Monday, November 1 (Day 01)
HONOLULU TO NARITA
Our tour commences this morning when we assemble at the Japan Airlines lobby for baggage check-in procedures. We will depart Honolulu for Narita International Airport on Japan Airlines. Lunch and a snack will be served on board the flight.
Tuesday, November 2 (Day 02)
ARRIVE NARITA - YOKOHAMA (D)
We’ll arrive Narita Airport in the early afternoon and after completing entry and customs formalities, travel to Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city to spend the next two nights. A dinner is planned for you at the hotel this evening.
Accommodations at YOKOHAMA BAY SHERATON or similar
Wednesday, November 3 (Day 03)
YOKOHAMA (B)(D)
This morning we’ll embark on a full day of sightseeing in the city of Yokohama. Enjoy an impressive view of the harbor and the Yokohama Bay Bridge, built to bypass the busy expressway that runs through the city. We’ll visit Sankei-en, a beautiful landscaped garden established in 1906 by a Yokohama silk merchant. The inner garden has a fine example of traditional Japanese garden landscaping and features a 500-year-old three-story pagoda. Enjoy a stroll through the lively streets of Chinatown (Chukagai) - one of Yokohama’s most popular attraction offering a wide variety of delicious Chinese cuisine and delicacies. We’ll visit Yamashita-koen park, a seaside park located along the seashore and was once a former 19th-century foreign residential area. Dinner will be provided for you tonight at the hotel.
Accommodations at YOKOHAMA BAY SHERATON or similar
Thursday, November 4, 2010 (Day 04)
YOKOHAMA - KAMAKURA - IZU PENINSULA - ATAMI ONSEN (B)(D)
We’ll travel on to Kamakura, one of the most cultural cities with numerous Buddhist temples and shrines dotted around the countryside. We’ll visit the Great Buddha (Kamakura Daibutsu), the second largest bronze statue of Amida Buddha in Japan. Weighing close to 93 tons, the Great Buddha was originally housed in a temple but the building was washed away by a tsunami in the 15th century and today sits in the open court on the grounds of Kotoku-in Temple. We’ll continue our journey south along the rugged coastline of the Pacific Ocean to Izu-Hanto, a peninsula with abundant hot springs. We’ll drive through the resort area of Atami, located in Shizuoka, the eastern gateway to the Izu Peninsula. The name Atami literally means “hot ocean” - in reference to the town’s famous hot springs. Enjoy dinner and relax in the onsen of our elegant ryokan this evening.
Accommodations at HOTEL NEW AKAO or similar
Friday, November 5 (Day 05)
ATAMI ONSEN - SHIMODA - MATSUZAKI - DOGASHIMA ONSEN (B)(D)
We’ll travel along the eastern coastline to Shimoda, a port town and fishing base located at the southern tip of the Izu Peninsula. This town is famous as the place where Townsend Harris became the first American diplomat to reside in Japan and hoisted the first American flag seen in Japan. We’ll visit Ryosen-ji, a temple famous as the site of the historic treaty signed by Commodore Perry and a representative of the Tokugawa shogunate government after the conclusion of the Kanagawa Treaty. Enjoy a stroll through Matsuzaki, a charming port city preserving a collection of 200 traditional houses with namako-kabe walls - diamond shaped tiles set in plaster concentrated on the south side of the town. We’ll enjoy a picturesque drive through the hilly countryside winding past fields and small rural townships to Dogashima located on the west side of the peninsula. Dogashima is noted for its dramatic rock formations and caves lined along the seashore caused by wave erosion. This evening, enjoy dinner and relax in the hot springs at our onsen resort.
Accommodations at DOGASHIMA NEW GINSUISO HOTEL or similar
Saturday, November 6 (Day 06)
DOGASHIMA ONSEN - SHUZENJI - SHIZUOKA (B)(D)
Our journey continues on through the Shuzenji onsen area, noted as one of the three most popular spas of the Izu Peninsula - snuggled serenely in the picturesque valley of the Katsura River. Weather permitting, we’ll enjoy several different views of Mt. Fuji as we drive north along the scenic Nishi-Izu Skyline Road. Our journey continues on to the seaport city of Shimizu situated on the innermost shore of Suruga Bay and noted for the hills of Nihondaira, affording a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. Enjoy a breathtaking view of Miho-no-Matsubara (Pine Groves of Miho) - an area located on the Miho Peninsula with a great scenic view of Mt. Fuji and the Izu Peninsula across Suruga Bay. Due to its beauty of beautiful green pine trees, it has been designated as one of the three most scenic pine groves in Japan. We’ll visit the grounds of Baienji Temple, the location of the grave site of Shimizu no Jiro-cho, a complex figure in Shizuoka city also known as ‘the Old Man of the Harbor’. During his underworld reign, one of his underlings included Omasa - a former sumo wrestler from Nagoya. Dinner will be provided for you this evening at our hotel.
