We had a great trip to Japan that worked for ...
Japan
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Jun 21 - Jul 1, 2025
We had a great trip to Japan that worked for all ages, from young children to grandparents. We were active and moving every day which was exhausting in the heat (so maybe I"d pick a different season), but I started to get excited to surpass each days steps on my pedometer! Our tour guide in Tokyo, Allen, was fabulous. He really taught us a lot on our rides to and from sites and helped us understand the Japanese culture. He brought Pokemon cards to a disappointed fan when the store had an hour wait, and seemed to just "get us." Our tour guide, in Kyoto and Osaka, was also knowledgeable, but we seemed to struggle some with communicating our desires and being understood. He was flexible when we needed a break from the heat or when we were ready to skip another temple/shrine. If I had the trip to do over I would spend more time exploring the different areas of Tokyo, see one or two fewer shrines and temples, and more of the day to day living of the Japanese people. I'd even like to stay in a traditional Japanese home set up with the tatami mats. Heidi, our local specialist, revamped our trip several times to meet our needs and was lovely to work with.
Hotel Reviews
What a fancy place to be. While there was minimal A/C in the central atrium, the rooms were nice sizes, the beds were comfy and the amenities were plentiful. The breakfast options were also a plus, as after being in country for a week we were ready for something more familiar than a Japanese breakfast.
The rooms were sufficient and clean, but they were quite small. I wish we had more space to put our luggage and that the bathroom set up was different.
Activity Reviews
Super fun to learn about Sumo and get to try it ourselves. The entire experience was geared toward tourists, but it didn't matter. We had so many fun photo ops posing with the sumo wrestlers.
It was very neat to see how Miyazaki created his animated films. I think we could have spent less time in this museum.
Fuji sang did not come out from behind the clouds on our visit, but it was still a beautiful area. The music forest was closed the day we visited and our tour guide pivoted us to a museum sharing the history of Mt. Fuji and a World Heritage Village that was amazing to see. This was when I learned that in Japan your wealth is measured by your garden, not your house. Our tour guide also took us to a traditional soba house for lunch where we sat on tatami mats and ate huge bowls of soba with tempura.
We had so much fun being dressed in traditional tea ceremony outfits. My kids and I loved the experience of what it's like to layer on a kimono and kneel to make tea. The sweets were delicious and we learned a lot about the ritual of making tea. Plus, lots of fun photo ops in the garden.
So much fun and quite a work out! The language barrier meant that we didn't learn as much about the history of Taiko drumming as we would have liked, but we did learn how to play them and play for an entire hour!
