Our first trip to Japan was PERFECT thanks to kimkim and Olivia

Japan | Sep 23 - Oct 6, 2026

Fantastic location in Asakusa! Plenty of things to walk to from this hotel, and easy to get to other venues (like Meiji shrine and Imperial Palace Gardens). Excellent breakfast. Will go back when we visit Tokyo again.

The hotel was elegant and the in-room onsen bath was AMAZING. What holds it back from 5 stars was that ours came with a pre-selected dinner that wasn't great, and the hotel felt more corporate than authentic. The breakfast was much better than the dinner.

Onsen on the roof made this a great experience. We could walk everywhere we wanted to go from this hotel. And the obansai breakfast buffet was the best we had in Japan.

Even though the hotel was built recently, it felt dated and tired. If you are a family traveling and need a room with lots of beds, it might make sense, but we were a couple traveling without kids and we could hear the kids in the room next door late into the night.

The hotel had a terrific staff and an excellent restaurant. The breakfasts were great -- lots of Japanese and western options. Our room was very comfortable.

Good location and comfortable room

Our English speaking guide took us to the outskirts of Kanazawa where we met a kimono maker. He told us (through our translator) about his artistic process, how kimonos are made (hand-painted and dyed), and showed us some of his work and techniques. One of the most memorable experiences of our trip!

Our driver and guide, Junpei, was very knowledgable and so courteous. He was able to give us a lot of history about the towns. The house tour in Shirakawa-go was incredible.

Our tour guide, Yvonne, was terrific. She explained the history (which we were really interested in) and showed us so many things that make Kyoto such a special place.

I didn't know what to expect but this peaceful day and beautiful day was a highlight of our trip.

If I had to choose ONE favorite thing about the trip, it would be the Sumo tournament. The pageantry was incredible. We loved the experience of watching sumo with 11,000 people. And the explanatory guide before hand was terrific.

Nara was beautiful, and the bowing deer have to be seen to be appreciated. I had read about the deer, but didn't understand how different they were to all the deer I'd ever seen. Really amazing and a highlight of our trip.

Sarah, our tour guide, was great. It was our first day in Tokyo and she took us on the subway (quite the experience) to the Imperial Palace garden and then to Senso-ji. She told us about the history, the traditions at the temple (handwashing, for example) and we felt like we got a grasp the first day. Both of these sites are really worth seeing in Tokyo.

Masa was a great guide to food and Osaka culture. We had a small group, and he listened to what we were interested in (and we got to do some cooking at our last stop!)

Dressing in a kimono and learning about the tea ceremony was a highlight of the trip.

This turned out to be even more interesting than we expected. There was so much excellent history about the samurai and Shogunate that we were able to get a lot more context for the history of Japan as a whole.