Designing Your Amazing Itinerary

We put a lot of energy into each and every trip we arrange, so it does take some time. We arrange only customized, private itineraries and limit how many itineraries we are working on any one time. Please note that we do not arrange group departures that individuals can join, but only complete, customized packages where we arrange accommodations, transportation, local guides, and certain meals.

If you are traveling 6 months or more (four months minimum) from now for more than 8 days in country, we may be a great fit for you! If you are a word-of-mouth traveler, please do let us know. Please read below before using our contact us page to initially connect.

How the Process Works

When you first contact us, you’ll receive some informational emails about Japan and the best ways to begin planning your trip. We aim to send you a personalized response as quickly as possible (usually within two weeks). If we are a good fit for you, then we will plan a time to begin working with you on your full route. And, it’s during this time that we’ll send you details on our nonrefundable Itinerary Design Deposit ($500 total – not per person) that allows us to give you and your itinerary our full energy and focus. If you book with us, this deposit is applied to your trip cost. If you decide to not book with us, you will have received a well-designed route that you can use independently or elsewhere.

If you are a travel agent, please note that we are not looking for any new partnerships at this time. If you run an amazing outbound tour company and arrange FIT or small-group adventures at least ten months or more in advance, please do send us an email.

A Note on Pricing

Our trips are focused on high-quality, inspiring experiences and interactions in Japan. Our trips tend to be priced above other operators and there are several factors for this. Not only do we limit the amount of itineraries we work on at any one time, we limit the number of trips we run per month. This means that each trip rightly receives the focus, attention, and superb implementation it deserves. We believe in paying our team a “thriving” wage (even more than a living wage). Most of our team members not only work with us, but have started their own projects and they (and their families) are thriving. We believe that we set the standard in service and experiential tourism in Japan, so we charge fairly for our expertise and the expertise of our team.

While we do not charge “per day” on our trips, the average cost can be broken down and thought about in this way. Our mid-level trips run $400-600 per person per day. Our deluxe trips run US $700-900 per person per day. And, our luxury trips can run US $1000 or more per person per day. Most of the time, we are able to balance the pricing out to meet various needs in these ranges. Please note that we do not offer itemized cost breakdowns.