Day 1: Arrive in Tokyo.
Arrive at Tokyo, pass through immigration; collect your luggage and clear customs. If you have booked an arrival transfer through us, then our assistant will meet you just outside of the secure area, and they will take you to the hotel by private van transfer.
Check into the hotel and relax.
Arrival time is scattered this evening, so have a good rest, ready for the week ahead.
Overnight: Mitsui Garden Hotel Ginza Premier.
Day 2: Tokyo
*Our luggage will be forwarded to Kyoto this morning.
We meet this morning for breakfast to say hi to each other, and to go over our upcoming journey. After breakfast, we embark on a full-day tour to discover some of the complex and rich culture, history, and society that underlie the city.
Our first stop this morning is the stunning Kengo Kuma-designed Nezu Museum, where we enjoy a collection of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art that Nezu Kaichiro (a millionaire and former president of Tobu Railway) assembled. The Museum synthesises traditional art forms, modern Japanese architecture, and a Japanese landscape garden into one harmonious complex.
One of the delights of a visit to the Nezu Museum is a stroll through its garden, which is truly an urban oasis. The original garden, designed in the shinzan-yūkoku style, features deep mountains and mysterious valleys, included rustic buildings and a teahouse. Follow the path along the small ponds past the tea house and stone lanterns and get lost amid chirping cicadas and the undulating movements of ever-graceful koi.
After visiting the Nezu, we wander through Aoyama, passing by magnificent buildings such as Prada, to arrive at Spiral, designed by Fumihiko Maki. The Spiral Garden, characterised by a spiral-shaped ramp, is filled with an iconic space called the Atrium which is bathed in natural light, creating an open and inviting atmosphere.
We return to our hotel, and your evening is free.
Overnight: Mitsui Garden Hotel Ginza Premier (B / L)
Day 3: Tokyo to Kyoto
This morning, we taxi to the station and board our shinkansen to Kyoto. This is about a 2-hour journey. (We grab a Bento Box at the station before we board for our lunch.)
We are met at Kyoto Station by our driver and we transfer to a teahouse that offers a contemporary approach to the art of Japanese tea. Installed at the back of a shop, in the former warehouse of a beautiful machiya, this salon highlights high-quality organic teas in an atmosphere of dim light and calm gestures. Each service, neat and precise, is accompanied by delicate sweets, for a complete experience that requires taking your time. As an intentional, precise ritual, the tea ceremony forces you to put aside other thoughts in order to focus on the visceral actions of measuring, scooping, pouring, stirring and swirling. It involves all the senses – sight, sound, smell, touch and taste – with the final sensation being the umami drink flowing down the throat and warming the stomach.
After this sublime experience, we transfer to our hotel, and check in. This evening, we dine together at the hotel.
Overnight: Nogha Hotel (B / L – Bento Box / D)
Day 4: Kyoto
After breakfast, we visit the The Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design, The museum highlights the city’s 74 traditional craft categories through multimedia displays and pop-up exhibitions that zero in on themes such as geiko (or geisha) costumery and kabuki dance-dramas. If we are lucky, we will be there when traditional ceramicists, kyo-nui embroiders and lantern makers pop in for craft demonstrations.
We can then wander over to an art-focused bookstore offering a curated selection of books, handicrafts, and stationery centered around the themes of Art, Japanese Living, and On Japan. This amazing store is divided into four different scenarios -“Eat & Drink”, “Interiors”, “Wear” and “Think”. In addition to some 60,000 books covering a wide range of fields, stationery and handicrafts, the store also has several art spaces featuring the trending contemporary artworks.
We will also drop into a stunning lifestyle store and gallery; a refined ceramics shop showcasing modern Japanese folk art and seasonal collections from local artists. The gallery regularly hosts solo exhibitions and provides a serene space for visitors to appreciate the artists’ works and learn about the cultural heritage of Kyoto.
Lunch will be at along the banks of a lovely canal near the Shirakawa Bridge where a small kitchen showcases truly good products made in the Tango Peninsula.
We return to our hotel via Shinmonzen Street, dotted with many antique shops that carry Japanese pottery, paintings, woodblock prints, hanging scrolls, and other art and crafts.
Your evening is free..
Overnight: Nogha Hotel (B / L)
Day 5: Kyoto
This morning, we visit Kawai Kanjiro’s house and studio. For lovers of design, art, and architecture, it is a rare opportunity to discover the style and humanity of a wonderful Japanese artist who influenced generations of potters and craftsmen. Kanjiro not only designed the house but also crafted most of the furniture and artwork that gave this memorial museum its unique character and style. Left exactly as it was when Kanjiro lived in it with his children and grandchildren, the home features his vast body of work, which includes ceramics, sculpture, wood carvings, and calligraphy. Part Machiya townhouse and part rustic country home, it is one of very few original Kyoto residences open to the public.
We will then wander over to the World Heritage-listed Kiyomizu-dera, one of Kyoto’s most ancient temples, built without a single nail. The temple’s wooden stage is undoubtedly what the temple is most famous for, offering an outstanding panoramic view of Kyoto rising out of a sea of maples.
Two streets near Kiyomizu-dera temple, the steep Sannenzaka and meandering Ninenzaka, are among the most popular shopping streets in Kyoto. Composed almost entirely of traditional wooden buildings, on these streets it’s easy to feel as if you’ve slipped back in time while making your way up the stone paths, passing by shops selling a variety of goods, from traditional crafts to more local treats.
Return to the hotel for rest & refresh before we meet for dinner.
Overnight: Nogha Hotel (B / L / D)
Day 6: Kyoto – Miyama – Kyoto
*Our luggage will be forwarded to Uno Port this morning.
