to walk the quiet precincts, and shojin ryori — Buddhist vegetarian cuisine — served at the temple.

8. Day 8Koyasan

   Dawn service, Okunoin, and on to an onsen retreat

   The morning Buddhist ceremony, then breakfast; Okunoin and the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi in the afternoon. The night was spent at a small retreat below the mountain, with hot springs and dinner.

9. Day 9Osaka

   To Osaka — bunraku and Dotonbori

   Across to Osaka. A bunraku performance in the afternoon, the neon of Dotonbori in the evening, and dinner at an Osaka kappo counter.

10. Day 10Osaka

    Osaka Castle, Tenjinbashisuji, Shinsekai — and kushikatsu

    Osaka Castle in the morning; a food walk down Tenjinbashisuji with okonomiyaki for lunch; retro Shinsekai in the afternoon; kushikatsu to end a thoroughly Osaka day.

11. Day 11Tokyo

    Back to Tokyo, a farewell sukiyaki

    An ekiben from Osaka Station and the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. The afternoon left for the hotel spa, and a farewell sukiyaki dinner on the last night.

12. Day 12Tokyo

    Departure

    Breakfast at the hotel, then a private transfer to Haneda.

Where they stayed

• アマン東京 / Aman Tokyo

  Otemachi, Tokyo · 4 + 1 nights

  Deluxe, breakfast included

• 柊家旅館 / Ryokan Hiiragiya

  Kyoto · 2 nights

  Founded 1818 — two breakfasts and one dinner

• 一乗院 / Ichijoin

  Koyasan · 1 night

  Temple lodging — dawn service and shojin ryori

• 山荘 天の里 / Sanso Amanosato

  Below Koyasan · 1 night

  Eight rooms — private hot-spring baths and Kumano beef

• フォーシーズンズホテル大阪 / Four Seasons Hotel Osaka

  Dojima, Osaka · 2 nights

  Deluxe, breakfast included

What we arranged

• —Eleven nights, spanning five-star hotels, a historic Kyoto ryokan and a Koyasan temple lodging
• —Meditation and calligraphy at the temple
• —Private transfers between Narita and the Tokyo hotel
• —Shinkansen sectors and the Kyoto–Koyasan coach
• —Tickets for PokéPark Kanto and the bunraku performance

Shibuya at Halloween and a dawn service at Koyasan sit in the same itinerary. They pull in opposite directions, but each member of the family wanted a different Japan — so rather than cut either, we solved it with sequence and travel time.

Day by day

1. Day 1Tokyo

   Arrival and Asakusa

   Met in the arrivals hall at Haneda and driven to the hotel — around fifty minutes in normal traffic. Arrival day kept gentle: Senso-ji and the Nakamise arcade at whatever pace suits.

2. Day 2Tokyo

   Akihabara with a guide, Takarazuka, sushi in Ginza

   A three-hour morning walk through Akihabara with a local guide, going past the main streets into retro games and the craft behind collectible figures. A Takarazuka Revue performance in the afternoon, sushi in Ginza in the evening, and a bar after.

3. Day 3Nikko

   To Nikko for the yabusame at Toshogu

   Two hours by train to Nikko, where a local guide sets out the history of Toshogu and its Autumn Grand Festival. In the afternoon, the yabusame — archers in period dress firing at targets from horseback along the shrine approach. Dinner and a private onsen at the ryokan.

4. Day 4Nikko

   Senjogahara on foot, Lake Chuzenji by boat

   Out of the ryokan at 7:35, a three-hour walk from Yudaki Falls across the Senjogahara marsh to Akanuma, packed lunch in hand. A sightseeing cruise on Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls in the afternoon, back at the ryokan around 5:10 pm. The bus timetable was written into the itinerary.

5. Day 5Nagoya

   To Nagoya — old haunts and the host family

   Four hours by train to Nagoya. Bags to the hotel, then an afternoon revisiting the places that mattered and wandering the Osu district. The evening was kept free for the reunion with the host family.

6. Day 6Nagoya

   A Nagoya morning, a helicopter, an anniversary dinner

   The city’s distinctive “morning service” café culture offered as a way to start the day, then time to themselves. At dusk, a thirty-minute helicopter flight over the Nagoya and Nagashima skylines; then an Italian dinner on a high floor, arranged for their wedding anniversary.

7. Day 7Kyoto

   To Kyoto and Arashiyama

   An hour to Kyoto, bags to the hotel in Okazaki, then Arashiyama in the afternoon — the bamboo grove, Tenryu-ji and Togetsukyo Bridge. The evening left open.

8. Day 8Kyoto

   Gion in kimono, Kyoto cuisine and sake

   An afternoon in kimono with a guide and a photographer through Ninenzaka, Kennin-ji and Kiyomizu-dera. In the evening, Kyoto cuisine paired with local sake, then the bars of Kiyamachi and Pontocho.

9. Day 9Kyoto

   The Manga Museum, Jidai Matsuri, departure

   The Kyoto International Manga Museum in the morning; in the afternoon, the Jidai Matsuri — the procession leaving the Imperial Palace at noon and reaching Heian Shrine at 2:30 pm, with the timings written out. A transfer to the Osaka airport in the evening.

