japan guided tours question
 

Any opionions for using a guided tour group for Japan. We were planning to go on our own but the options and planning seems like something not worth the effort vs just signing up for a tour if we like the itinerary.
We did use Trafalgar for a guided tour in Israel right before the current flareup and that worked out fine with a couple of nitpicks. i know japan is super safe vs the dangers of Israel but we are 68 and 65 and just thinking this thru a bit and wanted some opinions.
The only thing trafalgar messed up was airline reservations so we would handle that on our own if we used a tour company.
any tips, opinions or recommendations are appreciated.

If you feel the need to go with a tour, then do so … but Japan is incredibly easy to visit without a tour. Consult Japan-guide.com everything you could want to know!

Are options now a bad thing? And I am not impressed with 68 and 65. Let me know when you are really old,

You are overthinking this. Decide what kind of things you like to do and see and go for it. Don't worry about missing something great. You will. Don't worry about getting lost or confused, you will.

And if you run into a snafu, it's probably more comical than serious. Everything will be ok. If you are inclined to independent travel, Japan will not disappoint. There's so much more to discover that way.

I haven't used them but you can look at Road Scholar...? https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-...ountries=Japan

We have been on two Road Scholar trips which we really enjoyed and would highly recommend. It was nice leaving the tour details up to someone else for a change. We have not visited Japan yet but would definitely consider a Road Scholar trip there. We are usually independent travelers but enjoyed Road Scholar's educational approach, our guides, and our fellow travelers.

Thanks for the feedback
yes still on the fence because after some addtional thought I am leaning toward just going on our own and setting up day guides as needed.
as everyone knows there are pros and cons with a guided tour (we took one in Israel in early 2023)
let me continue to research a self guided 10 day trip in May to Tokyo and Kyoto with side trips to a few places and i will post here again.

Your ages don’t matter much but your ability to walk does.

Try Looking at Inside Japan Tours.

Another option is to decide where you most want to go. Japan is a very diverse country, and you probably will not want to do too many things your first time there. Once you decide, you can go ahead and book your flights, and plan to pick up tours or guides once you get there. For example, in Kyoto we got a certified driver/guide who spoke English very well, helped us customize our tour ahead of time, and worked with out timetable and energy level. In Kanazawa and Hakodate we used "goodwill guides", who are "civilians" who guide you for very reasonable prices. There are goodwill guide associations throughout Japan.

So first things, first. Do a little research and decide where you want to go. Try Japan Guide to start (japan-guide.com). I would think you'd want to go to Tokyo your first time there and see the capitol city. You can go by fast train (shinkansen) to Osaka (the second largest city) and Kyoto (the old capitol). There are areas around all three cities that you can see on day trips. Once you narrow down your destinations, we can help you with the details.

I've been to Tokyo three times and I love it there. But it is definitely not for everyone. And it is not a typical capital (correct spelling) city. It is not historically the capital. It is a throbbing, super-crowded high-rise city. The historic sites of Tokyo do not compare to the beauty of those places elsewhere in Japan.

So if you are torn on how to spend your time, I would say it depends on your interests.

Basically still trying to nail down travel dates, since we want to use premium economy using money I am trying to get the lowest fare which seems to be about $2200 pp for nonstop from EWR.
i am reading on blogs its not optimal to visit Japan late April thru first week in May due to lots of Japanese traveling during the holiday period.
would you avoid that time period and try for 4/7-4/17 or 5/7 - 5/17?
we will be traveling via train on our own but will plan to hire guides for a day or 2 in each of the 2 or 3 cities we will stay (Tokyo, Kyoto, possible Osaka)

Assuming you would catch at most the tail end of sakura if you go in April (a guess, as it's too soon for reliable forecasts), I'd opt for May. JMO.

burta mentioned Japan's "goodwill guides." They are a bit catch-as-catch-can, but can be excellent. Here's some info: https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/tic-guide-services/ Remember: Do NOT tip guides, or anyone else, in Japan!

>> would you avoid that time period
Yes, I would definitely avoid Golden week Tue, Apr 29, 2025 – Mon, May 5, 2025

Otherwise, April/May would be good. You could attend Miyako Odori in Gion, Kyoto in April or the grand sumo tournament in Tokyo in May. The Pontocho hanamachi in Kyoto has Kamogawa Odori in May. Both months are in baseball season.

You should see cherry blossoms in Shinjuku Gyoen in April because of their tree varieties. Shinjuku Gyoen - Tokyo Travel

Japan is big on festivals. Check the calendar to see what/when to attend/avoid. Japanese Festivals (Matsuri)


japan-guide.com - Japan Travel and Living Guide

Golden Week 2025 essentially begins on April 26 (the Saturday beforehand) and officially will go until May 6th because May 4th is on Sunday, so the holidays get bumped further ahead an extra day in observance.

