Most people come to Japan with a picture already in their head — old castle towns, samurai history, ancient temples set into mountain landscapes with waterfalls thundering beside them. That Japan is real, and you're going to see it.

But it's only part of the story.

This trip is designed to show you the fuller picture. Over twenty nights, you'll move through twelve distinct regions, each with its own dialect, its own history, its own way of doing things — and its own food. Japan has a hyperlocal obsession that's hard to find anywhere else in the world. The rice grown in one valley produces a sake that tastes nothing like the sake made two hours away using different water and a different grain. The ramen in Kitakata is its own thing entirely, shaped by the local water and the culture of the warehouses it was born in. The beef in Iga has its own character and its own story, quite separate from the Kobe beef you've probably heard of. These aren't marketing distinctions — they're genuine differences that locals will argue about passionately.

You'll walk ancient pilgrimage trails through cedar forest to reach waterfalls that have been drawing travellers for over a thousand years. You'll stand inside shrines and castle towns where some of the most dramatic moments in Japanese history actually happened, with the context to understand why they still matter. And you'll eat and drink your way through a cross-section of the country that takes time, and curiosity, and knowing where to look.

LEG 1: TOKYO

May 11 - Day 1 - Arrival

14:55 - Arrival at Narita Airport

Check in to hotel

19:00 - Dinner Out
Tokyo’s yokocho are best experienced without a plan — weave through the back streets around Kanda station and squeeze into whatever bar looks good, order something cold, and let the city introduce itself.

Included: Accommodation
Hotel: Mitsui Garden Hotel Otemachi

May 12 - Day 2 - Tokyo

4:30 - Fish Market Auction
An early start at Toyosu gets us into the world's largest fish market before dawn, watching the most serious tuna auction on the planet play out in real time.
NB: Pre-booked, Michael not joining

6:30 - Return to hotel and rest

10:00 - Activities throughout the day

19:00 - Welcome dinner - Sushi Takaharu Kanda
We’ll celebrate the start of the trip with a traditional Edomae omakase sushi dinner, just a few walks from the hotel.

Included: Breakfast, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Mitsui Garden Hotel Otemachi

May 13 - Day 3 - Tokyo

11:00 - Activities throughout the day, including TeamLab Planets (NB: Pre-booked, Michael not joining)

19:00 - Dinner at Ginza Happo
Ginza Happo for a two-hour all-you-can-eat-and-drink dinner. After an early fish market morning, this is exactly the right way to spend the evening. JPY 13,000 per person.
NB: Pre-booked, Michael not joining

Included: Breakfast, Accommodation
Hotel: Mitsui Garden Hotel Otemachi

LEG 2: FUKUSHIMA

May 14 - Day 4 - Tokyo to Fukushima

9:00 - Check out and go to Tokyo Station

10:00 - Train to Fukushima then pick up rental car
Yamabuko 133, departing 10:00, arriving 11:32
Car 5, Seats 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3E

12:00 - 16:00 - Drive & Rest Stops between Fukushima & hotel
The road into the mountains cuts through volcanic craters and alpine marshland, with views stretching back across the Fukushima basin. We'll take it slowly, stopping for lunch along the way — there's a lot to stop and look at.

16:00 - Check in to hotel & explore the area

18:30 - Drive to Inawashiro town for dinner
A drive down to the lake town for the evening. The waterfront has a quiet, unhurried atmosphere, and it's a nice way to ease into the next few days.

Included: Breakfast, Train, Lunch, Accommodation
Hotel: Urabandai Lake Resort Geihinkan Nekoma Rikyu

May 15 - Day 5 - Kitakata & Urabandai

8:15 - Depart hotel for Kitakata

9:00 - Ramen making class & tour of town
Kitakata is one of Japan's great ramen cities, and the thick, flat noodles they make here are different from anything you'd find in other cities. You'll make them by hand, then sit down and eat what you made. While our lunch is simmering, we’ll be given a tour of the town to learn its history as a food & sake center in the north.

12:30 - Ramen lunch

13:30 - Return to Urabandai

15:00 - Walk around Goshikinuma
A 3km walk through a chain of volcanic lakes, each a different colour depending on the minerals suspended in the water. One might be deep cobalt, the next milky turquoise.

