NZ
Cultural Treasures of Japan
13 DAYS
$7,249
pp*
*Rate is per person, land only, double occupancy, tour inclusions and available options may vary based on departure date.
Please select a date below for more details.
Please select a date below for more details.
Immerse yourself in the ancient and modern cultures of Japan. Learn the art of the tea ceremony, and stand before the famous Senso-ji Buddhist temple. Tour Matsumoto Castle, known as the “Crow Castle” for its black exterior. Taste legendary Hida beef and sip sake at a local brewery. Delve into Kyoto, the marvelous cultural capital of Japan. Board the Shinkansen “bullet” train to travel to Hiroshima to visit Shrine Island and the Peace Memorial Museum. Absorb the beauty of the Golden Pavilion and the majesty of Nijo Castle. Japan slowly draws you into its eclectic culture and charm, revealing incredible moments every step of the way.
Your Tour Includes
- 5 Handpicked Accommodations
- 18 Meals
Included Highlights
- Tokyo
- Ginza
- Asakusa Sensoji Shrine
- Tea Ceremony
READ MORE
Your Tour at a Glance
$558
per day, per person*
Getting Prepared
Know Before You Go
Enhance Your Tour
Accommodation
Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba
Nights 1-3
Odakyu Hotel de Yama
Night 4
Takayama Green Hotel
Nights 5-6
Kanazawa Tokyu Hotel
Nights 7-8
Nikko Princess Hotel Kyoto
Nights 9-12
Need More Information?
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Trip Reviews
Live, Unedited, & Independent Traveler Reviews
Rating
83 reviews
4.3
Out of 5
Based on 83 independent reviews
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Great tour manager. Very good hotels. Great bus driver. Group meals at the hotels were nice, but nothing special.Scott Laufer
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Tour guide was great, cultural experiences were fun and educational, sightseeing was enjoyable.M Swenson
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Excellent in every way. Especially the tour manager, Nobuko Nakamura. Free time provided was just right, group was punctual and friendly, sights were amazing, accommodations were lovely, the country was beautiful! I could go on and on!! It was a fabulous experience!Linda Swenson
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Overall the trip was fantastic and a great way to explore Japan. The tour manager was well organized and very attentive.
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Overall tour was great. Transportation arrangements to and from Japan deserve one star at best. While most of the tour was top notch I suggest stopping for 30 minutes at the Imperial Palace instead of a drive by and at least two hours at the National Museum instead of one. A bit too much arts and crafts for my liking. Tour well planned and exciting and educational each and every day. Just about right amount of time spent at each site except as noted above. No one 'favorite memorable experience'. Great experience every day. Hotel experience went from fabulous in Tokyo to so-so in Kyoto. Each hotel was slightly less than the one before.
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Well chosen itinerary, excellent guide, excellent driver good food and an excellent balance of free time and planned activities.
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Demonstration of tea service.
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Very poor itinerary. Important viewing was left out.Ameeta Mistry
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Excellent and caring tour manager and driver. All transfers efficiently performed.
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Very mediocre to average tour. Food provided by Collette was awful. Three lunches were at gas stops, when I am traveling overseas that is not what I am looking for.
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Steve was 5 star, and, as a team with the translator, they were incredibly strong. The extra time he spent w the group was incredible, although we didn't benefit from all of it b/c we'd scheduled private guides on a "free day" in Kyoto when Steve kept the day busy. Accommodations in Tokyo were OK, in Hakone was incredible; in Kyoto and Kanazawa were quite disappointing. Lunches and dinners that were provided were, on the whole, also quite disappointing. On the whole, reasonable time allotted for group activities, except at Tokyo Museum
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Great itinerary and good tour leader.
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Hiroshima. Disappointed that no mention of Gen, MacArthur was made after the war that reconstructed Japan.
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Wonderful time in Japan. Clean country and very nice people. The tour inclusions led to a very enjoyable experience.
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Bad experience-A Fellow passenger was was using bad words and cursing,. Kyoto hotel was very small and not comfortable My back pack was stolen from security belt in Osaka. Later found.Rudra Prakash
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Tour guide and food was not up to Collette standards.
