Japan is a nation of ancient and storied traditions and customs. But in the 20th century she leapt headlong into the west, becoming a technological and economic powerhouse. Such a land of contrasts is eminently interesting but also possesses much natural beauty. This tour will feature the urban centers of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima but also the rural charms of the Japanese alps, the villages of Matsumoto, Nara, and Takayama. We will visit Zen gardens, learn to make sushi, visit castles and temples, explore a Geisha district, view mighty Mt. Fuji, and much more. Join Imprint for this diverse and fascinating fortnight.

· Sushi & Sweet making classes – learn to make, then enjoy your own shushi and traditional Kyogashi sweets

· Classic Japanese garden - visit Koishikawa Garden with its traditional water features and brightly colored arched bridges, arboreal variety, streams, and flowers

· Kyoto’s Golden Temple & Fushimi Inari Shrine – The UNESCO-listed Kinkaku-ji, the extravagantly decorated Golden Temple and the iconic Shinto complex, with its thousands of vermillion torii gates

· Shirakawa-go - World Heritage designated alpine village

· A-Bomb Monument and Museum – A sobering but important visit to Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome, the Peace Memorial Park, and Museum

· Miyajima island - Daisho-in temple with its garden of “baby Buddha” statues and mystical grotto

· Nara - Kasuga Taisha shrine and Japan’s largest seated bronze Buddha statue

Visa Requirements:  U.S. and Canadian citizens do not need a visa to visit Japan for short-term stays of up to 90 days 

Registration and Deposit

Q: What should I expect after registering and paying the deposit for the tour?

A: You will receive a confirmation email welcoming you to the tour. This email will include a link to a 'Manage Booking' page where you can view and edit all your trip details. Also included is your deposit receipt, payment schedule, and information for purchasing travel insurance. Imprint Tours STRONGLY recommends purchasing trip insurance.

Q: Is my deposit refundable?

A: Your deposit is refundable for 30 days, after which it is non-refundable for any reason.

Flight Information

Q: Are flights included?

A: International Flights to/from the tour are NOT included.

Q: What airport do I use to join/depart the tour?

A: The tour starts in Tokyo (Narita {NRT} or Haneda {HND}) on May 9 and ends in Osaka (Osaka Int'l {ITM} or Kansai Int'l {KIX}) on May 22 (after breakfast). The two Osaka airports can also be used following the Koyasan extension, May 23.

Q: Should I arrive early for the tour?

A: When you arrive is entirely up to you. Most Imprint travelers arrive 1 day early.

Q: If I'm extending to Koyasan, when should I book my return flight?

A: The extension ends back in Osaka at about noon on May 23. We suggest not making a departing booking prior to 17:00 if you wish to fly on the 23rd.

Q: If I'm extending to Koyasan, will we return to the Osaka hotel on May 23?

A: Yes, you will have the option to leave your big luggage at the Osaka hotel, and therefore you'll return there after the Koyasan extension.

Q: Which airport should I use for Tokyo and Osaka?

A: Your choice. All 4 airports have equally easy access to/from the respective cities.

Q: Does Imprint provide or arrange airport transfers?

A: No, airport transfers are the traveler's responsibility to arrange. Basic information will be included in the 8-Week Letter.

Q: Does Imprint provide advice about airlines, routing, or booking?

A: No, Imprint does not provide these services.

Q: When should I book my flight?

A: Avoid booking flights before Sept 9, 2026 unless you confirm the tour status.

Q: Do I need to check the tour status after Sept 9?

A: No, if you have not received a cancellation notice from Imprint by Sept 9, you may assume the tour is a go.

Tour start/end

Q: What time will the tour start on May 9?

A: About 17:00 (5:00PM)

Q: What time will the tour end on May 22?

A: After breakfast

Q: Can I skip breakfast on the final day and depart early that morning?

A: Yes, you are not obliged to partake of the final breakfast, nor will you miss any tour activities.

Payment: Early Pay Discount (EPD) and Full Price

Q: How do I take advantage of the Early Pay Discount (EPD)?

A: To receive the $300 EPD, you must register for the EPD price and pay in full by the designated date. As long as you choose the EPD category, the payment system already reflects this discount. You will receive a notice of final payment due one week prior. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions regarding EPD as cancellation incurs a penalty.

Q: If I’ve chosen to take advantage of the Early Pay Discount (EPD), and subsequently cancel, what penalties will I incur?

A: If you’ve opted for the EPD and paid in full, but then cancel, your deposit plus $400 of the EPD price is non-refundable. If no deposit has been paid, $1000 of the EPD price is non-refundable.

Q: Can I pay with a Credit Card?

