Japan Journeys Reviews 30

James and the team were able to accommodate all the requests on our wish list. All the bookings and suggestions that they made were spot on, resulting in a fantastic and magical trip. Thank you Japanese Journeys!

Hi I have just returned from the Kokofu 26 Bonsai tour organised by James. I have to praise the company and James for a absolute tremendous 12 days. A special thank you to our guide Corrina for her non stop energy her knowledge of Japan and her amazing perseverance in putting up with a very disparate group and her herding ability with 15 people trying their best to get lost. Thanks Corrina and James I have no hesitation in recommending Japan journeys and hopefully I will return to Japan. Patrick

We've just returned from a 3 week trip and would highly recommend Japan Journeys. They were sensitive to our needs with great personal service and organising our tour accordingly. Their communication was excellent when issues arose with one of the hotels before we left. The location and quality of the hotels was excellent and the supplied guides were wonderful. Their itinerary was spot on giving us everything we wanted and the quality of the information that they supplied was excellent - not just the directions to the hotels but the suggestions of sites to visit with relevant and correct travel arrangements.

We would recommend Japan Journeys. They are lovely and efficient people. They went out of their way to accommodate unusual requests, rather than following regular tour haunts. In one case, James stayed up at night to make a booking for us when the booking window opened at a hotel on Naoshima island which has limited rooms and high demand. The guides were all well chosen. Our trip was efficiently run and fascinating.

This was our first experience with Japan Journeys, it was fantastic and we look forward to an opportunity to travel with them again. We were a party of two and had a last minute request to organise a trip. The level of personalisation, quality of the information pack, engagement from the team and importantly the provision of support when we needed it was excellent. The team were responsive, helpful and flexible to our requirements. It was a trip of a lifetime facilitated by Japan Journeys and they come highly recommended by us.

This was my first trip to Japan and I wanted to travel independently rather than doing group travel, which I did before with other tour operators to other places. I was a bit daunted though by going to a different culture and country with a different language on my own so getting the help and support to tailor my solo journey and receive all the information about the country, public transport, accommodation etc. was incredibly helpful. Thanks to all the information I've received my journey was smooth and the experiences I had there were wonderful. I appreciated how quickly my questions were answered prior to the trip and the detailed itinerary that gave me plenty of options for day trips I could choose from.

We have travelled with Japan Journeys 3 times on self-guided tours, to different locations each time, with arrival and departure from Tokyo. They've been incredibly helpful, insightful, professional and knowledgeable. For every trip, we have been given a detailed itinerary with suggestions on places to visit and guidance on navigating the transport system. Every question we've posed has been answered quickly and helpfully.

Just returned from the most fascinating trip to Japan efficiently organized by James of Japan Journeys (JJ).
What a wonderful country and people! Particularly the gardens/parks and the general tidiness.
JJ's planning, organizing and execution of all facets of the logistics was meticulous and a great credit to their organization.
Thank you for making our trip such a success!

We've just come back from our wonderful trip to Japan. Cannot fault Japan Journeys - great level of care and attention both before the holiday and during; notes on every place we visited and helpful tips for navigating the sometimes complex train system. Highly recommend this company!

This is my third visit to Japan organised by Japan Journeys. I have just returned from an incredible journey organised by James and the team at Japan Journeys.
I’m 76 and I travelled alone in completely out of the way places, visiting the Ancient Kiln Sites of Japan. I went with the support and encouragement of my lovely partner Roy: to Machico, Seto, Tamba, Echizen and Bizen - into the hills and snows of Japan - just me and GoogleTranslate. In February, I was the only foreigner there! This accomplished a long held desire made possible by the excellent - second to none - organisation and instructions created by Japan Journeys. Everything they did worked perfectly.

We have just returned from Japan, having completed the Japan Express trip. This was the most incredible family holiday we have ever been on, and we cannot thank Japan Journeys enough for all of the care that was put in to planning the perfect trip for us.
The communication with the company was excellent - all of our queries and questions were answered and the app that was provided was stuffed full of information and suggested visits.

Each hotel that we stayed in was fantastic, really well located, clean and welcoming. The hotel in Kyoto in particular was beautiful and we all loved this one the most.

We were met at the airport but the loveliest woman in Japan who provided us with our Bullet Train tickets, maps and a a whole load of helpful information to help us navigate Tokyo.

I have already recommended this company to a number of friends as I was so impressed with the service provided. This was meant to be a once in a lifetime trip, but now that we have been and loved it so much, we might be back!!

Corrina the guide kept a busy schedule and knew all about the gardens.

The Japan Journeys Quilt Tour 2024 was an all 'round great experience. Well planned with a great itinerary, good hotels, and the added bonus of a quilt expert and a fabulously knowledgeable tour leader, I couldn't have asked for more! (and I'm not even a Quilter!) We also lucked out by having a wonderful group of participants, who were generous, accommodating and had great senses of humor. In addition to the Quilt show, the hands-on workshops, the fabulous shopping and visits to important Shrines & Temples, we were lucky enough to have the rare opportunity to visit two Japanese homes. Extraordinary! Thanks to James and all at JJ for this wonderful experience!

