Japan group vacation, a food adventure
Highlights
Tokyo | Takayama | Kanazawa | Osaka | Koya-San | Kyoto |
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
Toll free 1-866-821-6866 Calling from outside the US? rosy@responsibletravel.com
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Food Adventures
What is a small group adventure?It's a great way to travel! Whether you are traveling on your own, with a partner or with friends, a small group trip is a fantastic way to see the world. You'll travel on a fixed itinerary that has been designed to help you discover the best of region. From the known highlights, the hidden gems that you won't find in the guidebooks.
Itineraries run on set departure dates, accompanied every step of the way by an English speaking local group leader. You chose the itinerary and the date that suits you best and you book on.
Why travel on a small group adventure?
Small groups allow us to explore where larger tour groups can't. Our maximum group size of 16 travelers allows us to use local transport to get from A to B, to visit rural villages, spend time with the locals and even stay at a local home overnight, and it allows us to give our travelers genuine, real life experiences of the countries we are visiting; what you'll be doing and how you'll travel depends entirely on your chosen itinerary.
Is an adventure right for me?
The word adventure means something different to everyone, and our range of trips reflects that. Whether you want to explore local markets, visit out of the way temples and meet local people or go on an early morning safari drive searching for the 'big five', we'll have a trip for you. If you are looking for a physical challenge such trekking the Kokoda Track or summiting Kilimanjaro, we can help with that too.
So what makes a Food Adventure different?
Our focus on these trips is exploring our destination through regional specialities, eating where the locals eat, learning to cook traditional dishes and refreshing your palate with the local tipple! Our usual grass roots style of travel is still very much in evidence and you'll still get to explore a region's highlights as well as more out of the way places under the guidance of your group leader, but there will be a lot of focus on the unique flavours of the region you are visiting.
Can I book my flights with you?
Yes! We are a fully ATOL bonded tour operator meaning that we can book flights from the UK as part of your vacation package. Just ask us for a quote including flights when you make your inquiry.
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your vacation will help support conservation and local people.
As a global tour operator, we are committed to operating every one of our trips in a way that respects and benefits local people, their culture and economy, while minimising our impact on the natural environment. We travel between Tokyo and Hakone on a bullet train, which is clean and modern and has recycling facilities for paper, bottles and cans. Once there, we stay in a traditional Japanese ryokan where we truly experience the local culture. We sleep in the traditional style on a futon which is spread out on a tatami mat, dress in a yukata (traditional robe) and enjoy a traditional multi-course dinner, referred to as ‘kaiseki’. This is a highly regional and seasonal approach to dining and dishes will vary according to what is freshly available at a particular time of year.
Hakone forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, and is home to hot springs, mountains, bush walks, lakes, and breathtaking views of Mt Fuji.
As a tour company, our responsibilities don’t stop when our tours end. In 2002, we established a charitable foundation so that our passengers and staff could support grassroots community projects around the world. To date, it has donated over £2million to over 75 projects around the world which are involved with health care, education, human rights, child welfare, sustainable development, and environmental and wildlife protection. We match every donation made by passengers and pay the administration costs, so every penny that is donated goes to a good cause.
The Impacts of this Trip
We travel in small groups and wherever possible we use local transport, stay in locally-owned accommodation or homestays, eat at authentic local restaurants, support traditional artisans and small-scale businesses, and provide opportunities for travelers to interact with local people.
The maximum group size on this food-focused trip through Tokyo is 12 passengers, so we can visit small-scale restaurants, bars and markets. There are lots of opportunities to eat fresh, local, seasonal food – for example, at Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, where you’ll eat the freshest sushi breakfast imaginable. We also visit a rice wholesaler, where we learn that many locals only eat rice that is sourced from their home region, and a sake brewery to sample the quintessential Japanese beverage direct from the producer.
As well as a Responsible Travel Code of Conduct which we adhere to as a company, we expect our staff and travelers to demonstrate the principles of responsible travel and provide a number of responsible travel tips to facilitate this, for example advice on what clothing is appropriate and respectful. In Japan, where dress standards are quite conservative, we recommend modest clothing which covers the shoulders and knees particularly when visiting temples, working monasteries, holy shrines, cooking schools and ancient gardens.
As a global tour operator, we are committed to operating every one of our trips in a way that respects and benefits local people, their culture and economy, while minimising our impact on the natural environment. We travel between Tokyo and Hakone on a bullet train, which is clean and modern and has recycling facilities for paper, bottles and cans. Once there, we stay in a traditional Japanese ryokan where we truly experience the local culture. We sleep in the traditional style on a futon which is spread out on a tatami mat, dress in a yukata (traditional robe) and enjoy a traditional multi-course dinner, referred to as ‘kaiseki’. This is a highly regional and seasonal approach to dining and dishes will vary according to what is freshly available at a particular time of year.
Hakone forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, and is home to hot springs, mountains, bush walks, lakes, and breathtaking views of Mt Fuji.
As a tour company, our responsibilities don’t stop when our tours end. In 2002, we established a charitable foundation so that our passengers and staff could support grassroots community projects around the world. To date, it has donated over £2million to over 75 projects around the world which are involved with health care, education, human rights, child welfare, sustainable development, and environmental and wildlife protection. We match every donation made by passengers and pay the administration costs, so every penny that is donated goes to a good cause.
The Impacts of this Trip
We travel in small groups and wherever possible we use local transport, stay in locally-owned accommodation or homestays, eat at authentic local restaurants, support traditional artisans and small-scale businesses, and provide opportunities for travelers to interact with local people.
The maximum group size on this food-focused trip through Tokyo is 12 passengers, so we can visit small-scale restaurants, bars and markets. There are lots of opportunities to eat fresh, local, seasonal food – for example, at Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, where you’ll eat the freshest sushi breakfast imaginable. We also visit a rice wholesaler, where we learn that many locals only eat rice that is sourced from their home region, and a sake brewery to sample the quintessential Japanese beverage direct from the producer.
As well as a Responsible Travel Code of Conduct which we adhere to as a company, we expect our staff and travelers to demonstrate the principles of responsible travel and provide a number of responsible travel tips to facilitate this, for example advice on what clothing is appropriate and respectful. In Japan, where dress standards are quite conservative, we recommend modest clothing which covers the shoulders and knees particularly when visiting temples, working monasteries, holy shrines, cooking schools and ancient gardens.
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