A: Yes, you can opt to pay via Credit Card. However, you must pay the Credit Card fees, which are non-refundable in the case of cancellation.

Q: Can I avoid the Credit Card fees?

A: Yes, you can pay via ACH transfer without fees.

Q: If I am registering for the optional extension, why do I need to designate EPD or Full Price when the extension price is the same for both?

A: Designating EPD or Full Price on the optional extension allows us to sync payments for your entire trip in order to invoice you accurately.

Q: Can I choose to delay final payment until Feb 9, 2027?

A: Yes, you must register for a Full Price package, then pay your balance due by Feb 9. You will receive a notice of final payment due one week prior.

Q: Is there any penalty for cancellation of a non-EPD registration?

A: No, there is no penalty for cancellation until Feb 9. However, your deposit is forfeit if the 30 days has elapsed (see above).

Q: What if I have to cancel after Feb 9?

A: After Feb 9, 2027 all payments are final and non-refundable for any reason.

Pre-Departure Information

Q: What should I do to prepare for the tour?

A: About 8 weeks before departure, you'll receive a detailed email with a packing list, sightseeing suggestions, and other important information. Meanwhile, ensure your passport is valid for at least 6 months beyond your intended departure date and has two clean pages for visa stamps. 

Pre- and Post-Tour Hotels

Q: Since Imprint is unable to assist with pre- and post-tour hotel bookings, how do I book non-tour hotel nights?

A: For pre-tour nights, the first tour hotel in Tokyo is the Asakusa View Annex Rokku. For post-tour nights, the final tour hotel in Osaka is Sotetsu Fressa Inn. If you are extending to Koyasan, you will still return to Osaka on June 23, arriving about noon. Tour bookings are made under Intrepid Travel Japan and Imprint Tours. Standard rooms. Final hotel bookings with roster names will be made about 60 days prior to the tour start.

Q: If I want to book pre-tour nights in the Asakusa View, can Imprint assist in making sure I stay in the same room when the tour begins?

A: No, Imprint is unable to assist with this. You must deal directly with the hotel to make any special arrangements.

Q: What if the first and/or last tour hotels are fully booked for the pre- and/or post-tour nights I am interested in?

A: You must make your own alternative arrangements. We suggest using your favorite hotel booking engine to choose an accommodation with the location, price, and standard of your choice.

Tour Hotels

Q: If I need a complete list of tour hotels, where do I find that?

A: On the Trip Overview page of this We Travel Japan portal.

Important Reminders

Q: Are there any critical things I need to keep in mind?

A:

• Print and keep the confirmation letter for reference.

• If your passport will expire between now and 6 months beyond your intended departure from Japan, it is your sole responsibility to update your registration information in We Travel. You can use the link in your confirmation email to return to your account to make edits. Imprint Tours is not responsible for reminding you to update your information nor for any problems with booking delays or mistakes due to incorrect passport data.

• Add reid@imprinttours.com to your email address book.

• Download & activate Whatsapp for essential on-tour communications.

• Check your bank’s policy on international ATM withdrawal or Credit Card fees.

Health and Safety

Q: What health precautions should I take?

A: Visit the CDC website or your local travel medicine clinic for suggested inoculations for Japan. We cannot advise on inoculations due to liability concerns. 
This tour involves moderate to demanding physical activity, including walking tours, climbing steps, multiple use of public transportation, and excursions to natural sites with uneven terrain. Participants should be in good health and capable of handling such activities.

Tour Member Expectations

Q: What mindset should I have for the tour?

A: Be flexible, independent, and personally responsible. Expect challenges and surprises, especially in less-developed areas. Positive, flexible attitudes contribute to a better group experience.

Travel Insurance

Q: Why is travel insurance important?

A: Travel insurance protects your investment against unforeseen events like flight delays, baggage loss, or sudden illness. We recommend Trawick.

Trip cancellation insurance helps protect you and the investment you made in your trip when you travel. It provides pre-departure benefits in case you must cancel your trip before you have the chance to take it, and post-departure benefits such as travel delay, trip interruption, and emergency medical expenses to protect you while you are traveling.  

In case you haven't read our Terms and Conditions carefully, we would like to repeat the importance of purchasing travel protection.

For more than 25 years, Trawick International has been a trusted provider of international insurance, administration, and assistance services.  Trawick International provides personalized service and trusted guidance.  With 24/7 customer support and worldwide protection, you’ll have everything you need for everywhere you’ll go.

We understand your plans can change quickly and unforeseen events could impact your travel plans. We feel it's important to consider purchasing a travel protection plan to help protect you and your travel investment.