17:00 - Free evening

Included: Breakfast, Ramen Making Class, Lunch, Accommodation
Hotel: Urabandai Lake Resort Geihinkan Nekoma Rikyu

May 16 - Day 6 - Aizu Wakamatsu

9:30 - Check out and depart hotel for Aizu-Wakamatsu

11:00 - Tsuruga-jo Tour
The story of Aizu's final stand during the Boshin War is one of the most moving chapters in Japanese history. We'll have a private English-speaking guide take us through the castle and give us the full story and historical context in the place where it all happened.

12:30 - Lunch and explore old town with guide

14:00 - Sazaedo
A 200-year-old wooden temple built on a double-helix spiral so that visitors going up and coming down never cross paths. There's nothing else quite like it in Japan, and our guide will join us.

15:00 - Sake Brewery visit & tasting
The Aizu region has dozens of sake breweries producing some of the most decorated sake in Japan, with Fukushima winning more gold medals at the National New Sake Tasting Competition than any other prefecture. We'll visit and taste our way through what makes this region special.

17:00 - Check in to hotel

18:30 - 19:15 - Private onsen booking
Robertsons: Izayoi no Yu
Joiners: Maboroshi no Yu

19:30 - Kaiseki dinner at hotel

Included: Breakfast, Castle & Sazaedo Entry, Guide, Sake brewery visit & tasting, Private onsen, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu, NB: Michael staying in separate hotel nearby)

May 17 - Day 7 - Aizu Wakamatsu

10:00 - Depart hotel for Ouchijuku
(NB: to add in To no Hetsuri, we can leave between 9:00 - 9:30 instead)

11:00 - Ouchijuku
A thatched-roof post town preserved almost exactly as it was in the Edo period. The main street has barely changed in 200 years, and the leek soba is the thing to order for lunch.

12:00 - Leek soba in Ouchijuku

13:00 - Depart to Mugenkyo, stopping at Tadami River No. 1 Bridge Viewpoint

15:00 - Mugenkyo River Cruise
A traditional boat ride through the Mugenkyo gorge — 'Misty Gorge' — past the ruins of a village abandoned after a 1964 landslide, with old houses, shrines, and rice barns still stand in the forest on the far bank. About 45 minutes return.

17:00 - Free evening in hotel

17:30 - 18:15 - Private onsen booking
Robertsons: Maboroshi no Yu
Joiners: Shosuke no Yu

19:00 - Kaiseki dinner at hotel with Michael joining

Included: Breakfast, Ouchijuku Entry, Lunch, Mugenkyo Cruise, Private Onsen, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu, NB: Michael staying in separate hotel nearby)

LEG 3: NIKKO

May 18 - Day 8 - Nikko

8:30 - Check out and depart
We have a 2.5-hour drive to Nikko and need to be there in time to catch the festival procession, so we're on the road early.

10:00 - Short rest stop

11:00 - Arrive at Nikko, park at hotel, have a quick lunch then walk ~30 min to meeting point

12:00 - Toshogu Grand Spring Festival Procession
We'll meet our guide in time to catch the return procession of the Toshogu Grand Spring Festival, which starts at 13:00. Over 1,200 people in full samurai armour escorting three portable shrines back through the streets of Nikko, a reenactment of Tokugawa Ieyasu's funeral cortege that has been running every May for centuries.

14:00 - Nikko Half Day Tour
Toshogu is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who unified Japan and whose family ruled for 265 years. It's one of the most significant sites in the country, and one of the most visually extraordinary. After the procession, we head inside with a private guide before moving on to other notable sites in the area.

17:30 - Check in to hotel

17:45 - Free evening in Nikko
Nikko's old town along the Daiya River has some good restaurants and a few small sake bars worth finding. Yuba — thin sheets of tofu skin skimmed from soy milk — is the local speciality, and a bowl of yuba soba or yuba hot pot in a small local restaurant makes for a good, low-key evening after a big day.

Included: Breakfast, Entry Fees, Guide, Accommodation
Hotel: Fairfield by Marriott Tochigi Nikko

LEG 4: MOUNT FUJI

May 19 - Day 9 - Nikko to Mt. Fuji

7:00 - Free morning in Nikko
The early morning light through the cedar forests around Nikko is something worth experiencing. If you’re up, take a slow walk before the tourists arrive, or we can drive up Irohazaka to catch Kegon Falls before we depart.

10:00 - Check out and Depart hotel

12:00 - Lunch and rest stop

15:00 - Check in to hotel & explore the area

15:30 - Kachi-kachi Ropeway
On a clear afternoon, the ropeway up Kachi-kachi Mountain puts Fuji directly across the lake. Weather dependent, but if the sky is clear we're going. If not, we can go tomorrow.

