Thank you for choosing our Around Japan in a Half Day Tour on May 17. We welcomed 7 guests from Canada, USA and Australia. I hope you all enjoyed the tour and had interesting conversations with us. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached to remember the good times we had.
Japan has four large islands and 47 prefectures. Routes such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Takayama are frequently chosen as destinations. However, Japan has so many other tourist attractions.
The New York Times has selected “52 places to go in 2025” from all over the world. And two were chosen from Japan. One is Osaka, where the World Exposition is held, and the other is Toyama. In our tour we visit Toyama so called “antenna store” which promote the attractions of the prefecture.
The New York Times chose Toyama because travelers can enjoy cultural experiences and delicious food while avoiding crowds.
Toyama is not a major tourist destination, although it is adjacent to popular tourist spots Takayama and Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture, Matsumoto and Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture. However, it has tourist attractions that are no less attractive than these popular spots.
Shirakawa-go, famous for its Gassho-zukuri style of architecture known as steep thatched-roof house, is a popular spot, but also faces overtourism issue. In Toyama Prefecture, there is a village called Gokayama, which also has many gassho-zukuri houses.
One of our guide’s son visited Gokayama in early May, one of peak travel season in Japan known as Golden Week, 4 national holidays are in this week, and he was able to enjoy the traditional Japanese style atmosphere without feeling stressed by the crowds.
In addition to Toyama, this Around Japan tour visit Nagasaki and Fukushima Prefecture’s stores. We believe that visitors will be able to feel a part of Japan’s charms that they are not able to feel on the major destinations. One of the guests who participated in the tour said, “I might try to visit Fukushima on a one-day trip” You may encounter a chance to find Japanese trip destination only for you.
Posted by Naoki
