TOHOKU – Autumn Japan Photo Tour 2024

DATES

from October 16 to 27, 2024

TOUR’S HIGHLIGHTS

• Kyoto: Bamboo forest and stunning Zen and Buddhist gardens in Kyoto
• Kyoto: Temples such as Nanzenji, Kiyomizudera, and Golden Temple
• Kyoto: Fushimi Inari Shinto shrine
• Tohoku: Hot springs villages in Tohoku
• Tohoku: Buddhist temple hanged on an autumn color mountain
• Tohoku: Picturesque autumn color gorge in Tohoku
• Tohoku: Cable car over an autumn color mountain
• Tohoku: Magical swamp surrounded by autumn trees
• Tohoku: Stunning mountain stream with breathtaking nature with autumn leaves
• Tohoku: Autumn color mountain with waterfalls
• Tohoku: Breathtaking crater lake
• Tokyo: Old and New neighborhood
• Tokyo: Sumo wresting training
• Mt. Fuji

*For most of the places, we will have a private bus and driver.

*All transportation, including national flight and bullet trains, are included.

*All meals but 6 dinners are included.

ITINERARY

Day 1 // October 16: Arrival at Kyoto

We will meet at a hotel in Kyoto in the evening to make sure that everyone has arrived at Kyoto. We will have a dinner together to get to know each other. Please join us if you were not tired from your flight.

Dinner Included

Day 2 // October 17: Kyoto (Nanzen-ji, Kiyomizu Temple, and Gion)

In the morning, we will visit Kiyomizu temple, UNESCO world heritage site. We will stroll and photograph around the temple on the hill and walk down to Yasaka Shrine. We will take a cab to the neighborhood of Nanzen-ji Temple, one of the most important Buddhist Zen temples in Japan. We will have lunch there. After lunch we will visit the temple and a beautiful Japanese garden nearby. Although the autumn leaves in Kyoto are still green at this time, the vivid green Momiji, Japanese maple leaves, are just stunning. In the early evening, we will take another cab to move to Gion area, Geisha district with traditional Kyoto style wooden houses with narrow streets. If we were lucky, we could take pictures of Geisha walking to their appointments. After sunset, we will go to a photogenic Pontocho street where hundreds of restaurants and bars are lined up in a narrow alley along the river. We will go back to our hotel by taxi, but if you wish, you can stay and have dinner there and come back to our hotel later on your own. Evening free.

Breakfast and Lunch included

Bride wearing a beautiful kimono in Kyoto

Day 3 // October 18: Kyoto (Arashiyama, Ryoan-Ji, Golden Temple, and Ruriko-in)

Today, we will explore Kyoto with our private bus. We will start early in the morning to avoid the crowds of tourists in Arashiyama area where we will see and photograph famous bamboo forest and also go off the beaten path to photograph impressive temples and gardens nearby. After Arashiyama area, we will have a lunch and move to the famous Golden Temple. After photographing the glorious temple, we will move to a Buddhist traditional Japanese house, Ruriko-in, to take pictures of the photogenic Japanese room with the view of the Japanese maple trees. After Ruriko-in, we will go back to our hotel. Evening free.

Breakfast and Lunch included

Bamboo forest in Arashiyama, Kyoto. ©Akashi Photos

Day 4 // October 19: Kyoto (Fushimi Inari Shrine, Tofuku-ji) and Flight to Aomori

We start early in the morning to visit very popular Fushimi Inari Shrine. After visiting and photographing the thousands of Torii, red shrine gate, we will proceed to Tofuku-ji Temple with a beautiful peaceful Zen garden that is different from Ryoan-ji in terms of design of the garden. After the interesting zen garden we will head to Osaka International Airport to catch a flight to Aomori, Tohoku. We will have lunch in the airport. Aomori is the northern most prefecture of Honshu region, just in the south of Hokkaido. Aomori prefecture belongs to Tohoku region where we will explore from now on for the famous stunning autumn leaves. From the airport of Aomori, we will go to the city of Aomori by a shuttle van for check-in at our hotel. Evening free.

Breakfast and Lunch included

Thousands of torii, entrance gate to Shinto shrine, in Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto. ©Akashi Photos

Day 5 // October 20: Tohoku (Mt. Hakkoda)

From today, we will explore Tohoku by our private bus. In the morning, our driver will pick us up at our hotel at the city of Aomori. Today we will explore the area of Mt. Hakkoda (1600m). We will take a ropeway to climb to the top of the mountain. From the ropeway, we will see and photograph the stunning autumn landscape with red leaves. After descending from the mountain, we will have quick lunch, then we will move to Jogakura gorge that welcomes us with spectacular autumn color landscape from a bridge. After being amazed by the golden autumn color gorge, we will drive through the autumn color mountain, stopping by some photogenic spots, to a magical swamp for autumn leaves. We will stroll around and photograph the swamp. Our today’s accommodation will be a rustic Japanese style inn, famous for the hot spring with the huge 300-year-old Aomori cypress bath tab. We will enjoy the authentic Japanese hot spring bath and dinner at this ryokan.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included

