Golden Japan Private Tour

Your Japan journey begins the moment you land at Narita or Haneda International Airport, where your private English-speaking guide will be waiting to welcome you and transfer you directly into the heart of the city.
Your first stop is Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo's oldest and most visited Buddhist sanctuary, where the scent of incense and the sound of prayer bells set the tone for everything Japan is about to show you.

Walk the length of Nakamise Shopping Street, a covered arcade filled with traditional souvenirs and local street food that has been feeding and delighting visitors for centuries, before pausing for photographs at the base of Tokyo Skytree, one of the tallest structures in the world and the defining landmark of modern Tokyo's skyline.
Check into your hotel and settle in.

Overnight: Tokyo

After breakfast, your guide leads you through a full day of Tokyo's most iconic and surprising experiences, navigating the city by public transport for an authentic local experience.
The morning opens at Toyosu Market (note: closed Wednesdays and Sundays), one of the world's largest wholesale fish markets and the successor to the legendary Tsukiji — a fascinating window into the logistical heart of Japanese food culture.

From there, you enter the world of TeamLab Planets, one of Tokyo's most extraordinary contemporary art spaces, where immersive digital installations of light, water, and color blur the line between art and experience in a way that stays with visitors long after they leave.

The afternoon takes a quieter turn at Meiji Jingu Shrine, a forested Shinto sanctuary dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, hidden inside 170 acres of woodland in the middle of one of the world's busiest cities. Then the energy shifts entirely at Shibuya Crossing — the most pedestrian-dense intersection on earth — where you will stand in the middle of thousands of people moving in every direction at once. The Hachiko Statue stands nearby, Japan's most beloved symbol of loyalty and devotion. Time permitting, explore the electric streets of Shinjuku as evening falls.

Overnight: Tokyo

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, leave your main luggage at the hotel — it will be transported directly to your Kyoto hotel, so you travel light for the rest of the day (one suitcase per person).
This morning is devoted to one of Japan's most ancient and theatrical traditions: a live Sumo Wrestling Demonstration, where a professional wrestler walks you through the history, rituals, and techniques of Japan's national sport over a shared lunch. It is the kind of access that turns a city visit into a genuine cultural encounter.
The afternoon is yours, to shop, explore a neighborhood you haven't seen yet, or simply absorb Tokyo at your own pace before tomorrow's departure.

Overnight: Tokyo

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

After breakfast, transfer to Tokyo Station and board the Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto, Japan's ancient imperial capital and the city that most closely matches the image of Japan that lives in the imagination.
Your Kyoto exploration begins immediately on arrival. The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is one of Japan's most photographed places, and deservedly so: the towering bamboo shoots create a natural cathedral that filters the light in a way no photograph fully captures.

From there, Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) stands at the edge of its reflection pond in pure, breathtaking silence, its gold-leaf exterior shimmering against the dark water and the surrounding forest. Kiyomizu-dera Temple clings to a wooded hillside above the city, its ancient wooden stage cantilevered over the treetops offering panoramic views across Kyoto and the hills beyond. If time allows, a walk through the stone-paved lanes of Gion — Kyoto's historic geisha district — as the afternoon light softens into evening is an experience that belongs to no particular century.

Overnight: Kyoto

Meals: Breakfast

A morning Shinkansen carries you west to Hiroshima for one of the most emotionally significant days of the journey.
From Hiroshima, a JR Ferry crosses to Miyajima Island, home to Itsukushima Shrine and its legendary floating torii gate, one of Japan's three most celebrated views, rising from the tidal waters of the Seto Inland Sea in a scene of extraordinary beauty. Sacred deer roam the island freely, making Miyajima feel unlike anywhere else in Japan.

Back in Hiroshima, the tone shifts to one of quiet reflection. Peace Memorial Park is one of the world's most important and moving historical sites, and the Peace Memorial Museum inside it presents the events of August 1945 with clarity and humanity that leaves no visitor unchanged. The preserved Atomic Bomb Dome stands nearby as a permanent witness, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of history's most significant surviving landmarks.
The Shinkansen returns you to Kyoto as evening settles over the city.

Overnight: Kyoto

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, the final full day in Kyoto is devoted to the cultural experiences that make this city unlike anywhere else on earth.
Fushimi Inari Taisha is one of Japan's most visually spectacular sites, ten thousand vermillion torii gates climbing the forested mountain behind the shrine in a tunnel that seems to stretch without end. The lower section alone, walkable in thirty minutes, offers the most iconic views; the full mountain trail rewards those with time and energy to spare.

Heian Shrine follows, one of Kyoto's grandest Shinto sanctuaries, before free time at Nishiki Market, a narrow, covered five-block street packed with vendors selling fresh tofu, pickles, seafood, and sweets that has been feeding the people of Kyoto since the 17th century and is still the most genuine food experience in the city.

The day concludes with its most memorable moment: a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony, performed in full kimono, in a tatami room, with a bowl of matcha prepared by hands that understand exactly what they are doing. It is one of those experiences that is impossible to fully explain before you do it and impossible to forget after.

Overnight: Kyoto

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, depart Kyoto for Nara, Japan's first permanent capital and home to one of its most extraordinary temples.
Todai-ji Temple houses the Great Bronze Buddha (Daibutsu), one of Japan's largest bronze statues, inside a hall that is itself the largest wooden structure in the world. The sacred deer of Nara wander freely through the temple grounds and the surrounding park, unbothered and entirely unafraid, making this one of the most genuinely surprising and joyful experiences in all of Japan.

From Nara, continue to Osaka for a final taste of Japan's most uninhibited, food-obsessed, and energetic city. Osaka Castle, surrounded by its moat and cherry trees, is one of Japan's defining historical landmarks. Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori deliver the sensory overload that Osaka is famous for: neon signs reflected in the canal, the smell of takoyaki from street vendors, and the unmistakable feeling that this city genuinely enjoys being alive.
Transfer to Kansai International Airport for your departure flight, carrying with you seven days in a country that has no real equivalent anywhere else on earth.

Meals: Breakfast