Tall green bamboo rising on both sides of a quiet path

the expert japan itinerary

A custom Japan itinerary, planned to the day before you fly.

Which side of the train to sit for Fuji, the morning the moss garden opens its gate to you, the counter that takes a booking only through your hotel, and the day the museum is shut: every day of your journey decided and written down, with how to reserve each part. You book it and travel it at your own pace.

From $550

With you in seven working days, one revision included

Begin your itineraryRead a day from an itinerary

Journeys of up to fifteen days, across the whole of Japan

the planning

Japan is easy to visit and hard to plan well.

The trains run to the minute, and still the decisions gather. Shinkansen seats open a month ahead, at ten in the morning, Japan time. Many of the great counters in Kyoto and Tokyo take no booking online and none in English, and some take one only from a hotel concierge. Most museums close on Mondays, and the temples of Kyoto keep their own hours.

Most people give it weeks of evenings and still arrive unsure of the plan. The itinerary is a single document, with every decision made and the reason for it written beside it.

the choice

Three ways to plan it

On your own
Guidebooks, forums and booking sites, read an evening at a time, much of the best of it in Japanese, with no way to tell which advice still stands.
With an AI planner
Fast and fluent, and written from whatever is already published. It cannot know which ryokan room has the cypress bath, which counter takes a booking from abroad, or that a garden closes on the day you planned it, and it sounds equally sure either way.
With us
Planned from the journeys we arrange and run across Japan in every season, and checked against your own dates: the opening hours, the closing days, the booking windows and the trains.

a day, as written

Day five in Kyoto, from a winter itinerary

A short passage from an itinerary written for a couple returning to Japan in winter. The whole document covers every day of the journey, every booking and every train.

A traveller walking up a snow-dusted lane of wooden houses towards the lit five-storey pagoda of Higashiyama, Kyoto, at night18
The pagoda lane in snow, Higashiyama, Kyoto

Day five, Kyoto

A couple, returning, in winter

MorningBreakfast
A slow breakfast in the room, with the Yasaka pagoda rising over the roofs of Higashiyama in the winter light. The lanes beneath it are twelve minutes from your door, mapped on the facing page.
10:30The morning
A taxi to the foot of the Philosopher's Path, then the canal north on foot to Ginkaku-ji, about forty minutes at an easy pace. Inside, take the upper path through the moss for the view over the city.
12:15Lunch
Yudofu, tofu simmered at the table, in a quiet room near Nanzen-ji. Reserve it when you book your hotel, as the facing page shows, and ask for the room on the garden.
16:30Tea
A private tea ceremony for two in a sub-temple, given in English; how to reserve it is on page twenty-two. Shoes stay at the step.
18:30Dinner
Kaiseki at an eight-seat counter in Gion, the menu of the month. Your hotel's concierge reserves it from the note on the facing page; arrive five minutes early and leave scent off for the evening.
TonightTomorrow
Cases to the front desk for the courier to Kanazawa, so that you take the train with a day bag.

sample pages

From the itineraries we write

what you receive

A working document, written for you

The shape of each day
Morning to evening, in the order that works: each place set at the hour that suits it, and the afternoon kept for the places that are better late.
Where to stay
The hotels and ryokan we recommend for every night, with the room to ask for: the corner room on the garden, the one with its own cypress bath. If yours are already booked, every day is planned from their door.
Where to eat
A table for every evening and the lunch worth crossing town for, with what to order, how far ahead each one opens its book, and which ones only your hotel's concierge can reserve.
The trains
Every train, with the seat to take: travelling west from Tokyo on the Shinkansen, Fuji is on the right, so ask for seat E. Your cases go ahead by courier the day before, and you travel with a day bag.
Before you fly
What to book on the day each window opens: the Shinkansen a month ahead, the moss garden of Saiho-ji by application, the Ghibli Museum on the tenth of the month before. The way in from the airport, and the transit card and eSIM to have before you land.
The reading in
What you are looking at, and what most people walk past: the raked gravel, the borrowed view, the reason a garden faces the way it does.

how it works

From your answers to your itinerary

  1. Tell us everything

    Answer our questions online, at your own pace: your dates, who is travelling, how you like to move, eat and rest, and anything already booked. You pay at the end.

  2. We plan it

    Every day planned in full, with each booking route, train time and opening day checked against your dates.

  3. Your itinerary arrives

    By private link, in seven working days. Read it, send everything you would change in one list, and the revision is included.

the fee

From $550 for the whole itinerary

One document holds every decision you would otherwise make over weeks of evenings: the towns and their order, the rooms worth asking for, every train and a table for each night, every one of them set to your own dates.

Included
The whole itinerary
Revision
One full revision is included
Delivery
Seven working days, by private link
Length
Up to fifteen days; longer is a Custom Tour of Japan
Begin your itinerary

All prices are in US dollars.

questions

Questions before you begin

Skiing? The Japan ski itinerary is written the same way, for Niseko, Hakuba and Myoko.

What is the Expert Japan Itinerary?

A custom Japan itinerary, planned to the day and travelled by you. It sets out every day, the hotels and the room to ask for, the restaurants, every train and transfer, and how and when to reserve each one. From $550, delivered in seven working days.

Why use a Japan itinerary planner instead of planning it myself or with AI?

You can plan it yourself, and many people spend weeks of evenings doing it. An AI planner writes quickly from what is already published, but it cannot tell you which ryokan room is worth asking for, which restaurant takes a booking from abroad, or that the garden you planned for Monday is closed that day. In yours, every booking route and every timing is set to your dates.

Is it written for us, or is it a template?

It is written for you from your answers: your dates, who is travelling, your pace, what you eat and anything already booked. Two couples on the same dates receive two different itineraries.

Can you plan around hotels we have already booked?

Yes. The document is designed around them, with every day planned from the door of the hotel you chose.

What if we want changes?

One full revision is included: read the itinerary, send everything you would change in one list, and we revise it as a whole.

Do you book anything for us?

The itinerary is written for you to book and travel yourself, and every hotel, train and table comes with how to reserve it. If you would rather the whole journey were ours to run, that is the Custom Tour of Japan.

How long can the journey be?

Up to fifteen days, anywhere in Japan. A longer journey is a Custom Tour of Japan. If you ski, the Japan ski itinerary is written the same way.

Tell us how you like to travel, and we will write the rest.

From $550, with you in seven working days.

Begin your itinerary