A 14-Day Luxury Japan Itinerary

Your driver meets you at the airport for a private transfer to your hotel in Tokyo. The first evening is deliberately unhurried — settle in, rest, and take a first gentle walk in your neighborhood. Jet lag is part of the design, not an obstacle to it.

Morning: Begin beneath the great cedar torii of Meiji Jingu, where a forest of 100,000 trees swallows the city whole — the calmest possible first encounter with Japan.

Afternoon: A private hands-on experience chosen with you before departure — a samurai initiation, a craft workshop with a Tokyo artisan, or a quiet stroll through the gardens of the Imperial Palace.

Evening: Dinner at an izakaya with your guide — the joyful, noisy heart of how Tokyo actually eats.

Morning: The Tsukiji outer market with your guide — tastings stall by stall, from tamagoyaki to the day's best tuna, and the stories of the families who have worked here for generations.

Afternoon: Asakusa, Tokyo's old town — Senso-ji through the great Kaminarimon gate, the craft shops of Nakamise, and the lanes where the shitamachi spirit survives.

Evening: Togoshi Ginza, one of Tokyo's longest shotengai shopping streets — dinner the way locals have it, far from every guidebook.

Morning: The shinkansen carries you to Kanazawa, where your private guide is waiting.

Afternoon: Kenrokuen, Japan's most renowned garden, in the heart of the city — then the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, its luminous counterpoint.

Evening: A private transfer into the hills, to a celebrated onsen ryokan about fifty minutes from town. Dinner is served at the ryokan — the first of two nights in onsen country.

Morning: Back in downtown Kanazawa, begin in the Nagamachi samurai district, where the warriors' earthen-walled homes now house small museums and shops.

Afternoon: The D.T. Suzuki Museum, a meditative space retracing the life of the local philosopher who carried Zen to the world.

Evening: Higashi Chaya, Kanazawa's traditional geisha teahouse district, before returning to your ryokan in the hills — one more night of baths and stillness.

A slow ryokan morning — one more bath before the road. Then the train to Kyoto, where your driver is waiting. In the late afternoon, when the tour groups have gone, walk the Sagano bamboo grove as the light turns green and gold.

Morning: Fushimi Inari early, before the crowds — thousands of vermilion torii climbing the sacred mountain, and the higher you walk, the more the mountain is yours.

Afternoon: A private tea ceremony in a traditional machiya — a slow hour of attention, whisk in hand, with a master who explains why every gesture matters.

Evening: Gion at lantern-light with your guide, who reads the district's quiet codes — and with luck, a geiko slipping past on her way to an engagement.

A full private day in Nara, Japan's first capital — the lattice-fronted streets of old Naramachi, the sacred deer of Nara Park bowing for crackers, the lantern-lined forest paths of Kasuga Taisha, and the Great Buddha of Todai-ji. Door to door with your guide and driver, returning to Kyoto in time for dinner.

Morning: A cooking class in a Kyoto home — market shopping first, then the knife work, the dashi, and a lunch you made yourself.

Afternoon: Return to Arashiyama for the rest of its story — temple gardens composed like paintings, the river winding beneath the hills, and the quiet lanes beyond the crowds. The evening is yours.

Morning: The shinkansen west to Hiroshima, with a half-day guided visit on arrival.

Afternoon: After lunch at a local restaurant, Shukkeien — a historic garden of miniature landscapes, tranquil ponds, and winding paths — then the Peace Park and its Memorial, retracing the city's story, with a glimpse of Hiroshima Castle along the way.

A full private day on Miyajima, the mystic island, reached by ferry with your guide. Itsukushima Shrine and its floating sacred gate, the island's temples and friendly deer, and long views across the Seto Inland Sea. Return to Hiroshima in the late afternoon.

Morning: The shinkansen to Osaka.

Midday: Dive straight into Dotonbori with a guided street food tour — takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and the neon-lit theater of Japan's kitchen.

Afternoon: Osaka Castle, symbol of Japan's feudal history, before checking in at your hotel.

Morning: A half-day guided exploration — Sumiyoshi Taisha, one of Japan's oldest shrines, then Shinsekai, the "New World" quarter built in 1912 and gloriously unchanged since.

Afternoon & evening: After lunch, the rest of the day is yours — a last stroll, a last dinner, Osaka style.

A private transfer to Kansai International Airport — with two full weeks of Japan behind you, and the certainty of knowing exactly what you will come back for.