Comprehensive Travel Protection and Travel Medical Insurance Plans may provide coverage for:

• Trip Cancellation

• Trip Interruption 

• Trip Delay 

• Missed Connection

• Baggage Benefits

• Baggage and Personal Effects 

• Baggage Delay 

• Emergency Accident and Sickness

• Medical Expense 

• Dental Expenses 

• Emergency Evacuation 

• Repatriation of Remains  

• Accidental Death & Dismemberment 

*Please make sure to read your specific plan document as coverage may vary depending on state and policy purchased. 

For policy questions please call Trawick International’s 24/7 customer service team at 888-301-9289.

Worldwide Travel Assistance is available 24 hours a/ day, 7 days a week. Trawick International offers immediate online policy confirmation of coverage, personalized ID cards and plan documents. Our Global Response Center (GRC) is staffed by a diverse team of bilingual and multilingual professionals.  Trawick Internationals Assistance Provider OnCall International can arrange access to over 180 written and spoken languages to ensure we can deliver clear, accurate, and culturally sensitive emergency response and assistance to travelers anywhere in the world, at any time.

Please Note: Full coverage terms and details, including exclusions and limitations, are contained in the insurance policy. Product descriptions provided here are only brief summaries and may be changed without notice. Plan sold by Trawick International. Insurance is provided by either Technology Insurance Company or Wesco Insurance Company, an AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. company and non-insurance services by Trawick International. Limitations and exclusions apply. Trip cancelation plans are only valid for residents of the United States.

Day 1  Meeting; Dinner
Konnichiwa! Welcome to Tokyo, Japan's dynamic capital. Your tour begins with an early evening get-acquainted meeting in the hotel. Afterwards we’ll enjoy our first meal in Japan.

Day 2  Koishikawa Garden; Sushi making
Our first destination this morning is a classic, Edo-period Japanese garden. We will visit Koishikawa Garden with its traditional water features and brightly colored arched bridges, arboreal variety, streams, and flowers. Afterwards we will learn the art of sushi making. We’ll learn how to craft sushi and then enjoy the fruits of our labor for lunch.

Asakusa View Hotel Rokku (2 Nights) https://www.viewhotels.jp/asakusa-annex/

Day 3  Takayama Miso Lunch; Matsumoto Castle
Departing Tokyo, we travel by private coach to Takayama in alpine Gifu Prefecture. If weather allows we’ll pass Mt Fuji en route, making a photo stop for this iconic mountain. Then we’ll be visiting Matsumoto for Miso lunch and a photo stop at Matsumoto Castle. Sometimes nicknamed Crow Castle due to its resemblance to the bird spreading its wings, it is the oldest original castle in the country dating back to 1592. Takayama is a charming 16th century mountain town, famous for its feudal-era streets, old merchant houses, and canals.

Day 4  Morning Market; Merchant District; Sake tasting; Festival Float Museum Gifu Prefecture is known for its excellent produce and today we’ll visit Takayama’s morning market that dates back some 600 years. We’ll continue our morning with a walk through Takayama Merchant District and get a sense of the life of hundreds of years ago. The alpine climate is perfect for creating sake so we will visit a local brewery for a taste of the region's signature libation. To finish our morning we’ll visit the Festival Float Museum with displays of the highly decorated floats used during Takayama’s famous Matsuri festival. In the afternoon we catch a Japanese bullet train to whisk us south to Kyoto. The charms of Kyoto, the former imperial capital for over 1,000 years, are profound. With its many cultural landmarks and historical sites, and an abundance of traditional arts, Kyoto is regarded as the cultural heart of Japan.

Wat Hida Takayama (2 Nights) https://www.tokyustay.co.jp/e/hotel/HTM/  

Day 5  Shirakawa-Go village
In the morning we will visit nearby Shirakawa-go, a time-locked alpine village. This UNESCO World Heritage village is famous for its collection of original “gassho-zukuri” farmhouses with their steeply angled thatched roofs. We’ll discover the techniques used to build these farmhouses and store produce so that the community could withstand fierce winters and long periods of isolation. In the afternoon we catch a Japanese bullet train to whisk us south to Kyoto. The charms of Kyoto, the former imperial capital for over 1,000 years, are profound. With its many cultural landmarks and historical sites, and an abundance of traditional arts, Kyoto is regarded as the cultural heart of Japan.

Day 6  Kyogashi making; Fushimi Inari
This morning we will learn how to make unique Kyoto sweets called Kyogashi. A craftsman will help you make three different kinds of seasonal sweets. You can taste them with matcha green tea after the session. We will round out our morning with a guided visit to Fushimi Inari Shrine. This iconic Shinto complex, with its thousands of vermilion torii gates, is a no-miss Kyoto landmark and graces many guidebook covers and brochures. Your afternoon is free to rest or further explore Kyoto by yourself.