19:00 - Local dinner in town

Included: Breakfast, Ropeway, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Fuji Grand Villa - TOKI -

May 20 - Day 10 - Mount Fuji

10:00 - Depart hotel for the day

10:20 - Chureito Pagoda
The classic Fuji view: a five-storey pagoda in the foreground, the mountain behind it, ideally with the morning light low. If we’re up very early, then it’s worth doing much earlier in the day, before the haze sets in and the crowds arrive, before coming back to the hotel.

10:00 - 11:00 - Pick up bikes then bike around Lake Kawaguchi
The circuit around Lake Kawaguchi gives you changing angles of Fuji as you go, with stops at the spring pools of Oshino Hakkai, where snowmelt from the mountain surfaces crystal-clear from the ground, or the Fujisan Heritage Centre. Bikes must be collected between 10:00 - 11:00 am.

17:00 - Free evening
If the sky is clear, the evening light on Fuji from the lakeside is worth being outside for. The town has some good restaurants along the water — look for places serving hoto, or fresh river fish from the area. If the legs have recovered from the bike ride, the lakeside path is pleasant as the crowds thin out.

Included: Breakfast, Bike Rental, Accommodation
Hotel: Fuji Grand Villa - TOKI -

LEG 5: THE KISO VALLEY

May 21 - Day 11 - Matsumoto

10:00 - Check out and depart hotel

11:15 - Rest stop

13:15 - Daio Wasabi Farm
One of Japan's largest wasabi farms, fed by snowmelt streams from the Northern Alps. The terraced growing beds are something to see up close, and the wasabi products here are worth tasting properly. You'll experience something completely different from the wasabi you think you know back home.

15:00 - Check in to hotel

15:00 - Free afternoon & evening in Matsumoto
Matsumoto has one of Japan's few surviving original castles — black-painted, surrounded by a moat, and more striking in person than in photos. The old merchant streets along the river are good for a wander, and the city museum has a permanent Yayoi Kusama collection, a nod to the artist's Matsumoto roots.

Included: Breakfast, Daio Wasabi Farm visit, Accommodation
Hotel: Tabino Hotel Lit Matsumoto

May 22 - Day 12 - Nakasendo

9:00 - Check out and depart hotel

10:00 - Narai-juku
The longest surviving stretch of the old Nakasendo highway: a single street of intact Edo-period merchant houses and lacquerware workshops, with almost no one around before midday.

13:00 - Tsumago-juku
The most intact post town in Japan. No power lines, no modern facades, cars banned after dark. It's the closest thing to walking into the Edo period that you'll find.

14:00 - Walk to Magome-juku
An 8km walk (~3 hours) along the original Nakasendo trail through cedar forest and rice paddies, following the route that merchants and daimyo travelled for centuries. Michael will drive ahead with luggage and wait for you in Magome-juku.

17:30 - Check in to hotel

19:00 - Kaiseki dinner at hotel

Included: Breakfast, Site entry at Narai-juku & Tsumago-juku, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Iwasusou

LEG 6: KANAZAWA

May 23 - Day 13 - Mountain Villages

8:30 - Check out and depart hotel

10:15 - Rest stop

12:15 - Shirakawa-go
The UNESCO-listed village famous for its gassho-zukuri farmhouses, built with steep thatched roofs designed to handle the heavy mountain snowfall. The scale of the buildings and the setting among the mountains is genuinely hard to prepare for. We’ll enjoy a soba lunch using local buckwheat, a mountain staple.

15:30 - Ainokura
Smaller and quieter than Shirakawa-go, with rice paddies on three sides and no tour buses. The paper-making activity here uses washi techniques that predate the village itself.

17:30 - Check in to hotel

17:30 - Free evening in Kanazawa
Higashi Chaya after dark is a different place to what it is during the day. The paper lanterns go up, the streets empty out, and the ochaya along the main lane come alive. If you're after a drink, the sake bars in this neighbourhood are the best in the city and a short walk from the hotel.

Included: Breakfast, Shirakawa-go Open Air Museum, Soba lunch, Ainokura papermaking activity, Accommodation
Hotel: Soki Kanazawa

May 24 - Day 14 - Kanazawa

7:00 - Free morning in Kanazawa

12:00 - Lunch at Omicho market
Kanazawa's main fresh market, where the Sea of Japan seafood comes in daily. Good for grazing on crab, sashimi, and whatever looks good that morning.

