This full-on tour visited many of the main tourist points in Japan during October 2024. There were early starts and some long journeys across three of the islands visited - Kyushu, Honshu and Hokkaido. The group comprised 28 people, plus the tour guide, and was too big for the guide to keep together, especially when travelling on trains in the peak hours.
As lunchtimes varied according to the visit programme, and could be anytime between 1100 and 1330, it would have been helpful if the group had been advised the previous evening of the next day's planned time of lunch. This would have helped us organise our food intake at breakfast to match an early or late lunch as appropriate.
A lovely boat cruise of Tokyo Bay with evening meal was arranged on our last night in the Capital, which left us late(ish) back to our hotel. On arrival back, we had to pack our cases for despatch by road to avoid the Shinkansen restrictions and then to prepare an overnight bag for a two night stay, all whilst having to be up for a 6 am start the following morning.
There was a farewell dinner arranged for the last night of the tour that was held in a very large cook-it-yourself type restaurant. The air was thick with the smoke of meat being cooked on the griddles at the numerous tables, which left our clothes impregnated with the smell of the experience. These were the clothes in which we would be travelling home from Japan the following day.
The horrors of the A Bomb were seen at the museums in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which portray graphically the events to the full, and really test one's emotions. Our guide was so moved, even though she must have seen the material many times, that she took to a quiet corner away from the displays to recover her composure.
The tour visited a number of gardens, Temples and Shrines, many crowded with tourists. At Matsumoto Castle, the stairs to reach the upper floors are very narrow and steep, with people ascending having to compete with the large numbers descending. Some of our group could not make the ascent. Due to the long hot summer, we were told that autumn in Japan had been delayed, with little sign of trees changing their colours in the two south islands.
The tour included hands-on experience of making Momiji-Manju (a type of maple leaf shaped cake), sushi, a sake drinking cup, fan painting, and a calligraphy lesson. These were lighter moments much liked by the group. We also enjoyed a tea ceremony and the art of Zen meditation conducted by a Monk. The tour itinerary was followed to the letter apart from one departure, when we were unable to ride the Komagatake cable car at Lake Ashi, closed due to poor visibility.
Overall, the tour was enjoyed very much by my wife and I, but it would have been more practical to have a smaller tour group. This would have made it easier for the guide to negotiate the busy places we visited and to keep the group together. Over the 21 days of the tour, we had three separate tour guides, all of whom were well prepared, and provided information on the venues to be visited and gave us other interesting facts.
The Japanese culture is much to be enjoyed. The people are unbelievably polite (less so in Tokyo, perhaps) and appear to behave within a set of unwritten rules, to which they all comply. In short, they work as a team and have a country that is devoid of litter, graffiti and, interestingly, dirty road vehicles. The trains do run on time, well almost, as we saw a sign for cancellations on one line. But, all across Japan we saw evidence of the effort and dedication being applied by workers, many in white gloves, who seem totally enthused by their individual roles, however basic. Well done Japan and its people, I would love to visit you again.
