My granddaughter wants to go to Japan but she has no specific agenda in mind. At my age (gulp, 80), I think my best approach is a small group tour that is somewhat of a “classic” itinerary. History, culture, arts, food, and the gardens for me! Maybe 10 days? During summer or over Christmas break. I am looking for suggestions for a tour company, or for an agent who is located in Japan to advise me.

JTB USA offers some tours. One of them is a 9-day tour called "Japan Golden Route". Perhaps you may start browsing from there:
https://online.jtbusa.com/TourList.aspx

And there are tour companies such as Inside Japan Tours, where you may opt to do self-guided adventures:
https://www.insidejapantours.com/us/

However, I have no experience with tours from either of the companies.

The week from Christmas to New Year’s Day is is a peak domestic travel time in Japan. After that, in January, would be low season. It will be cold, snow. Deep snow in mountains. Summer is off-peak because of heat, humidity, and rain. For the three months of summer June is rainiest. August is hottest. There is a peak domestic travel time (Obon) in August to avoid.

Oh, great info. But it sounds like spring or fall are the only good times to go?? A challenge with school schedules.

Hi, MyBaggage . Traveling around a school schedule has been an issue for my family as well. Maybe during her spring break, or Thanksgiving...? Or immediately after her semester ends in May, which could be mid-May (and after Golden Week).

Well, it is just that fall and spring are the best times to go. For the weather, that is. Going anywhere at an off-peak time has its advantages, like fewer tourists and better prices

Summer break - I would not go in June because of rain, though really you can get rain any time of the year. Avoid the week of Obon in August. It will be green in summer with longer days. Parks, gardens, and the countryside would be beautiful.

Winter break - If you can go in January then you can avoid the end of year issues (places closed, transportation very busy). Snow would be in the mountains and you can admire them from afar or go into it. Deep snow in the mountains. Snow in Kanazawa would make a visit to Kenrokuen Garden even more special. It is a better time than summer for visiting hot springs in Japan - imagine a nice hot soak outside in a rotenburo with a light snow falling.

Here is some weather info for Kyoto: Kyoto, Japan Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)

For January:
- Average low temp is lowest month of the year, but it is only 30F, so not at all frigid (on average). I think that includes overnight lows, so daytime temps would often be above freezing.
- Average precipitation is only 2.2 inches, second only to December.
- Average Number of Days With Precipitation is 19. So that 2.2 inches is spread out.

For August, note that the average precip and number of days with precip are both lower that month than in April. Summer would be a good time to go north, like Hokkaido, and though lots of Japanese have the same idea there still would be fewer foreign tourists.

IDK what the Japanese relationship with air conditioning. Japan reduced their electric power generation after Fukushima and I think reduced their use of A/C. My guess is that I would find it a bit too warm indoors summer or winter.

Here is some info about the school year in Japan, though I don't think it would have much impact:
Japanese schools have three semesters, separated by vacations. At most schools, summer vacation covers the 40-odd days from July 20 to August 31; winter and spring vacation both last around 10 days, from December 26 to around January 6 and March 25 to around April 5, respectively.

On the one hand it could be fun having kids out and about during their break. On the other hand, it is fun to see the kids in their school uniforms and encountering them on the train. Like the group of little ones with their yellow floppy hats that I saw admiring the animated clock in Matsuyama.

There is a recent thread about summer travel. In case you didn't see it, here it is: Japan trip during peak summer heat? - Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (fodors.com)

Well, mrwunrful, you have provided a wealth of useful info! Thank you for your time. I think I need to find a travel agent to put it together for me.