Today after breakfast, we drive out of Kyoto for a day trip. We will head into the countryside for amazing architecture, art, nature and traditional crafts.
For centuries, Miyama has provided a peaceful mountain retreat from nearby Kyoto. The region is well known within Japan for its traditional village atmosphere, with many small hamlets nestled between steep forested mountains. Miyama means ‘beautiful mountains’. The mountains have not only dictated the name of the region but also played a key role in the development of Miyama’s culture and way of life. The people of Miyama maintain a deep connection with the nature that surrounds them, and the rhythm of the seasons dictates much of what people do and when they do it. Appreciation and gratitude for nature remain the foundation of the culture that has been preserved for more than 1000 years in these valleys.
We spend the day exploring the thatched village of Kayabuki no Sato and surrounds; the Kayabuki Art Museum & Folklore Museum; the Little Indigo Museum (a privately owned museum of indigo dyeing artist, Hiromichi Shindo); Chii Hachiman Shrine; the Ishida Farm House; and the Shrine of Karasu Dengaku (designated a Kyoto Prefectural Intangible Folklore Cultural Property); all dependent on opening days.
Lunch will be home-grown buckwheat noodles, Miyama water, and hand-made soba served in a thatched roofed house.
We return to Kyoto in the early evening. Your evening is free.
Overnight: Nogha Hotel.
Day 7: Kyoto to Okayama / via Kurashiki
This morning we transfer to the train station for our Shinkansen to Okayama. In Okayama, we are picked up by our Private Van and transferred to Kurashiki.
Kurashiki has a preserved canal area that dates back to the Edo Period (1603-1867), when the city served as an essential rice distribution centre. (The name “Kurashiki” can be roughly translated as “town of storehouses”) Alongside a picturesque canal, buildings possess a history of over 400 years, reflecting the town’s rich mercantile history through cotton production and its former flourishing textile industry. That prosperity further blossomed a rich, burgeoning culture for the arts and crafts.
Many of Kurashiki’s former storehouses have been converted into museums, boutiques and cafes. We spend the afternoon wandering around the Bikan Quarter and discovering gems such as Kurashiki Ivy Square, the site of the first modern cotton mill in Japan; Onashi House, the residence of the Ohashi family built in 1796; Kurashiki Folk Craft Museum; The Kojima Museum; Honmachi-dori street; and Kojima Jeans Street.
We continue to Uno Port and check into our hotel – Uno Hotel. Uno Port is the source of the ferries that travel to the Setouchi islands. The hotel could hardly be better located for a trip from the mainland to the islands — three minutes from the ferry pier — it’s also something of a destination. The atmosphere throughout is faultlessly tranquil; a spa features indoor and outdoor onsen baths as well as saunas and treatments, and the restaurants include a classic Japanese and a modern French option. *We highly recommend using the Onsen and booking a spa treatment!
We check in, rest, and refresh. We dine in-house this evening.
Overnight: Uno Hotel.
Day 8: Naoshima
Today, we go by ferry to Naoshima Island. We are picked up by our Private Van, and begin our Naoshima discovery.
We start our day with entry to one of the Art House Projects. The Art House Project sees artists take empty houses scattered about residential areas and turn the spaces into works of art, weaving in history and memories of the period when the buildings were lived in and used. You not only engage with works of art but also sense the layers of time and history interwoven in the community and the fabric of local people’s lives.
Before jumping back onto our bus, we will visit the Naoshima New Museum of Art, designed by Tadao Ando, and it will be his tenth architectural work among the art facilities of Benesse Art Site Naoshima.
We visit the Chichu Art Museum, also designed by architect Tadao Ando,
Before arriving back at the port, we will drop into Valley Gallery, unlike any conventional art experience. Along the winding path that leads to the entrance, visitors pass a small lake with mirrored stainless steel spheres on its banks, part of Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden installation. Nearby is Tsuyoshi Ozawa’s Slag Buddha 88, which features 88 Buddha statuettes created using slag from illegally dumped industrial waste.
And, of course, we see Yayoi Kusama’s famous giant pumpkin, and SANAA-designed Marine Station at Miyanoura Port.
We return to Uno Port in the evening on the ferry. After a huge, but fabulous, day your evening is free.
Overnight: Uno Hotel.
Day 9: Teshima Art Island
This morning, we board our ferry to Teshima Island. Again, we have a Private Van to ferry us around the island.
What once was a rural island suffering from depopulation has been revitalised by the Setouchi Triennale Art Festival and several museums built on Teshima. It offers stunning coastal views, rolling hills, and vibrant flora.
We visit sites including Yokoo House and Les Archives du Couer, one of multiple locations worldwide where visitors can make recordings of their heartbeats and listen to the recorded heartbeats of other people .
We eat lunch at a restaurant with an ocean view that offers popular fare made with a wide variety of Teshima Island ingredients.
One of the main highlights of Teshima is the Teshima Art Museum, a remarkable architectural and artistic creation nestled within a hillside. Designed by Ryue Nishizawa and Rei Naito, the museum combines the natural environment with innovative design. Standing amongst terraced rice fields, the simple concrete structure stimulates its visitors’ senses with the play of water drops on a concrete surface.
We return to Uno Port by ferry and to our hotel. We dine togther this evening to celebrate our amazing journey.
Overnight: Uno Hotel.
Day 1o: Depart
Your final day. Time to say farewell, Arigatou Gozaimashita. (B)
Enjoy a lazy breakfast, and then prepare for your transfer to Okayama train station.
*There will only be one departure transfer. Please do not organise any international flights out today before 5 pm.