Just returned from Japan Quilt Tour and cannot recommend this company highly enough.
The trip was full of historical and cultural experiences as well as fabric related workshops, with plenty of opportunities for fabric and other shopping.
The accommodation was excellent with plenty of places to eat nearby.
The tour guides were very well informed, knowledgeable, helpful and fun!
Thank you James and Judi for the trip of a lifetime.
How would I sum up my trip…extraordinary!

For anyone interested in the world of Japanese quilting and textile arts, this is the tour for you. Our tour leader, James, introduced us to the subtlety of Japanese culture with visits to temples and shrines, beautiful gardens, and an optional trip to Hiroshima. He was a master at “herding” all 13 of us lively crazy quilters onto the shinkansen, subways, a Tokyo train station at rush hour, without losing anyone. All done with such grace and calmness. Thank you, James! We had hands-on classes on shibori and yuzen dying techniques. After trying your hand at such delicate techniques, you get a great appreciation for the workmanship and patience that goes into making the fabrics. One of the instructors invited us into the traditional home of his mother. What a special honor it was to see the sliding doors adorned with beautiful hundred years old kimonos. Our quilting expert, Judi, gave us 3 workshops on crazy patchwork with silk kimono fabrics, boro and sashiko stitching and we all went home with hand quilting projects to complete. Thank you, Judi. I cannot wait to share our creations on our chat site. The Yokohama Quilt Festival was a highlight of the tour, seeing amazing quilts and, of course, visiting the vendors. My favorite part of the tour was visiting the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum, featuring his life’s work “Symphony of Light.” I got goosebumps and I am sure I gasped aloud as I stood in front of the first kimono. Our final day was spent visiting the home of well-known Japanese quilter, Sashiko Yoshida. What a privilege to be treated to a lunch made by Sashiko and her 11 students, and to have front row seats to a “Show and Tell” of some of their quilts. (all hand-quilted by the way!) Interspersed with these planned events, there was free time to explore and shop. We all came away with fabric treasurers bought in Kyoto and the Nippori Fabric Town in Tokyo. I highly recommend Japan Journeys “Japan Quilt Tour” to any quilt or textile art enthusiast. I have also been checking out their other tours (bonsai, ceramics, art) as they are a stellar company that places high regard on travelers’ safety, comfort, and experiences.

The Quilt Tour with Japan Journeys was an amazing experience. Everything was incredibly well planned and organised from start to finish, enabling a huge amount to be fitted into a relatively short visit. Each day brought new experiences: travelling on the iconic Bullet Train, tasting Japanese cuisine, temples and shrines and even lunching in the home of a renowned quilter. The hotels were good quality and well located. Our guides were super friendly and provided plenty of cultural, local and stitching knowledge. Being part of such a supportive group was perfect for a first-time traveller. It’s impossible to fault Japan Journeys and I highly recommend them! Looking forward to another trip with them soon.

Just returned from JJ Guided Quilt Tour 2024. Everything was perfectly planned, our Tour Guide and Quilt expert, very knowledgeable, friendly and more than helpful. I met other members of the group on zoom before we left which was very helpful, it was a mixed nationality group. The selected Hotels, were scrupulously clean and comfortable, (Japanese rooms, like the homes of the people are smaller than we are used to), and in easy reach of stations, shopping centres and restaurants.
Everything in the itinerary was paid for, and we had the honour of visiting places not usually visited by tourists. We had a WhatsApp Group whereby we could keep in touch with each other and received daily information as to our itinerary and times to meet for our tours. I had a wonderful time, saw some amazing sights and it was worth every penny. Thank you JJ.

Great service and attention to detail from Japan Journeys.
We wanted to do something outside of the standard itinerary by tagging a few extra days on. Japan Journeys could not have been more helpful with advice.
They send you an app with every necessary detail of your journey and recommend other apps to download to really make things so easy if you are going it alone.
Every little detail seems to be thought of.
All our Hotels were an excellent standard and located near to train stations which really made things simple when travelling from place to place.
Before travelling we had numerous questions and they were always quick to come back, normally within a few hours. This sort of service is always reassuring.
We recommend Japan Journeys without any hesitation.

We wanted to do one of the standard 14-day Japan itinerary tours but due to family commitments and a knee operation we needed something shorter.
The team at Japan Journeys put together a bespoke tour that covered all the main sights in just 11 days!
Their 22 page booklet was incredible and gave us a day-by-day and almost hour-by-hour timetable that missed nothing and was amazingly informative. The hotels they chose for us were perfect and at least a star better that the UK equivalent.
I could go on forever but the main thing we discovered with Japan Journeys help is that Japan isn't different - it's just better!!
So go and see Japan for yourself and with Japan Journeys help you'll be amazed how easy it can be.

We had a great trip to Japan based upon their 14 day essential Japan itinerary. The provided app is very useful both before and during the trip. They provided excellent paper leaflets and maps and handled all our questions before the trip promptly and with good grace (despite the answers generally being in the documentation they had already sent). All of the accommodation was of a good quality and well positioned close to transport hubs.
We would (and have) recommended them to friends planning to travel to Japan.