Where they stayed

• 浅草ビューホテル / Asakusa View Hotel

  Asakusa, Tokyo · 2 nights

  Deluxe

• 日光星の宿 / Nikko Hoshinoyado

  Nikko · 2 nights

  Japanese-style room, two meals, private onsen

• 三井ガーデンホテル名古屋プレミア / Mitsui Garden Hotel Nagoya Premier

  Nagoya · 2 nights

  Deluxe

• ホテルオークラ京都 岡崎別邸 / Hotel Okura Kyoto Okazaki Bettei

  Okazaki, Kyoto · 2 nights

  Deluxe / Superior

What we arranged

• —Eight nights — six in four- and five-star hotels, two at a Nikko ryokan with breakfast and dinner
• —Private arrival and departure transfers
• —Every listed experience on a private basis, including the half-day Akihabara guide and the kimono photo session
• —A detailed itinerary, down to the Nikko hiking route and bus times

Nikko’s Autumn Grand Festival and Kyoto’s Jidai Matsuri both fall on fixed dates. Those two anchored the nine days; the Nikko hiking and the Nagoya reunion were fitted into the space between them.

Day by day

1. Days 1–2Beppu, Oita

   A town of rising steam

   Haneda to Oita by air, then a chauffeured stop at the Kannawa steam viewpoint and lunch at a Beppu institution. The next day, the “hells” — Umi Jigoku, Chinoike Jigoku and the rest — and the Tsurumi ropeway for the bay and Mount Yufu.

2. Days 3–4Yufuin

   Over the Sagiridai pass to Yufuin

   Into Yufuin by way of the Sagiridai viewpoint. Lake Kinrin at first light and the COMICO Art Museum at an unhurried pace — a two-night stay, so nothing had to be repacked.

3. Day 5Fukuoka

   Across northern Kyushu on the “36+3”

   A private compartment on JR Kyushu’s “36+3” sightseeing train, lunch served aboard — the journey itself made part of the itinerary. Around eighty minutes among the retro streets of Mojiko.

4. Day 6Arita, Saga

   The home of Arita porcelain

   A stop at Arita on the way to Nagasaki: Kushida Shrine, the Uchiyama streets and the kilns, and the finest pieces at the Kyushu Ceramic Museum.

5. Day 7Nagasaki

   The port that faced the West

   Glover Garden, Oura Church and Dejima — the single window Japan kept open to the West during its centuries of seclusion. The night view from Mount Inasa to close the day.

6. Days 8–9Nichinan, Miyazaki

   Down the southern coast

   Nagasaki to Miyazaki by air via Hakata, then the Devil’s Washboard rocks at Aoshima, the Horikiri Pass, Udo Shrine and the castle town of Obi — the mythic coastline of the Hyuga Sea.

7. Day 10Departure

   Home from Miyazaki

   Miyazaki to Haneda, closing the ten days.

Where they stayed

• 星野リゾート 界 別府 / Kai Beppu

  Beppu · 2 nights

  Open-air bath room, dinner and breakfast

• 由布院 玉の湯 / Yufuin Tamanoyu

  Yufuin · 2 nights

  Cottages set in woodland

• グランド ハイアット 福岡 / Grand Hyatt Fukuoka

  Fukuoka · 1 night

  Beside Canal City, near Hakata Station

• ガーデンテラス長崎 / Garden Terrace Nagasaki

  Nagasaki · 2 nights

  Overlooking the harbour from Mount Inasa

• シーガイア / Sheraton Grande Ocean Resort

  Miyazaki · 2 nights

  High floors facing the Hyuga Sea

What we arranged

• —Nine nights, including three hot-spring ryokan, with two-night stays at three of them
• —Three flight sectors and four rail sectors, including a private compartment on a sightseeing train
• —Thirteen chauffeured car sectors
• —Itinerary design, restaurant reservations and in-trip support

At the time of travel one stretch of the Kyushu Shinkansen was suspended after an earthquake. We routed around the affected prefecture and flew the Nagasaki–Miyazaki leg instead, which kept the trip the couple had asked for almost entirely intact.

Where they stayed

• BYAKU Narai

  Narai-juku, Nagano · 1 night

  44 m² maisonette with a private open-air bath

• 町宿 一龍 / Machiyado Ichiryu

  Chubu · 2 nights

  80 m², half-open-air bath — including New Year’s Eve

• 里山十帖 / Satoyama Jujo

  Minamiuonuma, Niigata · 2 nights

  Villa or view maisonette with spa bath

• べにや無何有 / Beniya Mukayu

  Yamashiro Onsen, Ishikawa · 1 night

  Executive suite with a private hot-spring bath

• 浅田屋 / Asadaya

  Kanazawa, Ishikawa · 1 night

  A room with its own terrace

What we arranged

• —Five inns, each negotiated individually for room type — open-air bath suites, maisonettes, detached rooms
• —Availability sourcing and securing New Year allocation
• —Driving licence translation
• —Room, bedding and meal arrangements confirmed property by property

Over New Year the best inns fill first. The hardest part of this itinerary was not choosing where to go — it was holding the requested room type at all five properties at once.

What we arranged

• —A genre-by-genre restaurant selection, presented with photographs, context and locations
• —Availability checks and reservations on the guest’s behalf
• —Allergies, dislikes and seating preferences communicated in advance
• —Day-of guidance on location, etiquette and timing

You do not have to hand us the whole trip. A great many enquiries are for a single restaurant.