21 Day Treasures Of Japan With Qantas

Today embark on your exciting journey to Japan. On arrival in Tokyo, be met by your guide, after which you will be transferred to your hotel.

This morning, meet your fellow travellers and your guide in the hotel lobby for a briefing on the incredible few weeks that lay ahead here in Japan. Today is a free day to relax, or alternatively enjoy one of our bonus Inspiring Sights options to enhance your experience, as listed below.

Tonight, enjoy a welcome dinner with your guide and fellow travellers to celebrate the start of your incredible trip through Japan.

You may choose to include two optional Inspiring Sightsthroughout your tour, free as part of your package. Today you may select one of the following:

Today, your luggage will be transported ahead of you: you’ll need to pack and bring an overnight bag that you are comfortable carrying/wheeling for the next two nights.

From our hotel in Tokyo, we'll transfer to the airport by train for our flight to Sapporo. Upon arrival in Sapporo, we'll board the train for Otaru on the far Northern coast of Japan. The city is known for glassworks, music boxes and saké distilleries and houses a quaint pedestrian-friendly central area.

Today, we'll enjoy a walking tour of this port city. We'll visit the famous Otaru Canal, which is lined with old merchant houses, and visit landmarks such as the Otaru Music Box Museum and the well-preserved traditional shopping street Sakaimachi, all while learning about Otaru’s rich industrial heritage. Many of the buildings on Sakaimachi Street have converted into restaurants, cafes, and you might uncover some fine glasswear for a souvenir.

Later, we'll catch the train back to Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido, where we'll enjoy a town walk. Here we'll pay a visit to the famous Sapporo Clock Tower – built from timber in the late 1800s – the Sapporo Beer Museum and the lively Susukino entertainment district.

Leaving Sapporo this morning we board the train to the port city of Hakodate on the southern tip of Hokkaido Island. The rest of your luggage will be waiting for you upon arrival at your new hotel.

We'll enjoy a walk through the city of Hakodate and catch a glimpse of Motomachi –this Western-influenced neighbourhood was the heart of the city's foreign settlement, one of only three allowed in Japan some 150 years ago. We'll also visit Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse, a quaint shopping mall housed in a complex that dates back to the 1860s. We'll then sail the 334m up to the top of Mt Hakodate by gondola, where we can enjoy spectacular views of the city below.

Today your luggage will be transferred to Aizuwakamatsu in preparation of our arrival in a day's time. In the meantime you'll need to pack an overnight back for our time in Sendai.

Before departing Hakodate today, we'll enjoy a visit to the morning market; be sure to check out the live crabs and shellfish in their massive tanks. We then make our way to the station to board the train to Sendai, in the north of Honshu island.

Sendai is famous for the remains of its 17th-century castle, built for regional ruler Date Masamune on Aoba Hill, which overlooks the city. On arrival we enjoy a short orientation tour of the city including the central Ichibancho district.

Today we enjoy a day trip to Matsushima. It’s known for the hundreds of forested islands that dot Matsushima Bay, and is regarded as one of Japan's three most scenic views; here, we'll enjoy a cruise around the islets.

Next, we'll visit the Zuiganji Temple – one of the most famous in the Tohoku region. The Zen temple is designated as a National Treasure of Japan and was first founded in 828 CE. You will find yourself mesmerised by the exquisite artwork on the sliding screen doors in the Main Hall.

Later, we'll return to Sendai.

Today we leave Sendai for the inland town of Aizuwakamatsu, surrounded by natural and ancient beauty. In its centre, Aizuwakamatsu features a towering white castle, Tsuruga-jō, which has distinctive red-tiled roofs. The surrounding park is known for its sakura, or spring cherry blossoms; and to the east, vast Lake Inawashiro – overlooked by Mount Bandai – is home to swans come winter.

On arrival in Aizuwakamatsu enjoy free time. Alternatively, your guide can arrange a visit to Ōuchi-juku, a well-preserved Edo-period post town, famous for its thatched roof buildings (cost not included).

After breakfast we set out on a tour of Aizuwakamatsu beginning with the famous Byakkotai tomb. After the fall of the Shogunate in 1867, forces still loyal to the shogun were attempting to resist the new government, but suffered a decisive defeat. A group of young Aizu soldiers in a unit called the Byakkotai (White Tiger Corps) saw their castle engulfed in flames and took their own lives instead of surrendering. The story of their loyalty and devotion has become well known, and numerous movie and manga adaptations have been made of their tale. Before leaving we visit the Sazaedo Pagoda, followed by Tsuruga Castle, constructed in 1384.

Today your luggage will be transferred to Osaka in preparation of our arrival in two days' time. Pack an overnight back for our time in Kanazawa.

Today’s bullet train ride, or Shinkansen, takes us right across the width of Japan. During World War II, Kanazawa was Japan's second largest city (after Kyoto) to escape destruction by air raids. Consequently, parts of the old castle town, such as the Nagamachi samurai district and chaya (a historic entertainment district with teahouses where geisha perform) have survived.

Upon arrival in Kanazawa, the rest of the day is yours to spend as you please.

This morning we'll visit Kenrokuen Garden – one of the most beautiful in all of Japan. Developed over the course of more than 200 years, starting in 1620, the garden contains almost 9000 trees and 200 plant species. We'll also enjoy a walking tour of Omicho Market – Kanazawa's largest fresh food market since the Edo Period. Today, it is a busy and colourful network of covered streets lined with some 200 shops and stalls. We finish our sightseeing with a visit to the Higashi Chaya District, which is famous for it’s well-preserved wooden teahouses.

