Hidden Japan vacation

Planet

Hidden Japan is built around places many visitors miss. Mount Koya sits in the forested highlands of Wakayama -a monastic center active for over 1,200 years, where you stay overnight and rise early for morning prayers. Naoshima is a short ferry from Takamatsu, an island where the art is in homes, shrines and unexpected corners. Joge is a rural town in Hiroshima prefecture where stopping for the day still feels like an event.


Getting there is part of it. Shinkansen between the major stops, local trains across Shikoku, ferries across the Seto Inland Sea, a private bus into the Iya Valley. The transport changes with the landscape. The route spreads time and attention beyond the usual pressure points.


Behind the scenes, every booking feeds the Impact Fund, backing long-term nature and community work linked to where we operate. We track and report where it goes.

People

Travel is as much about people as it is about place. Because it’s local knowledge, daily routines and sheer enthusiasm for culture that unlock a deeper level of meaning when you're visiting somewhere new. And on this tour, you’ll have a chance to connect with some truly interesting people.

We visit Mt Koya, where we link up with a local Japanese guide who knows the area inside out. They’ll offer their own insight and angle on Buddhism, Japanese culture and history, answering any questions you may have.

Throughout your Shikoku journey, you’ll experience local art and traditions first-hand. In Tokushima, you’ll watch (and join in!) with the traditional, energetic and lively Awa Odori festival dancers. It’s a 400-year-old tradition that certainly hasn’t grown old.

In Takamatsu you’ll see authentic bunraku, a refined puppet theatre that counts as one of the big Japanese arts next to noh and kabuki. Attending these local performances will help keep these traditional arts alive, and pass this heritage on to future generations.