Japan Unmasked Traveller Reviews

Traveled throughout Japan in May 2023; the tour was well-organized and a good value for the money. Our tour leader was excellent: thoughtful and attentive to individuals' needs and wants. I really felt well taken care of on the tour. It also provided a great overview of Japan, including culture and cuisine.

Inside Japan was attentive and kind enough to extend a Covid delay discount as Japan was closed to tourists for several years. They followed up regularly to inform us of any changes, and I appreciate the company being straightforward, reliable and trustworthy.

The holiday was very well organised. We had an excellent local guide who made sure we made the most of our holiday. There was never any need to worry about anything, it all just happened as promised. Meg, the guide included everyone in the group, she checked on everyones well being and provided help and support. The tour was fast paced and we packed in a lot of experiences. Never a chance to be bored. There was always the opportunity for peole to explore on their own and help was available to do this. The hotels were clean and comfortable, the breakfasts were plentiful and of a very good quality. with Japanese and western alternatives. There were 14 people on the holiday who all got on extremely well and this made it great fun. Japan is country of contrasts: crazy Tokyo, thought provoking Hiroshima , beautiful gardens and the majesty of the mountains. The Budhist guest house and sunrise Temple experience will stay with me forever. Who ever new the number of different toilets available.

Inside Japan privided an excellent service from my initial encounter at a introduction to Japan talk, to booking in April 2019 and the nightmare of Covid 10 weeks before departure. I was kept informed and given the option to cancel on many occaisions without cost. The price agreed in 2019 was never increased. The holiday went without a hitch and all I had to do was present myself in reception in a morning and my day was taken care of. I was provided with comprehensive information about the tour and places we visited. Excellent general information provided about food, customs and the language.

Having always been a solo traveller, I was apprehensive about booking a tour, even a small group one. However my granddaughter and I planned this adventure together three years ago, before Covid changed everyone's plans, and I needn't have worried! The group we travelled with was full of like-minded, interesting people, and the level of organisation by InsideJapan meant that everything ran smoothly. A special shout-out to our tour leader, Brett, whose knowledge and enthusiasm enhanced everything about the tour. So much was packed into every day of the tour that we truly felt we received value for money!

Thoughtful, well-planned small group tours with an eye to sustainability and responsible travel. I particularly appreciate InsideJapan's philosophy of supporting local, family-run accommodations and restaurants, as well as their commitment to introducing travellers to regional areas rather than only focusing on the usual tourist hot-spots.

Had a great tour of Japan visiting a variety of places both on and off the beaten track. Our tour guide was fantastic - very knowledgeable about the places we were visiting and able to really bring them to life, but also incredibly helpful in researching and booking individual experiences that people wanted, and catering to everyones interests as much as possible.

Inside Japan were amazingly helpful. I had originally booked my holiday for October 2020. Throughout covid they were great at keeping in touch with the key information on what was happening, and were incredibly flexible in rearranging my tour 3 times around covid restrictions, and then my own preferences. Once the tour finally went ahead, everything operated smoothly with my flights, airport transfer, meeting up with the group, and throughout the whole tour. I couldn't have been better looked after, and this care extends not just for the tour, but from the moment you leave your house to the moment you return.

The Japan Unmasked tour with tour operator Inside Japan was a fantastic introduction to Japan. A great mix of cities, temples, museums, gardens, palaces and castles, heritage buildings, dining experiences and accommodation in Japanese guesthouses with onsen as well as western hotels meant a huge amount to take in. The tour guide was completely enthusiastic, knowledgeable, professional and thorough, ensured everyone was well informed, and provided nice touches like wifi connection on the train journeys, and excellent recommendations for restaurants and food. A real whirlwind of an experience, I absolutely recommend it!

Inside Japan provided excellent information in advance of arriving in Japan, and a subway card to get from the airport to the first hotel - a great help after many hours of air travel. If all of the guides are as good as ours was, you can be assured you will be thoroughly looked after, with a balanced program of travel and touring, and just enough free time to discover a few treasures on your own.

Japan was everything we'd hoped for and more! We were super-impressed with the cleanliness, organisation and dynamism of the country. The food was terrific – if sometimes a little strange to us. But that's what you go for: to try something you've never done before – even naked public bathing! And this holiday with Inside Japan Tours gave us the opportunity to try as many things and we wanted

Having never visited before, we wanted a semi-organised tour – we're not fond of being ferried about full-time! – and this one was the perfect combination. We could join the tour leader when we wanted to (most of the time as it turned out) but do our own thing if we preferred to. We covered a lot of ground, but this was an excellent taster of parts of Japan that we otherwise might not have explored, as well as the main tourist hotspots. Now we can go back with confidence that we could find our way around

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I joined a small group tour on an adventure around Japan's main island of Honshu. From the bright lights of Tokyo, to the serenity of a night in temple lodgings in Nagano; from the picturesque towns of Takayama and Kurashiki to the cosmopolitan city of Hiroshima ...there was something for everyone! The tour took in the highlights of the culture, history and diversity of this fascinating country.

I booked with Inside Japan Tours (IJT), who I chose for their expertise and their interesting itineraries. IJT also organised my flights, additional nights, transfers and a street food tour in Osaka. The package was very well organised and good value for money.

An excellent way to experience Japan. Having the taste of local travel , cuisine , stay was a wonderful exposure to Japanese culture. The offbeat places added a further charm to the trip.

Excellent service , prompt response . All issues were well taken care of. Directions were absolutely clear with no confusion in travelling for the first time.

It was great, we went to large city's, small towns and everything in between, the locations were beautiful, and the food was delicious, with a lot of weird textures that was fun. I personally liked going to a place and not being able to read anything, and explore a different culture.

The tour guide was fantastic, full of energy, got along with everyone, and exited to share the history and culture of japan, he also always gave us options and different things to do, if we didn't want to do something on the itinerary, and would be happy to help us plan other things to do. He made the trip even better and made us all even happier to be there.

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We visited cities and mountains and the sea and cycled through paddy fields. We slept in a temple lodging, a Ryokan, a family guesthouse. We ate every imaginable sort of Japanese food. We bathed in natural hot springs and watched monkeys doing the same. We spotted geisha in Kyoto and marvelled at the sumo wrestlers in Tokyo. We visited gardens and temples and shrines and karaoke bars. We have fallen in love with this country.

From the first enquiry Inside Japan were helpful and responsive. The particular tour we chose was well put together to highlight many different aspects of Japan in a short time. They were happy to bespoke it for us to meet our particular interests. Our tour guide was knowledgeable, efficient, approachable and he took great care of all the group.