13:00 - Swordmaker visit
A working swordsmith's studio where traditional Japanese sword-making techniques have been passed down for generations. With a local guide, this is a genuine workshop visit, not a demonstration.

15:00 - Free afternoon & evening in Kanazawa
Kanazawa rewards wandering. Kenroku-en is one of Japan's three great classical gardens — the stone lanterns reflected in the central pond have become the city's symbol, and it earns a slow walk through. Nagamachi, the former samurai district, is ten minutes away, with preserved mud-walled lanes and residences you can look inside. For something quieter, the D.T. Suzuki Museum — dedicated to the philosopher who introduced Zen to the West — is a beautiful building by Yoshio Taniguchi, worth visiting as much for the architecture as the content.

Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Swordmaker visit, Higashi Chaya entry fee, Kenroku-en entry fee, Nagamachi entry fee Accommodation
Hotel: Soki Kanazawa

LEG 7: LAKE BIWA

May 25 - Day 15 - Lake Biwa

9:00 - Check out and depart hotel

10:15 - Rest stop

12:00 - Lunch in Takashima

13:10 - Chikubu Island
One of Japan's three most sacred islands, sitting in the middle of Japan's largest lake and accessible only by boat. Pilgrims have been making this crossing to Tsukubusuma Shrine and Hougonji Temple for over 1,400 years, and the island has changed little since.

15:45 - Kawashima Shuzo visit
A small family brewery producing sake under the Matsu label, with deep roots in Shiga's brewing traditions. Three years ago they also started making whisky, so the tasting covers both. Includes a full tasting session.

16:45 - Shirahige Shrine visit

18:30 - Check in to hotel

18:30 - Free evening in Omi Hachiman
The canal district is the reason to be in Omi Hachiman, and it's best in the early evening when the day-trippers have gone. The old merchant town was built on commerce — these waterways once carried goods from across Japan — and the willow-lined canals and old warehouses are easy to spend an hour in without any particular plan.

Included: Breakfast, Chikubu Island Ferry & entry, Distillery visit & tasting, Shirahige Shrine entry, Accommodation
Hotel: Machiya Club

May 26 - Day 16 - Nagahama

9:00 - Depart hotel

1:00 - Pick up guide at Maibara station and continue on to Kinomoto together

11:00 - Activities in Kinomoto
A day of activities with a local English-speaking guide, including a hands-on pickling workshop with a traditional fermentation expert in a temple setting, a visit to a small family-run soy sauce factory, and a walking visit of Kinomoto’s old post town centre.

16:00 - Hikone Castle
One of only four original castles in Japan to survive intact, and the one with arguably the best story: the Ii clan's red-armoured warriors, and the castle's unlikely survival through the upheaval of Meiji. Optional visit on the drive back to our hotel.

18:00 - Evening in Omi Hachiman
In the evening, the Hachiman-bori canal is lit up and the streets around it are quiet. Worth a short walk before bed — a good way to close out two nights here.

19:00 - Dinner at Masuzaki
Omi beef is one of Japan's oldest wagyu traditions and one of its best kept secrets. Raised in the hills around Lake Biwa, it rivals Kobe in quality but almost no one outside the region knows it exists.

Included: Breakfast, Activities in Nagahama, Hikone Castle entry, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Machiya Club

LEG 8: THE DEEP SOUTH

May 27 - Day 17 - Iga Ninja

10:00 - Check out depart hotel

12:00 - Lunch around Iga

13:00 - Fukuoka Soy Sauce Factory
A 120-year-old brewery tucked into the mountains of Iga, where soy sauce is still made using the same tools and cedar vats as the day it opened. One of my favourite things to do in Japan.

14:15 - Iga Ninja Museum
Iga is the birthplace of ninja culture and home to the Iga-ryu, the most famous clan in Japanese history. The museum makes the most of that, teaching genuine local history with fun, live demonstrations.

16:30 - Check in to hotel

16:30 - Free evening in Iga
Iga is a small town and doesn't pretend to be otherwise. The streets around the old castle are quiet in the evening, and there are a handful of good local restaurants worth finding. Iga beef is one of those regional wagyu traditions that almost nobody outside the prefecture knows about — raised on the mountain pastures of Mie, with a distinct character that's quite different from the more famous Kobe and Matsusaka beefs. The local, family-made sake is the other secret worth knowing about.

