We don’t do Japan in ten cities. We do it in four, properly. Tokyo for its quiet corners, Hakone for its hot springs, Kyoto for its gardens and Kanazawa for its craft.
Twelve days, a ryokan, a machiya, and the time to understand what you are seeing. It is the trip we would plan for our own families.
Day by day
Day 1
- morning
- Met at the airport by your guide, who stays with you for the first three days and answers every small question.
- afternoon
- Check in, rest, and a gentle walk to a neighbourhood shrine where office workers stop to bow on their way home.
- evening
- Dinner at a small yakitori counter, the cook working in front of you.
Day 2
- morning
- Meiji Shrine at 6am, the forest silent and the gravel freshly raked.
- afternoon
- Yanaka and the old Shitamachi lanes, then the Japan Folk Crafts Museum.
- evening
- Sushi at a counter for six, with a chef who explains every piece.
Day 3
- morning
- An early visit to Tsukiji’s outer market for tamagoyaki and coffee, then Hama-rikyū garden.
- afternoon
- Free time, or the basement food halls of Ginza with your guide, where a single melon can cost more than dinner.
- evening
- The narrow lanes of Golden Gai, and a highball in a bar with eight stools and one very good record collection.
Day 4
- morning
- The Romancecar train to Hakone, the city falling away into cedar and steep green hills.
- afternoon
- Check into the ryokan; yukata, tea, and your first private onsen.
- evening
- Kaiseki dinner in your room, course after small course.
Day 5
- morning
- An early boat on Lake Ashi, Fuji above the water if the clouds allow.
- afternoon
- The Hakone Open-Air Museum, sculpture among the hills.
- evening
- A last soak as the mist settles in the valley, then an early night on deep futons.
Day 6
- morning
- Shinkansen west, Fuji on the right if the sky is clear, while your luggage travels separately.
- afternoon
- Check into the ryokan and walk the old lanes of Higashiyama.
- evening
- Dinner at a counter in Gion, then a walk by the Shirakawa canal.
Day 7
- morning
- Fushimi Inari at 6:30, the thousand gates still empty.
- afternoon
- A tea ceremony with a teacher who explains why each gesture matters.
- evening
- Shōjin ryōri, temple cooking, in a private room.
Day 8
- morning
- Move into your machiya, then the moss garden at Gio-ji.
- afternoon
- Arashiyama’s quieter side: Ōkōchi Sansō and the thatch of Saga-Toriimoto.
- evening
- Dinner at a neighbourhood izakaya, the menu on a blackboard and the owner’s mother at the stove.
Day 9
- morning
- Nara by 7:30, Tōdai-ji’s great hall before the crowds.
- afternoon
- Isuien garden and Naramachi’s old streets.
- evening
- Back to Kyoto, and a quiet dinner of obanzai, Kyoto home cooking, delivered to your machiya.
Day 10
- morning
- Train north to Kanazawa, rice fields giving way to the grey Sea of Japan.
- afternoon
- Higashi Chaya’s latticed teahouses, then a workshop where gold leaf is beaten thinner than a breath.
- evening
- Kaga cuisine at a counter: sweet shrimp, buri, and jibuni duck stew thickened with wheat gluten.
Day 11
- morning
- Kenroku-en at opening, the moss wet and the stone lanterns still in shadow.
- afternoon
- Ōmichō market for lunch, then the D.T. Suzuki Museum, a reflecting pool that asks nothing of you.
- evening
- A farewell dinner, with sake from a family brewery.
Day 12
Home, slowly
Kanazawa to Tokyo
- morning
- A last coffee in Kanazawa, then the shinkansen to Tokyo, your bags already at the airport.
- afternoon
- Your flight home, with a guide on the phone until you are through security.
- evening
- Japan, in its own time, behind you for now. Most people start planning the second trip on the plane.
What’s in it
- Meiji Shrine at 6am
- Sushi at a six-seat counter
- A first ryokan night with a private onsen
- Fushimi Inari before the crowds
- A tea ceremony that explains itself
- Kenroku-en at opening
- A gold leaf workshop in Kanazawa
The seasons you’ll travel through
In its best months (Mar · Apr · May · Oct · Nov), this journey passes through 31 of the 72 micro-seasons. A few of them:
- 1–5 Mar草木萌動Grass sprouts, trees bud
- 6–10 Mar蟄虫啓戸Hibernating insects surface
- 11–15 Mar桃始笑First peach blossoms
- 16–20 Mar菜虫化蝶Caterpillars become butterflies
- 21–25 Mar雀始巣Sparrows start to nest
- 26–30 Mar櫻始開First cherry blossoms
- 31 Mar – 4 Apr雷乃発声Distant thunder
- 5–9 Apr玄鳥至Swallows return
- 10–14 Apr鴻雁北Wild geese fly north
- 15–19 Apr虹始見First rainbows
- 20–24 Apr葭始生First reeds sprout
- 25–29 Apr霜止出苗Last frost, rice seedlings grow
Where you’ll sleep
ryokan· KyotoPlaceholderYuzurihaA small ryokan of eight rooms on a lane in Higashiyama, a short walk from the temples at dawn.
- Type
- ryokan
- Bath
- none
- Sleeping
- futon
- Size
- 38 m²
- Guests
- 2
machiya· KyotoPlaceholderKinari MachiyaA restored wooden townhouse of your own, with a courtyard garden and a deep cypress tub.
- Type
- machiya
- Bath
- none
- Sleeping
- futon or bed
- Size
- 85 m²
- Guests
- 2–4
design hotel· TokyoPlaceholderSumi HouseA small hotel of charred cedar and plaster on a back street, close to the old neighbourhoods of the east.
- Type
- design hotel
- Bath
- none
- Sleeping
- bed
- Size
- 32 m²
- Guests
- 2
ryokan· Hakone & Mount FujiPlaceholderNagiA ryokan above a river gorge in Hakone, each room with its own bath of spring water.
- Type
- ryokan
- Bath
- private onsen
- Sleeping
- futon or bed
- Size
- 60 m²
- Guests
- 2–4
machiya· KanazawaPlaceholderTsuta MachiyaA two-storey wooden townhouse near the teahouse district, restored with local lacquer and gold leaf.
- Type
- machiya
- Bath
- none
- Sleeping
- futon or bed
- Size
- 75 m²
- Guests
- 2–4
Every day above can move. Tell us what you’d change.
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