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Very well organized tour.Wendy Liverpool
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Tour manager, Yoshiko Ono was very well organized and maintained a good time schedule as she wanted to share as much sights to visit during our stay. When we had a free day, she did an options tour for those who were interested in spite of the heavy rain on that particular day. She got to know each one of us personally and exhibited understanding, caring and was very patient.Kay Low
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Japan was a fantastic trip and Collette always makes travel easy! Cherry blossom season was incredible.Charles Warren
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Outstanding tour guide and exceptional quality. Seeing the cherry blossoms in full bloom and experiencing the tea ceremony, sushi making,learning how to apply gold leaf and stenciling gave me a lifetime of memories.Judy Lawrence
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The tour was well organized and our tour guide was knowledgeable and well prepared. The experiences (tea ceremony, gold leaf, sushi, and stenciling) were fun and added to my experience learning about Japanese culture. Good value for the money. Very enjoyable.
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A few of the Hotels were disappointing and very small especially compared with the others we stayed in.
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The structure of the tour covered many interesting sites yet was flexible enough to allow for free exploration. Plus, the tour guide Nobuko Nakamura was excellent in her job making the tour more enjoyable. The choices of hotels to stay were also top notch with their buffet breakfasts. The transportation at the beginning and the end of the tour for the airport was also smooth and efficient.
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She was so knowledgeable, compassionate, and concerned. Starting with a Pretoria letter and ended with a nice after tour thank you by email.Barry Chambers
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Enjoyed trip and tour manager.
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Bullet train and many other things through out am amazing country.Valerie Smith
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venue at Hakone was marvelousAnne Zaydon
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Our tour guide was absolutely the best. She was knowledgeable, both in historical information, but also in the details of the location. From rating bathrooms to how many steps we were going to have to climb. She went over and beyond everyday.Paul Davis
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Loved driving up Mt. Fuji and visiting Shinagawa-go.
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She rarely answered questions when asked . She usually got around to it, but when a question was asked, we all wanted an answer.
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Interesting, but very crowded sights, Too much "free" time. Overall, a very good experience,Johannes Van Leijenhorst
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Hiroshima Museum
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The tour guide created all kinds of problems.
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I like the outskirts/ countryside / hot spring / all accommodations/ food etc.Cresencia Banzuela
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Junko was an excellent tour guideTarek Mahdi
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The visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum was very moving. The tea ceremony was educational.
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The tour was wonderful and the sights terrific. The guide was very knoledgeable, and kept the tour moving at just the right pace. The hotels were excelent, Probably the best that I have ever been at.Martin Greenberg
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Riding the bullet train to Heroshima and visiting the Peace Garden and meuseum.
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Riding the Shirenkanson bullet train and visiting the Hiroshima atomic dome.Byron Bader
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The tour gave a great deal of history about Japan. We had a chance to see the country and their people. They are very polite and amenable to visitors in their country. It was fascinating to see Mt. Fuji, Hiroshima, Tokyo and other areas.
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I enjoyed the visit to Hakone - a sharp contrast to Tokyo. Takayama again was different to Kyoto. The sushi making class was a great success!Susan Blamey
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There could have been more recommendations where to eat and shop on our own time. Hiroshima was the most memorable experience. Also, seeing My. Fuji.
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Poor guide, dinners sub-par mostly buffets. Would prefer lunch in better restaurants or credit. Each place we visited seemed rushed. Very little background and cultural information provided by guide.Andrea Trachtenberg
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The trip to the Hiroshima Shrine and the beautiful cheery blossoms in the Mt. Fuji area as well as throughout the trip.Jane Howard
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Loved Hiroshima. Really enjoyed the cultural aspect of gold leaf experience as well as atenciling.Doris Herzke-selvaggi
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Our dinners were exceptional!! Each one was truly a cultural experience.
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The choice of historic sites and cultural venues was excellent, The information provided by the tour manager was helpful in understanding what we were seeing and experiencing.
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Outstanding hotels. Great itnerary.Nancy Mains
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Thought I filled this in but this was a very good experience - great guide, driver and time allotment for most excursions.Cheryl Steensma
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The tour was outstanding and comprehensive. Highlight was the Tokyo Tower, the Kyoto Shrine with 1000 Torii Gates, Horoshima Peace Memorial.
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Traveling throughout the Japanese Alps, the beauty of the Cherry trees (we traveled during Sakura which is the peak of the Cherry Blossom celebration) that was spectacular.
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Hokane was beautiful Fish markets were amazing Final night celebration was wonderfulKris Steedman
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Needed Japanese guide who lives in JapanLois Stitt
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Tour not as advertised. Despite paying a single person supplement, I was given a single room. Fortunately, the country and its fascinating culture were sufficient to make this a truly memorable holiday experience.