Accommodations at HOTEL NIHON DAIRA or similar
Sunday, November 7 (Day 07)
SHIZUOKA - FUJINOMIYA - KOFU (B)(D)
We’ll pass by Kunozan Hill, known for the Toshogu Shrine built in honor of Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. His remains were temporarily interred on this hill before being moved to his final resting place in Nikko. We’ll continue on to view the beautiful Shira-ito-no-taki (white thread waterfalls) located on the lower slopes of Mt. Fuji just inside the Yamanashi border. Hundreds of small streams of water trickle down from the rocks in a large arch creating a vast white cascade. Enjoy a gorgeous display of begonias and a variety of other flowers in bloom at the Fuji International Flower Garden. Our drive continues on to Kofu city, capital of Yamanashi prefecture surrounded by the scenic Japan Southern Alps and the Oku-Chichibu mountain ranges. The city is the hometown of Takeda Shingen Ko, the renowned general of the civil war period and on arrival, we’ll visit the site of the Takeda Shingen Shrine. Enjoy dinner and relax in the hot springs of our onsen hotel this evening.
Accommodations at KOFU FUJIYA HOTEL or similar
Monday, November 8 (Day 08)
KOFU - MATSUMOTO - YUDANAKA ONSEN (B)(D)
After breakfast we’ll visit Mitake Shosenkyo Gorge, part of the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park and considered to be one of Japan’s most beautiful gorge with its spectacular waterfalls and various rock formations along the powerful Arakawa River. The gorge is especially beautiful when emblazed with autumn colors. We’ll continue north via Lake Suwa to Shiojiri, an area known for its production of apples and we’ll enjoy sampling some delicious apples at one of the local orchards (subject to availability). We’ll proceed to Matsumoto, a former castle town, visiting a wasabi (Japanese horseradish) farm to see the production of this root. Take some time to visit the shops offering a nice selection of wasabi products available for purchase. We’ll visit the grounds where the battles of Kawanakajima were fought in the Sengoku Period of Japan in Shinano Province between Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo province and Takeda Shingen of Kai province. The best known and severest among the five major battles was fought during the fourth battle in 1561. Dinner will be provided for you at the hotel this evening.
Accommodations at HOTEL BIYU NO YADO YUDANAKA or similar
Tuesday, November 9 (Day 09)
YUDANAKA - SUZAKA - KUSATSU ONSEN (B)(D)
After breakfast, we’ll visit Garyu Park to enjoy a beautiful display of chrysanthemums. We’ll continue our journey to Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma Prefecture - a famous tourist destination in Japan and one of the most popular hot spring resort among the Japanese. Blessed with the ambience of the hot spring resort area and large volumes of superior quality natural spring water with therapeutic benefits are some of the reasons for its popularity. We will visit Saino-Kawara Rotenburo - a natural outdoor hot spring area where hot spring water bubbles to the surface from the earth. Enjoy the yumomi-odori where dancers portray the bathhouse staff while stirring the onsen waters with long wooden paddles. Dinner will be provided for you at our onsen hotel this evening.
Accommodations at HOTEL VILLAGE or similar
Wednesday, November 10 (Day 10)
KUSATSU ONSEN - NUMATA - NIKKO - KINUGAWA (B)(D)
This morning we’ll depart for Nikko, a small city located at the entrance to Nikko National Park and noted as one of Japan’s major tourist attraction due to its scenic landscape with mountains, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs and wild monkeys. Weather permitting, we’ll make a photo stop to view the Fukiwari Waterfall en route to Nikko. Nikko is most famous for Toshogu Shrine, Japan’s most lavishly decorated shrine complex and mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This shrine complex consists of many Shinto and Buddhist buildings set in a beautiful forest and a huge stone torii (Shinto shrine entrance gate) marks the entrance to the shrine. We’ll continue on to spend the evening at our elegant onsen hotel. Dinner will be provided for you tonight.
Accommodations at KINUGAWA ASAYA HOTEL or similar
Thursday, November 11 (Day 11)
KINUGAWA ONSEN - ASAKUSA - TOKYO (B)
This morning after breakfast, we’ll depart for the exciting metropolitan city of Tokyo via the Tohoku Expressway to spend the night. On arrival in Tokyo, we’ll pass through Ginza, a world-renowned entertainment and shopping district and make a stop at Tsukiji Market, a busy marketplace to shop for fresh and dried food products. Before checking into our hotel, we’ll visit Sensoji - also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple, Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple built for the goddess of Kannon. Enjoy strolling and shopping through the various shops at Nakamise-dori, a shopping street with many indoor and outdoor vendors offering traditional souvenirs and local snacks located adjacent to the temple. We’ll visit Sengakuji, a small Soto Zen Buddhist temple famous for its graveyard where the ‘47 Ronin’ (also known as Akoroshi, the masterless samurai from Ako) are buried. The story of the 47 loyal ronin remains one of the most popular historical stories in Japan. Dinner will be on your own this evening.
Accommodations at SHINAGAWA PRINCE HOTEL or similar
Friday, November 12 (Day 12)
TOKYO - NARITA TO HONOLULU (B)
Enjoy your last breakfast in Japan before making preparations to return home. The morning will be free to do some last minute shopping and packing or just relaxing around the hotel. In the afternoon, we will transfer to Narita International Airport for our evening flight to Honolulu, arriving on the same day due to the crossing of the International Dateline. A late meal will be served on board the flight.