Destination Japan – Expect More Out of Tours

What They Got

Destination Japan recently completed a successful tour this past September. With a sizable group and a fever for Japanese culture and experiences, Destination Japan stormed through Tokyo taking in all the sites and sounds our brains could handle in a week. The tour’s intrepid group was unfazed by Tokyo’s summer humidity, and hit the ground running as soon as we landed at the airport in Narita.

Spanning just under a full week, the tour took participants from all corners of the US to the metropolis of Tokyo, through its many busy stations, its streets lined with shops lit up bright, and its sites deeply rooted in culture and tradition. The tour had participants from Colorado, Washington, Florida, New York, and several other areas, all of them convening at Los Angeles International Airport to embark on our assault of Japan, and the unsuspecting country had no idea what hit it!

Taking Japan by storm, Destination Japan’s September tour (titled “Tokyo Summer Maximum”) took participants to must-see sites like Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple, Tokyo Tower, and the Meiji Shrine, and took special shopping excursions to popular areas like Harajuku, Shibuya, and the renowned Akihabara. Also on the agenda was an experience you wouldn’t ever find on other tours: a special Ninja training session with real ninjutsu masters! How often do you get to dress up as ninja and duke it out with swords? The main course of the tour, however, was the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba prefecture’s Makuhari Messe. Being the world’s biggest video game convention, we had nothing short of an amazing time. Destination Japan has its finger firmly on the pulse of Japanese pop culture, and knew that this event was something that shouldn’t be missed.

What’s the point of telling you all of this? I’m getting there. What you might not be able to infer from a simple list of activities and places we visited on the tour, is that in addition to guided trips to all these places, tour participants were given freedom. This kind of freedom is the same that you would get if you were to visit Japan all on your own. When Destination Japan takes you to a new area or location, the group stops for a brief moment. Experienced, friendly guides explain a little bit about the area or location, and then give you suggestions on delicious food options, recommended shopping, et cetera, and then let go of the leash. You can still explore like you could when traveling alone, and even venture to a completely different area if you’d like. You can make friends with the group and roam around with them, or fly solo and discover things on your own.

To further emphasize the freedom at your hands when on a Destination Japan tour, it should be noted that on top of tour activities, you get a whole free day to do with whatever you wish. Coupled with the fact that friendly, experienced guides are on hand and willing to go the extra mile to help you find whatever you might be looking for, to that one obscure shop you heard about on the internet, this is an advantage that you won’t have traveling by yourself.

So what did participants get on the Tokyo Summer Maximum tour? Visits to traditional and modern sites of Japanese pop and traditional culture, a whole free day go wherever and do whatever you like, friends with like-minded travelers with similar interests, and the freedom to explore on your own as you would had you visited Japan by yourself. And that’s all without the hassle of planning hotels and flights! Looking at what you get on a tour with Destination Japan, and then considering that it’s all offered at an extremely affordable price, there really is nothing holding you back from finally visiting the real Japan like you’ve been hoping to for so long.

Destination Japan will be running tours seasonally throughout 2008 and on, starting with its next tour in February, and already has tours planned for March and April as well. For more information on upcoming tours and travel experiences in Japan, visit their website at www.destination-japan.com.

Don’t Hope For It, Expect It
Some of you may have taken tours to other countries before. Many of us have. I think we can all relate to some of the apprehension we have when we choose to travel with a tour group, rather than on our own. What if the rest of the group is no fun? What if the guides are lame? I hope I have enough time to go (here) and (here). I hope I can find a place that sells (this) or (that)!

It’s always up in the air with a normal tour service. There are more than likely a couple days with one or two activities that you’re just not interested in at all, but the majority of the tour’s itinerary looks reasonably interesting. But you’re spending so much money to travel, why should you have to waste so much of your time stuck doing things that you wouldn’t choose to do on your own?

In an answer to this sentiment, H.I.S. International Tours started Destination Japan to provide package tours to Japan that have interesting activities and sightseeing – taking you to places you wouldn’t want to miss – but retaining that option of freedom. Not only will you be able to go on a tour with a group of like-minded, adventure-seeking participants that won’t hold you down, but you’ll also have the freedom that you would if you were traveling alone with the added bonus of staff to guide you only as much as you need them to.

This is standard fare for Destination Japan. What does that mean? It means that you don’t have to hope for these things on a Destination Japan tour – you can expect them.

For more information on H.I.S. International Tours’ Destination Japan and its services, please visit their website at www.destination-japan.com.


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