We had a great trip to Japan, our guide Tatsuya was amazing and worked very hard to showcase his country, his knowledge of Shinto and Buddhism was very impressive. We particularly enjoyed the home stay and staying family owned accommodation. The trip gave us a well balanced taste of Japan from the cities to the rural areas and the culture, we achieved a lot.
I am very happy to say this trip exceeded my expectations. Our group of three singles from Australia & Germany, and a Canadian couple made a great mix. What made the tour exceptional was our guide Akemi. She was caring, funny & knowledgeable and nothing was too much trouble for her. She took the hassle out of travelling though Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka and then even more importantly to me, the backroads, which is what I have wanted to see but would not have known how to. I would not have enjoyed it as much having to work out the logistics. The tour is a great complement of nature and popular city landmarks with enough free time. The hotels, ryokans & included meals were great. I chose the single supplement which was worth it. At times I felt our group were the only tourists in town, and we did get to have ryokans exclusively- the bonus of touring pre cherry blossom season! It's still so beautiful and definitely less busy. Thank you Akemi, my Backroad Buddies and World Expeditions for such a memorable trip.
Our Backroads of Japan walking trip was fabulous. Our guide Akemi was excellent with her knowledge and help for the tour group. However, in places where the walking was quite difficult we feel that Akemi could have had an assistant so that there would be one at the front and one at the back for safety reasons.