Private Japan tours, at Luxury Japan Travel, run on two paths: a Custom Tour of Japan, planned, organised and run by the company for one party alone, and an Expert Japan Itinerary, a written plan for a traveller who wants Luxury Japan Travel's own planning but intends to travel independently. Both are set out below, with the figures a proposal is built from.
the difference
An operator, not a reseller
Luxury Japan Travel plans, organises and runs every tour of Japan, from Kyoto. It does not sell another operator's departure under its own name, and it does not hand a party to a new local guide in each city, the pattern of a reseller working through ground agents it does not employ. A Tour Director travels every mile of a Custom Tour of Japan beside the party who booked it, present from the first morning to the last.
the custom tour
The Custom Tour of Japan
A Custom Tour of Japan is built around one party, on the party's own dates, for five nights or more, with no ceiling on party size. It begins with the Journey form, followed by a discovery call on which the design of the tour, and the curation fee that opens it, are discussed. The curation fee is $1,500, credited in full toward the tour. The tour's price is a floor, per person, per day, because a private vehicle, a driver and a Tour Director cost the party the same whether two people travel or eight: from $3,500 per person per day for two guests, from $2,750 for three or four guests, and from $2,000 for five or more guests. A traveller planning alone is asked to say so; the proposal that follows states the figure built for one.
Above the floor, the price is built from what a party chooses: a session of kintsugi, a Niseko chalet with a private guide, a whisky distillery, the Inland Sea by private yacht. None of it is priced into a published day rate; each element is priced into the proposal that follows the discovery call, built for that itinerary alone.
the written plan
The Expert Japan Itinerary
An Expert Japan Itinerary suits a traveller who wants the route planned by Luxury Japan Travel, then wants to travel it on their own terms, without a Tour Director on the ground. It is a written itinerary, delivered in seven working days: $550 for a journey of ten days or fewer, $825 for eleven to fifteen days, with one revision included and further revisions at $110 each. Fifteen days is its ceiling; a longer journey belongs to a Custom Tour of Japan instead. A traveller who receives an Expert Japan Itinerary and later decides they would rather have Luxury Japan Travel arrange and run the journey can commission a Custom Tour of Japan, and what they paid for the itinerary is credited against it at that point.
how it begins
How a Custom Tour of Japan begins
A party ready to begin starts at the Journey form, stating dates, party size and the shape of the journey in mind. A discovery call follows, and the curation fee opens the design, credited in full toward the tour. From there, the tour is built to the party's own choices, at the floor and above, and the proposal carries the final figure.
choosing
Which path fits
A traveller who wants Japan run for them, a Tour Director present every day and every decision made on their behalf, wants a Custom Tour of Japan. A traveller who wants Luxury Japan Travel's own planning and route, then wants to travel independently, wants an Expert Japan Itinerary. Both begin at the same place: a conversation about the journey, not a form that assumes the answer.