18:30 - dinner at Kanaya

Included: Breakfast, Soy Sauce Factory Visit, Iga Ninja Museum entry & show, Accommodation
Hotel: AB Hotel Igaueno

May 28 - Day 18 - The Kii Coast

10:00 - Check out and depart hotel

12:00 - Lunch and rest stop

15:00 - Check in to hotel

15:30 - Explore villages of the Kii coast
The Kii coastline here is rugged and largely undeveloped — small fishing villages, shoreline shrines, and fresh seafood landed right at the port.

19:00 - Kaiseki dinner at hotel

Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Kyukamura Nanki-Katsuura

May 29 - Day 19 - Temples & Waterfalls

10:00 - Depart hotel

10:30 - Seigantoji & Nachi Falls
Nachi-no-taki drops 133 metres in a single fall, framed from below by the pagoda of Seigantoji Temple and the torii of Kumano Nachi Taisha. One of those views that's been a place of pilgrimage for over a thousand years, and still earns it. We’ll find a local spot for lunch around the temple and falls.

14:30 - Kumano Kodo Walk
The ancient stone stairway at Daimonzaka that pilgrims have walked for centuries is part of the Kumano Kodo. 267 steps through cedar forest, arriving at the shrine and falls above. We’ll walk this ancient path, and further along the Kumano Kodo

16:30 - Free afternoon

19:00 - Kaiseki dinner at hotel

Included: Breakfast, Temple & Falls entry, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Kyukamura Nanki-Katsuura

LEG 9: OSAKA

May 30 - Day 20 - Farewell

9:00 - Check out and depart hotel

11:00 - Umeshu Factory Visit
Minabe grows more ume plums than anywhere else in Japan, and the umeshu made here is a world away from the sweet stuff in supermarkets — richer, more complex, and genuinely worth tasting properly.

12:00 - Lunch

14:00 - Tea Ceremony
Sen no Rikyu, who defined the Japanese tea ceremony as we know it, was born in Sakai. There's no better place to do it properly than the city where it all started. If we skip this, we can depart later in the morning.

15:15 - Check in to hotel

15:30 - Free afternoon in Osaka
Kuromon Market is worth a pass through — two hundred stalls of fresh seafood, produce and street food, and a good last taste of what Osaka does best. Nearby Doguyasuji, known as Kitchen Street, is the place to pick up Japanese kitchen tools and food souvenirs to take home, from knives to dashi to sake cups. Shinsekai, the old entertainment district south of Namba, is a different side of the city — older, grittier, and better for kushikatsu than anywhere near the tourist trail. For a view over it all, Tsutenkaku Tower puts the whole city out in front of you.

19:00 - Farewell dinner
Twenty days, twelve regions, more sake than we can remember. Tonight we eat somewhere that deserves the occasion and raise a glass to what comes next.

Included: Breakfast, Umeshu Factory visit & tasting, Dinner, Accommodation
Hotel: Aloft Osaka Dojima

May 31 - Day 21 - Departure

4:30 - Check out and depart hotel
The drive from the hotel to the airport takes 45-60 minutes, depending on traffic

7:10 - Flight MM375 departing from Kansai International Airport (KIX)

Included: N/A
Accommodation: N/A

ITINERARY NOTES & UPDATES:

On May 16, I’ll leave you with the guide to do the tour of Tsuruga-jo while I drop off our bags, then meet you at lunch again.
On May 18 there is a special annual event happening at Nikko, which our guide will show us. The temple will be especially busy because of this. We need to arrive by 11:30 in order to catch the second half of the festival.

PRE-BOOKED ACTIVITIES

The following activities have already been booked for fixed times, as reflected in the itinerary:

May 12: Fish Market - Michael not attending
May 12: Welcome dinner in Tokyo
May 13: TeamLab Planets - Michael not attending
May 13: Ginza Happo dinner - Michael not attending
May 15: Ramen making class in Kitakata
May 16: Tour in Aizu with guide (Tsuruga-jo, lunch, old town, Sazaedo temple)
May 18: Tour in Nikko with guide (Grand procession, Tosho-gu, Futarasan, Taiyuin, Rinnoji)
May 24: Swordsmith visit
May 25: Ferry to Chikubu Island (limited departures)
May 25: Kawashima Shuzo sake & whisky brewery visit
May 26: Day activities in Nagahama (pickling workshop, soy sauce factory visit, old town walk).
May 26: Omi beef dinner in Omi Hachiman
May 30: Farewell dinner in Osaka