Panoramic view of colorful mountain in Tohoku. ©Akashi Photos

Maple red leaves. ©Akashi Photos

Day 6 // October 21: Tohoku (Magical Swamp and Oirase Gorge)

Today we will wake up very early to capture the morning sunlight hits on the red autumn leaves of the swamp that we visited yesterday. This is the magical moments for the autumn leaves of the swamp to be lighten up by the morning light. When we are happy with the morning shots, we will go back to our hotel to have a breakfast, then we will move to Oirase Gorge, another impressive gorge for autumn color. We will photograph the beautiful autumn stream with autumn leaves from the downstream to the upstream on foot. At the most upstream, we will find a beautiful lake, the Lake Towada. From the Lake Towada, we will head to our today’s accommodation, a hidden Ryokan, with amazing hot spring bath in an autumn color valley. The ryokan has no electricity. At night only lights we have are oil lanterns and moonlight.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included

Reflection of autumn leaves in a beautiful swamp. ©Akashi Photos

Oirase gorge is the perfect scenery to practice slow speed photography. ©Akashi Photos

Day 7 // October 22: Tohoku (Autumn color mountain and Shinkansen to Sendai)

In the morning, you can take a walk around our hidden hotel to photograph beautiful autumn color trees or just take another bath. After breakfast, we will visit a mountain famous for the autumn leaves. The mountain is surrounded by a curved river and has a picturesque waterfall with autumn leaves. After we enjoy the colorful mountain, we will have lunch near Hirosaki Castle where we will visit and photograph. After photographing the Japanese samurai castle, we will go to Shin-Aomori Station to catch a bullet train bound for Sendai.  Evening free in Sendai.

Breakfast and Lunch included

Waterfalls near Hirosaki. ©Akashi Photos

Day 8 // October 23: Tohoku (Mt. Zao)

In the morning we will head to Mt. Zao. On the way to the mountain, we will see and photograph waterfalls with autumn leaves, and an impressive caldera lake in the crater of the mountain. After photographing the picturesque blue caldera lake, we will finally approach to Mt. Zao and get on a ropeway to the top of the mountain where we will have lunch. There we will see the beautiful autumn color mountain from the ropeway. After visiting the top of the Mt. Zao, we will go down and take another ropeway and lift to walk around the mountain to photograph the autumn trees, pond, and waterfall. After the short hiking, we will go down to a hot spring village of Mt. Zao to stay in a Ryokan, Japanese style inn.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included

Amazing mountain view on the way to Zao. ©Akashi Photos

Volcano caldera near Zao. ©Akashi Photos

Day 9 // October 24: Tohoku (Yamadera, gorge, Ginzan Onsen)

After breakfast in our ryokan, we will head to Yamadera, a beautiful Buddhist temple hanged on the rock. We will walk up the mountain, photographing the religious ancient atmosphere with autumn leaves. After descending from the temple, we will have lunch on the foot of Yamadera, then we will proceed to a gorge nearby to do a 2km-long walk to photograph the stunning autumn gorge. After trekking the gorge, we will head to Ginzan Onsen, an old retro hot spring village, where we will stay tonight.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included

Walk towards Yamadera Temple. ©Akashi Photos

Yamadera temple with autumn leaves. ©Akashi Photos

Day 10 // October 25: Tohoku (Naruko Gorge) and Shinkansen to Tokyo

In the morning, we will head to Naruko Gorge, one of the best autumn leaves in this region, the southern part of Tohoku. We will take a pleasant walk and pictures of astonishing autumn leaves of Naruko Gorge. After lunch in Naruko, we will drive to Sendai station where we will catch a bullet rain, Shinkansen, to Tokyo. Before we get on board, we will get a lunch box to eat on a train just like Japanese people. Once we are at Tokyo, we will check in at our hotel first, then, we will go to Odaiba area to photograph Tokyo skyline with Tokyo Bay at dusk. After our evening shooting of the capital city of Japan, we will go back to our hotel. Evening free.

Breakfast and Lunch included

Naruko Gorge. @Akashi Photos

Day 11 // October 26: Mt. Fuji

Today, we will have a day trip to Mt. Fuji from Tokyo. After breakfast, we will go to Mt. Fuji by our private bus. We will spend the whole day go around  Mt.Fuji photographing the iconic and highest mountain of Japan. If the weather permits, we will have stunning pictures of Mt. Fuji from various different perspectives. In the evening, we will go back to Tokyo.

Breakfast and Lunch included

Mount Fuji. ©Akashi Photos

Day 12 // October 27: Tokyo

Today, the last day of the tour, we will explore Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Early in the morning, we will visit a professional Sumo club to photograph the morning training session of Sumo wrestlers. After we photograph the training of Japanese national sports, We will take you to the old parts of the city, then later to the most modern parts of Japan. We will enjoy the street photography and city landscape. At night we will have a farewell dinner in the business district of Tokyo, and the tour ends here. The last night of hotel and breakfast of the following day is included.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner included

Sumo training session in Tokyo, Japan. ©Akashi Photos

View of Tokyo from a building in Roppongi Hills. @ Akashi Photos

TOHOKU

The tour we propose for this fall combines Tohoku region with a bit of cities of Kyoto, Tokyo, and Mt. Fuji.

