Sapporo snow festival vacation in Japan

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

This trip travels by public transport as far as possible, making use of Japan's wonderful train network to travel quickly and efficiently across the country alongside the locals. In the cities and towns visited we make use of the local buses and metro networks to get around, as well as conducting visits on foot to sites of interest. The included 1hr cruise to see the ice is a shared service. We choose hotels well-located for public transport links as well as visitor satisfaction, often enabling us to walk from the hotel to local transport links or places of interest. There is one internal flight between Tokyo and Abashiri that we have chosen to keep as the alternative would mean adding days into the itinerary and therefore producing more carbon overall. There is a flight between Hakodate and Kyoto but we have chosen to travel across a scenic and wintry Japan by bullet train for this journey instead.

All breakfasts and five dinners are included on this trip. UNESCO have recognised Japan's cuisine as an integral and vital part of Japanese culture and the food is often a highlight for visitors interested in different cuisines. Our included meals will try to highlight the diversity and amazing quality of local cuisine. Japanese food is generally based on quality ingredients that are both regional and seasonal, therefore minimising the carbon impact and helping local producers, farmers and fishing.

As a travel company we are acutely aware of our impact on the environment. All of our tours display a carbon footprint, and we strive to reduce our emissions by regularly reviewing our tours and embracing low-impact styles of travel such as trains, public buses or walking – which offer the added benefit of getting a closer connection with the destination and local community.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

Single use plastic is an issue in Japan, so we try to help avoid adding to this problem. Japanese tap water is perfectly safe to drink and we encourage clients, through our Tour Leaders and tour literature, to refill their bottles as they travel around the country thus minimising plastic waste. We advise our clients to bring a bag of sorts to use when shopping in order to avoid using plastic bags in country. We also advise to bring a bag for rubbish as litter bins are surprising rare in Japan. Recycling bins are located in certain places and our Tour Leaders will advise customers locations and they should be prepared to carry and recycle. Japan is one of the cleanest and most litter free countries on earth despite the lack of public bins.

We strive to support nature and biodiversity through protection and regeneration projects, and for every customer that travels with us we make a donation to Rewilding Britain and Cool Earth.

We encourage customers to avoid single-use plastic on tour, and our leaders give advice on refill points each day. Where tap water isn't safe to drink we recommend Water-to-Go bottles, a filtration bottle allowing you to drink water from any source.

We stay at the Via Inn Group accommodation in Kyoto on this trip, who have joined the SDG’s goals for 2030 by the UN Foundation Initiatives including all shared spaces are barrier free and accessible, all rooms provided with green cards so bed linen etc are only changed when requested, all properties have an amenity bar to reduce plastic use in rooms and all properties use LED energy and reduce amount of printed paper.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

Our leaders are the heart of tours. They bring passion and unrivalled knowledge of the destinations and communities that we visit. Their guidance ensures we observe the cultural norms in a destination, they act as a bridge between travelers and the local community and ensure that tourism is a positive experience for both host and guest. We believe in supporting local; staying in locally-run hotels, exploring markets, buying snacks from street vendors, and by doing this we add money to the local economy and enhance our connection with the local community.

Our Japanese-speaking tour leaders have all spent considerable time living and working in Japan and have a strong focus on responsible tourism practices so they can ensure that our tours run in accordance with our code of practice.

They are real facilitators, enabling us to meet and mix with the locals wherever possible – all the more fun when we are traveling off the beaten track. They take us to small, locally owned and run restaurants wherever possible throughout the trip, and take advantage of numerous opportunities to support local businesses by visiting the ice bars that pop up at the time of the festival and also any food or drink stalls when watching the festival. This ensures that small businesses benefit from our visit, and that we enjoy a very authentic experience.

All hotel accommodation used on this trip is Japanese-owned.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

Our local partner company is Japanese-owned. The full-time staff are paid at least the minimum wage, and are made up of 50% women, with Japanese staff and a further twelve nationalities. The company believes in equal opportunities and promotes diversity in the workplace, without discrimination of age, disability, gender, marriage / civil partnerships, maternity, race, religion / belief, sex and sexual orientation.