Japan: Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Osaka
Everyone sells this route. The difference is entirely in the hours: Fushimi Inari at six-thirty, the Nishiki market before the stalls fill, Kiyomizu-dera when the school groups have gone. Nothing here is exclusive access; it is simply better sequencing than a coach can manage.
What we do hold are the introductions. A Nishijin weaver who takes two visitors at a time, a knife-maker in Sakai, and a nine-seat counter in Pontocho where the chef cooks what the Kyoto market had that morning. These are relationships, not bookings.
Rail does the moving. The Tokaido shinkansen turns Tokyo to Kyoto into two hours and ten minutes, which means no internal flights, no coach days, and luggage forwarded ahead so clients travel with a small bag.
Private transfer from Haneda, and a first evening in the lantern alleys of Yurakucho under the train tracks.
Sensoji at seven with a guide, the Kappabashi kitchenware street, and the afternoon in Yanaka, the quarter the bombing missed.
A morning in the Toyosu market, then Daikanyama and Nakameguro at a walking pace, ending with a tasting of single-cask Japanese whisky.
The Romancecar into the mountains, an afternoon at the Pola Museum, and a ryokan with private onsen baths on the room terraces.
The old Tokaido cedar avenue on foot, the lake at Motohakone, and Fuji from the Owakudani ridge if the cloud lifts.
The shinkansen west, then an afternoon walking the Philosopher’s Path from Ginkakuji down to Nanzenji.
Fushimi Inari at six-thirty before the first Osaka train, breakfast after, and a temple garden with a monk who explains what it is for.
The Nishijin weaving workshop in the morning, the Nishiki market at midday, and the nine-seat kappo counter in Pontocho at night.
South to the knife forges of Sakai, then Osaka for the kushikatsu counters of Shinsekai and the canal at Dotonbori.
A last morning in Kyoto and the limousine bus or Haruka express to Kansai for the flight home.
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