Without any doubts, the best seasons to visit Japan are spring and fall. It is not only because of the pleasant temperatures, but also of the spectacular natural phenomenon that offers in the both seasons: cherry blossoms and autumn leaves. And Tohoku is one of the best places to enjoy them without crowded foreign tourists.

Moreover, Tohoku, a region far from the big cities and located in the northern part of the country, also gives us a chance to get to know rural and authentic Japan that we cannot find in big cities. Tohoku is surely deep Japan that welcomes us with the unique and impressive nature, hidden hot springs in the magical enclaves, and traditional handicrafts that keep alive quietly in the valleys.

Although you can easily reach some of the towns of Tohoku by bullet train from Tokyo, it is quite difficult to explore deep inside Tohoku because of the numerous mountains, rivers and volcanoes. But these are the very places where you can find real treasure of Tohoku and Japan. We will take you there.

Toru Morimoto and Tina Bagué, both professional photographers, have organized a dream trip to Tohoku to enjoy the beauty of autumn leaves in traditional villages and relaxing and healing hot springs that spread all over Tohoku. Sleeping in handpicked hotels and ryokan, enjoying Japanese authentic dinner, kaiseki, as well as delicious local food, traveling by a private bus, and visiting places off the beaten tracks are some of the elements that make this tour more special.

This photo tour to Japan is not just a trip for photographers, but also for everyone who wants to have unique and unforgettable experience.

ACCOMMODATIONS & MEALS

During our photo tour to Japan we will combine nights in ryokan with nights in western hotels. Whether they are traditional Japanese inns or western hotels, all of them are mid or mid-high class, with good reputation and selected by tour leaders from their experiences.

The rooms will be twin room (with two beds), so participants who come alone will share a room with another single participant.

The meals included are carefully selected to enjoy the varieties of Japanese food from sophisticated kaisei to homemade local food. In this tour all breakfasts, all lunches, and six dinners are included.

If anybody has allergy or food intolerance problems, or is a vegetarian, we will try to make the necessary changes in the menus when it is possible.

PRICE AND RESERVATION

• The total price of this tour is ￥960,000 (Approx. €6,000 or US$6,400) * per person in accommodations of twin rooms to share.
• To make the reservation it is necessary to make a payment of the first deposit of ￥30,000 from April 1 by the 29th of June, 2024. Payment can be made only by Paypal (We will send you a paypal link for this payment. You don’t need to have Paypal account.)
• On the 30th of June, you will pay ¥210,000 as the second deposit. (This tour has the minimum participants, so you will be notified if the tour has the minimum participants or not on the 29th of June. If the tour is not carried out due to the lack of participants, we will return the first deposit of ¥ 30,000.)
• The rest, ¥720,000, has to be paid by the 15th of September, 2024.
• All transaction fees that occur for reservation are paid by the payer of the reservation.

*The tour price is fixed in Japanese yen (￥). When you make a payment, depending on the exchange rate with your currency,  tour price in your currency will change. The approximate price in Euro and US Dollars above are calculated based on the exchange rate of the publishing day of this tour, March 24, 2024, 1 euro = 160 yen, 1 US dollar = 150 yen

The MIN. and MAX. NUMBER of PARTICIPANTS

For the trip to be carried out, there must be at least 10 participants (maximum of 12 participants) by the 30th of June, 2024. For this reason it is recommended to buy the international flights after the 30th of June, 2024. But if you buy the international flights before that date, we recommend you to buy cancelable tickets just in case that this tour will not have enough participants to carry out.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

It is mandatory to have comprehensive insurance cover for cancellation, medical expenses, personal accident, emergency evacuation, repatriation of remains, dismemberment, and accidental death. You have to give us a copy of travel insurance before the trip.

CANCELLATION

If the cancellation is made before the 30th of June, 2024, the fist deposit of 30,000 yen will be refunded in full. The total of the first and second deposits, 240,000 yen, will not be refunded at all if the cancellation is made after the 30th of June, 2024. If the cancellation is made from the 16th of September to the 1st of October, 2024, 50% of full amount, 480,000 yen will be refunded. Cancellation after the 2nd of October will not have any refund at all. Please note that this tour has this special cancellation policy of a travel agency that we work with for this tour, so the cancellation policy of our terms & conditions is not applied to this tour.

AUTUMN LEAVES

Autumnal leaves can not be guaranteed under any circumstances. Each year the trees change color on different dates. Although we always try to capture them at their best, the period in which the leaves change from green to yellow and from yellow to red varies each year depending on the temperature, rain, wind and the heat of each autumn. It is important to keep it in mind that the organizers will not have any responsibility if it is too early or too late to enjoy the autumnal landscapes during the specific dates of the trip. However, if this happens, the organizers will try to change plans to see the autumn leaves in other places.

MORE QUESTIONS

If you have more doubts about any topic related to the photo tour to Japan, send us an email to: info@akashitravel.com