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Overall package was excellent. The cherry b;osmosis were awesome.Nafe Arca
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Well organized. Only downside was not enough free time, i.e. at fish market and open air shopping area. Needed more time to eat. Hard to mix shopping and eating for me personally.Jeffrey Altman
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Just a recommendation for inclement weather in Hakone: please have a contingency plan. Felt like half the day was wasted. Have subsequently discovered many things to do there no matter the weather.
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We were very lucky with our timing. We saw Mt. Fuji without cloud cover; the first cherry blossoms; met a Maiko; and made eye contact with the Emperor of Japan. Our free time allowed us to meet some lovely local people.Marily Sampson
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Seeing the Emporer as he drove byRichard Burbidge
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Because that’s what I thought of it.
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Very organized, with a great variety of destinations, modes of travel, and first rate accomodations. I liked the different hand craft excursions.Aben Kaslow
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Kyoto and Kanazawa, Mt Fuji were the best!Catherine Wood
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I thoroughly enjoyed the trip except for the fact that our transfer to the hotel in Tokyo did not materialize and we had to make our own way to the hotel. There were many highlights, seeing Mount Fuji, decorating lacquer boxes and the amazing autumn leaf colour in Kyoto. Having a free day on the last day of the trip seemed odd but our tour manager took some of us to the bamboo forest. We went by public transport and are so glad we didn't miss this amazing place.
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Most memorable moments were incredible views of Mt Fuji and my ride on the Shinkansen - both checked off on my bucket list.
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Great value for money. Two memorable experiences - sunset over Mount Fuji and trip to Hiroshima.Walter Hall
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Mountain drive was thrilling. Winding road around massive mountains on cliffs that overlook a wide green fast flowing river and through long tunnels. Beautiful majestic scenery. Not to lessen each and every venue! It was a great schedule! Would have done 5 stars if the Whispernet audio system wasn’t junk. Poor system!
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No favorite spot, but a fabulous overview of someplace I had never visited before.Kieran Keenan
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Too many to give only one: • the Hiroshima experience • interesting meals • Gould leaf experience • adjusting the schedule during the typhoon .... and much more
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Great value, covered almost everything
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Very well organised trip with lots of memorable experiences. We particularly liked the fact that Collette had organised classes in traditional crafts such as gold leaf painting, stencilling and watching a tea ceremony. Favourite experience was having our photos taken in front of a perfect view of Mount Fuji.Malcolm Turner
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Hot spa baths Making bento boxes Samurai villageHeather Booth
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My favorite memorable experience was making our lacquer boxes.
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The tour was very well planned and very inclusive of what we wanted to see in Japan.Paula Cornelius-lopez
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This was a great holiday which covered a wide range of experiences. The trip was well organised and the guide was excellent. Had quite a wait at the airport on arrival though and a very early departure time on leaving - 2am when we couldn't check in at the airport until 05:40 so had a couple of hours wait. The holiday was worth it though.
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The tour was wonderful and I would rate it a 5; however, when traveling alone it is the additional fee that is added to the cost that is not appreciated. I could take another tour if it didn’t cost so much to travel alone. The only problem about accommodations refers to the one night stay at Hakone which a number of us expressed the desire to stay an extra night at the same hotel. (I would not want to loose another other days though.). A couple of travelers complained about the hotel in Takayama, I’m sure it was the best available in the area. I did like the cultural activities we did—the gold-leaf bento box and painted handkerchief. ******* is an excellent tour guide!! She is so knowledgeable, caring, and compassionate.(Margaret) Dianne Kirkpatrick
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Every part of our tour was excellent but if I had to narrow down a couple of favourites it would have been Mt Fuji and the Goodbye dinner with the Entertainment of the Mika ( Geisha ) girl.Petrina Scott
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A really great tour and how fortunate to see Mt. Fuji in all its glory! The "Geisha" show at our farewell dinner capped of a very memorable experience.David Hilton
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Seeing Mt Fiji was fabulous.Ronald Bagner
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Hiroshima was a must - tinged with heartbreak and yet hope for peace!Michael Grumich
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Making the bento boxes and the bullet train to Hiroshima.
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See the feedback in the first section.Gerard Berlanga
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See my comments provided in experienceMary Murphy
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I sent you the survey last week.Miriam Hudson
