21 Day Japan Tours & Trips

Begin your tour on the north island of Hokkaido. The island is a dream to behold in any season with cherry blossoms in spring and bright fall colors, but its heavy snowfall in winter makes Hokkaido Japan’s preferred winter playground, with exciting snow festivals every February. Summers also delight travelers with fields full of flowers including lavenders and sunflowers. Travel down from there through the gorgeous Tohoku region, which features unforgettable scenes including Matsushima Bay and Hiraizumi as well as historical gems including Sakata, Yamadera, and Ouchijuku. Every traveler to Japan should experience the delights of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Tokyo offers both ancient and futuristic sights to fascinate any first-time visitor, with plenty of museums and other experiences that immerse travelers in an old city of samurai and as a technological city of the future. See the natural beauties of Hakone and the surrounding Mount Fuji area, where you can take a cruise on Lake Ashi in a pirate ship or traverse a mysterious volcanic caldera billowing smoke. Travel from there to Takayama, a charming town in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture with an Old Town heritage district that carefully preserves its classical, Edo-era atmosphere. Further up in the mountains is the UNESCO Heritage Village of Shirakawago, celebrated for its old-fashioned “gassho-zukuri” architecture. Farmhouses with broad thatched roofs “folded like hands in prayer” sit in an idyllic mountain valley surrounded by rice fields. Then continue on to the city of Kanazawa, known as the “Marsh of Gold” for its local specialty product – gold leaf. The city also has one of Japan’s Three Great Gardens – Kenrokuen Garden, which is a delight to behold in any season. Then discover over a thousand years of Japanese culture and history in the ancient city of Kyoto, known for incomparably beautiful temples and shrines, such as Fushimi Inari with its hundreds of red gates, Kiyomizu Temple and its dramatic veranda, and the enchanting Golden Pavilion. Nara is nearby, with a similarly rich atmosphere of classical charm, accented by the hundreds of adorable Sika deer wandering around Nara Park. After, go to Osaka, where visitors are warmly welcomed by the locals with their down-to- earth charm and sarcastic wit, as well as a street food culture that is both eccentric and mouthwatering. Finally, make a visit to Hiroshima, a City of Peace that beckons travelers to stroll their austere and impactful Peace Memorial Park and ponder the dream of a world without war. Just off the coast of the city is Miyajima Island, where travelers behold one of Japan’s Three Views as they gaze upon Itsukushima Shrine and its large torii gate floating over the water.