Reviews

Great credit to Wendy Wu for a superb guided tour of Japan. Beginning in Osaka (good), Kyoto (better), Hiroshima (excellent), Kanazawa (excellent), Nagano (excellent) and Tokyo (super), the tour offered a fine variety of interesting vista and experiences.
They managed to pack a huge amount into each days sightseeing without putting undue pressure on any member of the group. Kudos here to a truly outstanding guide Taichi, whose English was faultless, attention to the group unwavering, had a great sense of humour and was a fountain of knowledge.
When travelling to Japan, you need to maintain an open mind about food. The dining experience is vastly different to our Western tastes, but the quality was very good at all times, even if our taste buds didn’t necessarily appreciate all that was put before us. My wife is coeliac, a condition unknown in Japan, yet her dietary needs were catered to better than any other trip we have done.
Is it worth the cost and jet lag?
A resounding YES.

Mostly we enjoyed the holiday, but did feel pressured by the time constraints in several of the places we visited. e.g. Osaka Castle, where we would have liked more time.
Although we appreciate that efforts were made to accomodate our dietary needs, we would have liked more Western options at every meal because we found a lot of the Japanese dishes unpalatable.
The welcome dinner should have been in the hotel, not in a pokey little Japanese restaurant with barely enough space to sit, and they should have waited for all the group members to arrive, and be introduced to one another and to the guide.
Some of the group were unable to attend the Farewell dinner on board a boat because it was very awkward for them to get into the seats set into the floor, so they went to eat elsewhere. I feel this meal should also have been in the hotel.
The Sheraton in Osaka was excellent, but some of the other hotels were not on a par. Many of the group thought that the Tokyu Rei in Nagano was very poor: thin towels, no room safe, a step up to the bathroom, and very small room. On arriving at the hotel in Tokyo we had a very nice room, only to be told that for the one extra night that we had booked with you we had to change rooms. The new room allocated was vastly inferior and for the price we paid ( 148 pounds pp per night) was totally unacceptable. We should have been allowed to stay in the same room.
To end on a positive note, our guide, Kazuyo Takatori (Kiki) was excellent and went out of her way to help in all ways, and solve our problems. She was amazing.