November 3rd - 16th, 2024 - Travel to Japan in the fall with gorgeous color!

Leave you home airport for Japan. Most flights will arrive the next day due to the time change. 

Arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo and check into hotel right at the terminal. Enjoy Japanese cuisine and relax.

We'll travel to Mashiko where we'll have a fun indigo dyeing workshop at the historic Higeta studio. Then we'll visit a sake brewery, and have an incredible dinner in Utsunomiya.!

Home of Shoji Hamada and many potters, Mashiko has museums, pottery studios, and galleries. In the morning, we'll do a special indigo dyeing workshop at a historic studio.

See the mind-blowing collection of temples and shrines at the Unesco World Heritage site of Nikko. The craftsmanship is unbelievable in this culturally rich area.

Kasama is another pottery town with a wide variety of contemporary potters continuing to work in clay here since the 1700's.

We'll travel to Tokyo to view the Nitten Exhibition which features Japan's most accomplished artists! Then we'll take a bullet train to Kyoto!

Today we'll travel to Imbe to visit the Bizen style potters.. We'll see Kibido Bizenyaki, above and other pottery studios and galleries. We'll also see a pottery shrine!

Visit the historic Kiyomizu-dera temple and surrounding enticing area. Then we'll visit the Kyoto Ceramics Center and go to the Nishiki Market which dates back 400 years!

Visit three different established Shigaraki potters like Sako Yoshihiro above. We'll also visit the internationally know Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in this historic pottery town. Shop at a ceramic supply store too!

Today we'll visit the Robert Yellin Gallery, the Raku Museum, and the Kinkaku-ji temple, (the Golden Pavilion) above. See world renown potters and iconic Japanese sites.

We'll go to another of Japan's six ancient kilns, Tamba or Tanba. They have been making pottery here for over 800 years! We'll see many potters and kilns!

Spend the first part of the day relaxing, eating, shopping, getting a massage, or visiting other iconic Kyoto sites. We'll travel back to the Haneda Airport in the afternoon. Above: Matcha at Kumonocha.

Travel back home from Haneda. No scheduled tour activities today. If you have a later flight, there's lots of shopping and restaurants in the airport for those last minute gifts! I always say I'm not going to buy too much on this trip, but always fail!

Every time I leave Japan I say, "Awe Man, I'm gonna miss Japan!" I take back lots of yummy food to enjoy once I'm home.  I cherish and relive being in Japan, and share lots of tasty treats with my friends and family.