Used Guides
 

My husband and I are a little older than you. Four weeks ago, we returned from our first trip to Japan, visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka. I am used to subways and big cities. I would have been lost in Tokyo without a guide. We had a very efficient, enjoyable 10-day visit.

Kyoto would have been a little easier without a guide. There are taxis at every tourist site. my two cents.

i loved flying JAL. I watched a lot of you tubes which helped. any way you choose to go, you will have a great time.

Good, thanks.

did you travel as a group with a guided tour or did you hire local guides for a day or 2 at each city you stayed at? We did the local guides in 2018 for our first day in Bejing and our first day in Hong and it worked out fine, we did the group tour for the entire trip in Israel in 2023 (few months before the latest flareup)....both have pros and cons but we prefer to be on our own if its a safe place....japan is way safer than most.

We traveled immediately after Golden Week earlier this year and found it to be a good time to go. Re tours, except for one day, we did everything on our own (ages 72 and 64) and it was pretty easy. However, we did spend one day with a couple from Kyoto that were friends of a friend and they took us to some fantastic places off the normal tourist track. Given the hordes of tourists in Kyoto it was great to see see gardens and temples that we basically had to ourselves.

Oh please tell us about those places. That sounds like my kind of experience!

In terms of where the local couple took us, I can't claim these places are top secret or anything, but only one of them was on our pre-trip list to visit. The temples that we visited (and I hope I'm getting the spelling correct) were Ryogen-in, Daitkoku-ji, Daikaku-ji and Tenru-ji, with this last one being the only one with more than a handful of people visiting. We also went to Imamiya-jinja Shrine (our host said it was to talk to god), which was next to a 400-year-old tea house, where we sheltered from the rain drinking tea and eating grilled mochi. Lastly, we also went to Okochi Sanso Gardens, which you get to via the Bamboo Grove. While the Bamboo Grove is swamped with tourists, we found the Gardens to be a beautiful and peaceful experience.

Others on this forum know far more about Japan and Kyoto than me. But I was just trying to make the point that 1) touring by yourself is not difficult but 2) using a local guide allowed us to see places we were unlikely to find on our own. Plus, the couple were very nice and had us over for dinner that evening!

Gosh, I hope these temples don't end up getting overrun! I'd be tempted to ask the moderators to remove the post, or to edit it to remove the names of these particular temples.

Sounds to me like you made the most of your experience in Kyoto and that you made a personal connection. That is always a deeply rewarding way to travel.

We just returned
 

My husband and I are in our early 70s and just returned from a month in Japan. We used InsideJapanTours to help put our trip together and I can highly recommend them. They made all the hotel and train reservations, provided us with a lot of detailed information and arranged full day private guides for us in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nikko and Kanazawa. The also arranged some food tours in Tokyo and Osaka and Takayama. We were very happy with the guides, the hotels and the itinerary they put together. They were excellent to deal with.

japan trip update
 

after a couple of scheduling changes and some back and forth we have booked with trafalgar (5% repeat customer discount) thru costco (add'l 10% discount) for Nov 2025 for the their classic japan tour (10 nights), we would have preferred Oct but those 2 dates were sold out. We are told by the costco rep this particular tour is all travel by train with very little bus travel but who knows. 28 people max, Still have to work out our plane tix which we will book ourselves and will probably need an extra night at the start of the trip to rest up after travel. will post a trip report afterwards. thanks to all for your comments & suggestions.

Which day in November does your tour start?

I see a 10-day, 11-night classic tour at their website: Classic Japan Tour 2024 | Flexible Bookings | Trafalgar US

Is your tour like that one? The inter-city travel is by bullet train but a lot (maybe most) of the lolcal travel will by coach. The Day 3 for Fuji and Owakudani is almost certainly a bus tour from Tokyo. Probably same for Arashiyama visit from Kyoto. The Osaka visit starts with an "orientation drive".

The hotels look good. One is a Sheraton and another is New Otani.

November is better than October (probably) for fall colors. Definitely a good idea to spend two nights in Tokyo before Day 1 of the tour.

the tour starts nov 7 - yes i figured there would be plenty of bus rides within cities so i take what a travel agent says with a large grain of salt. We prefer buses to non-stop walkng because at our age (late 60's) we need to rest when we can.

i did look at each of the hotels mentioned in the itineray and i agree on tripadvisor they all are rated fairly high,

we will plan to stay in Tokyo 1 day early to prep for the tour, but still need to book flights and see if its worth splurging for premium economy non-stop from NYC or Newark.

If you can manage premium economy, you’ll be much happier than refular coach! That is a long trip and, IMO, any way you can make it feel a little more comfortable will make your arrival and travel experience much better.

The past few years I have been flying ANA from JFK to Tokyo and they sometimes offer a chance to bid for a premium economy seat. Twice I won my bid - the cheapest suggested price - around $250, I think. It was quite a bit more comfy than the economy seat plus the lounge access at the airport....For my next trip in March 2025 I decided to buy the PE seat on the way there.