Leaving Kanazawa, we board a new type of train today, the Thunderbird. The train passes through the picturesque Japanese Alps on its way south to Osaka.

On arrival in Osaka we'll enjoy a walking tour of the Dōtonbori area. One of the city's most popular tourist destinations, Dōtonbori Street runs parallel to the eponymous canal – a popular shopping and entertainment district and an area famed for its street food and plentiful restaurants. At night the streets here are illuminated by hundreds of colourful neon lights and mechanised signs, including the famous running Glico Man sign and the Kani Doraku crab sign.

We'll also pay a visit to the Kuromon Market where your guide will show you some local delicacies and make recommendations for those wishing to taste some local snacks.

Today your luggage will be transferred to Hiroshima in preparation of our arrival in two days' time. Please pack an overnight bag in preparation for our time in Kōyasan.

After leaving Osaka, we'll make our way to one of the most spiritual locations in all of Japan, which is also the centre of Shingon Buddhism – an important Buddhist sect that was introduced to Japan in 805 CE by Kōbō-Daishi, also known as Kūkai. A small, secluded temple town has developed around the sect's headquarters that Kōbō-Daishi built on Mount Kōya's wooded mountaintop. It is here that we'll experience an Inspiring Stay at a temple lodging (shukubō) where you can get a taste of a monk's lifestyle, eating vegetarian monk's cuisine (shōjin ryōri), sleeping on futons laid on the Tatami floor, and attending the morning prayers. Upon arrival, we'll take a walk to Okunoin Temple, one of the holiest locations in Japan; it's said to be Japan's largest cemetery with memorials and monuments to more than 200,000 souls.

Leaving sacred Kōyasan behind, we'll make our way along the coast of Honshu to Hiroshima. En route, we'll stop at Himeji Castle, the largest surviving example of a traditional Japanese castle. Comprising 83 buildings, the white roof of this UNESCO-registered complex is said to evoke the wings of a heron taking flight, hence the popular name ‘Shirasagi-jō’, meaning White Heron Castle. Himeji Castle is said to be the most visited in Japan, and the site offers some wonderful views of surrounding Himeji city.

Next we'll continue on to Hiroshima, a modern city on Japan’s Honshu Island, which was largely destroyed by an atomic bomb during World War II. Today, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park commemorates the 1945 event.

The rest of the day is yours to begin exploring this peaceful city.

After breakfast your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby. We'll board a ferry for the short trip to Miyajima Island. Known for its lush forests, ancient temples, and freely roaming sika deer, this island is just as popular with Japanese tourists as it is with international visitors. Just offshore we'll spy a 'floating' vermillion torii, which becomes partially submerged at high tide. It marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, which was first built in the 12th century.

We'll return to Hiroshima this afternoon to pay a visit to the ruins of Genbaku Dome, once the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and one of the few buildings that was left standing near ground zero. This shell of a building was one of very few left standing after the United States bombed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, claiming the lives of some 140,000 people. In Hiroshima today, locals have mixed feelings about the UNESCO World Heritage-listed structure: some see it as a reminder of war, while others consider it a tribute to the lost that ensures we'll never forget the tragic events that took place here.

Next we'll visit the nearby Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The flame in the cenotaph is intended to burn until the last nuclear weapon has been destroyed.

This morning our luggage will be transferred to Kyoto to meet us the following day. We then travel to Kyoto, which is considered by many to be the jewel in Japan’s crown and one of the only cities in the country to escape destruction during the World War II, leaving it’s countless relics intact.

Upon arrival, we'll explore the Higashiyama District. Situated along the lower slopes of Kyoto's eastern mountains, this is one of the city's best preserved historic districts and a great place to experience traditional old Kyoto, particularly between Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Yasaka Shrine, where the narrow lanes, wooden buildings and traditional merchant shops invoke a feeling of the old capital.

Next we'll wander the streets of Gion, Kyoto's most famous geisha district. With any luck we might spot a geisha, otherwise known as a geiko or maiko, during our time here.

Today we visit some of Kyoto’s most iconic sights, including Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. This is a Zen temple and a UNESCO World Heritage site with two floors covered entirely in thin layers of pure gold. It's all set within a beautiful classical Zen garden. We'll also take in breathtaking Nijō Castle. Constructed in the 17th century under the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nijō Castle's buildings are arguably the best surviving examples of castle palace architecture of Japan's feudal era, and as such it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. And finally we'll visit Ryōan-ji, the site of Japan's most famous rock garden, before finishing at Nishiki Market, a five-block long shopping street where everything from seafood to handmade Japanese knives are sold.

Today is free to spend at your leisure: relax or enjoy one of our bonus Inspiring Sights to enhance your experience. Tonight, your luggage will be transferred to Tokyo for our arrival tomorrow.

You may choose to include two optional Inspiring Sightsthroughout your tour, free as part of your package.

Today is free to spend at your leisure: relax or enjoy one of our bonus Inspiring Sights to enhance your experience, listed below.

This afternoon we board our train to Tokyo. On the way we might even be lucky enough to glimpse Mt Fuji. Make sure to get a seat on the left-hand side for your best chance of spotting this sacred sight. Tonight, we'll enjoy a farewell dinner with the group and guide to celebrate your time in Japan.

Today your guide will accompany you to the airport by train to farewell you. We hope you have enjoy your journey through Japan.

Meals: Breakfast

Arrive home today.