Day 7  Golden Temple; Diosgenin Zen Temple; Gion walking tour
Today we’ll take a tour of UNESCO-listed Kinkaku-ji, the extravagantly decorated Golden Temple. Its beautiful garden was immortalized in Yukio Mishima’s novel “The Golden Pavilion”. Then it’s on to Daisenin Zen Temple where carefully placed rocks sit in an immaculately raked sea of gravel. We’ll participate in a brief meditation session and learn about Zen philosophy. In the early evening we will explore the Gion district with our guide, hoping to spot geiko (as geisha are known in Kyoto) dressed in elaborate kimonos and make-up on their way to functions across the city.

Day 8  Free Day
Today is a free day for you to explore Kyoto on your own.

Hotel Keihan Kyoto Grande (4 Nights)  https://www.hotelkeihan.co.jp/kyoto/guestroom/

Day 8  Himeji Castle; Okonomiyaki
We depart Kyoto this morning with a destination goal of Hiroshima. On the way, we make a stop at Himeji Castle, Japan's most impressive samurai castle. Then it is on to energetic Hiroshima. Tonight’s dinner is okonomiyaki, a local specialty now enjoyed all over Japan.

Day 9  Miyajima

This morning we head for the beautiful island of Miyajima, just a short ferry ride across the Inland Sea. The island is home to the venerable Shinto shrine of Itsukushima, famous for its huge bright orange torii (ceremonial gate), which stands in the waters of the bay. Weather permitting we’ll take the cable car to the island’s summit for magnificent views. Then we return to the village to explore Itsukushima, also called “the floating shrine” and Daisho-in temple with its garden of “baby Buddha” statues and mystical grotto chapel.

Day 10  Peace Memorial

A visit to the Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome and the Peace Memorial Park and Museum is sobering, but the tragedy that happened here is an important historical event to be confronted. Both stand as emotional testament to the fateful day in August 1945 when Hiroshima became the first target for nuclear attack. Your afternoon is free to explore on your own.

Sotetsu Grand Fresa Hiroshima (3 Nights)  https://sotetsu-hotels.com/fresa-inn/hiroshima-ekimae/

Day 12  Osaka Castle
Departing Hiroshima this morning we make our way to Osaka, Japan's dynamic third city. Osaka is unofficially, but undisputedly, Japan’s culinary capital. Upon arrival we will visit impressive Osaka Castle, touring the interior and the elaborate grounds. Once home to over 10,000 samurai families, the impressive fortress dominates Nishinomaru Garden. One enjoys expansive city views from its uppermost tower, which is in turn surrounded by secondary citadels, gates, turrets, impressive stone walls and moats. Afterward, our guide will give us an orientation walk of Dotonbori neighborhood - Osaka’s high-voltage entertainment and dining quarter.

Day 13  Todai-ji Temple; Kasuga Grand Shrine
Our destination today is nearby Nara, which briefly reigned as capital of Japan in the 8th century. With eight World Heritage sites, Nara is second only to Kyoto as a fountain of Japan's cultural legacy. While here we will visit Todai-ji Temple with its huge, seated bronze Buddha, Japan’s largest. Next we head to Kasuga Taisha - Nara's most celebrated shrine.

Day 14 Tour Over
Tour officially ends with breakfast. Imprint will assist with airport transfer arrangements.

Sotetsu Fressa Inn (2 nights) https://sotetsu-hotels.com/fresa-inn/namba-ekimae

Koyasan Temple Stay; Okuno-in; Shojin ryori dinner

Our 2-Day extension is Koyasan, an important center for Shingon Buddhism for over 1200 years. We’ll visit Okuno-in, the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, Shingon’s founder and one of the most revered saints in the religious history of Japan. Your unique accommodation tonight is in one of the many temples still operating. We’ll relax alongside Buddhist monks and follow their routine of evening meditation and morning prayers. Your dinner tonight is shojin ryori, or monastic cuisine, prepared by novice monks. This unique meal was introduced to Japan in the 13th century by Zen monks from China. The extension includes transportation back to Osaka day 2, arriving about 11:30-12:00.

Note: This temple stay is an amazing and unique cultural connection experience. We love it. However, for 2 important reasons, we have chosen to make it optional. First, you will be required to sleep on fairly thin futons on tatami floors. It is an uncomfortable night. Second, there are no private bathroom facilities. Sinks and toilets are shared facilities and bathing is public, although segregated by gender. We think the sacrifices are well worth the experience. But we understand that this experience is not for everyone. If you have questions, please inquire: info@imprinttours.com

Regejoin (1 Night) https://www.rengejoin.jp/en/