Shogun Trail Itinerary
This itinerary is ground only, beginning in Tokyo and ending in Fukuoka. Arrangements for extra time in Japan before or after the trip are possible. Travellers will be given instruction in English and Japanese for getting to the meeting point in Tokyo.
Meals provided in the tour are noted in the itinerary below. Japanese cuisine is as varied as it is high in quality. Your guide will advise you how you may best enjoy meals not provided in the tour. Lunch can be found from ¥1,000. If you wish, your guide is also available to join you in dinner (when not included) and introduce you to some of the best cuisine in Japan. Expect to pay between ¥2,500-3,500 per head, excluding alcohol.
On Day 2 and Day 6 the main baggage will be shipped in advance overnight. On these days all items you require for overnight will need to be carried by you and your daypack should be sufficiently big enough to accommodate these items.
Day 1
Evening meeting at 18:00 at our hotel, a few minutes' walk from Tokyo Station. After the tour briefing we go out for dinner at a local restaurant. The immediate area around the hotel is a favourite after-office haunt of businessmen and women and there are a great variety of good restaurants and, for those who wish to have a night cap, bars. The neon lights and friendly, busy atmosphere here is typically Japanese and an ideal place to begin out tour.
Dinner provided.
Day 2
Today, after breakfast, we stroll around downtown Tokyo, where we find the site of William Adams' townhouse in Edo (the original name of Tokyo), and visit the neighbouring grounds of Edo Castle, now the Imperial Palace. On our walk we will come to understand why Edo/Tokyo became one of the most powerful cities of the world, see some of the oldest structures found here juxtaposed with some of the most modern and experience the everyday, hustle and bustle of the metropolis. After lunch we visit the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which has excellent displays on the history of the city and its people. The rest of the afternoon is free to explore on your own, or please join your tour leader on a foray to another area of Tokyo. We regroup in the evening for dinner at another local restaurant.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 3
An early breakfast before we begin our travels across Japan. We travel by local train, the first of several today, to the Miura Peninsula to visit the memorials to Adams and his family. When Adams was made a samurai by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the greatest shogun, he was also granted a country estate here and domain over the locals within. We travel onto nearby Kamakura for a leisurely, two-hour walk during which we visit a serene Zen temple, a 'money laundering' Shinto shrine and the famous Great Buddha. The many Zen temples found here hint at Kamakura’s importance that it once held as a stronghold of the Minamoto, the first samurai to rule Japan. Now, Kamakura is an atmospheric and popular seaside town. Our final trains of the day takes us to Ito, where we stay in a Japanese inn. Ito is famous for its onsen thermal hot spring baths, which are ideal for relaxing in before dinner.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 4
The onsen and the delicious food are good reason alone to visit Ito. However, our morning stroll to the beach reveals the town’s connection with Adams. Here he constructed two galleon ships at the behest of the Shogun. From Ito we travel to Hakone. A complimentary all-day pass to the multi-mode and idiosyncratic, but easily followed, local transport system. Those who wish to walk follow a section of the old Tokaido road over the Hakone pass (the highest and hardest according to Edo-period folk tales) with the tour leader. Those not wishing to walk go on ahead by public transport to explore the restaurants, hot springs, art museums, views and more. The walkers catch up later. We spend the night in nearby Odawara.
Breakfast provided.
Day 5
An early morning Shinkansen Bullet train whisks us to Kyoto for a guided tour of Nijo Castle. Nijo is the only remaining shogun palace and provides fascinating insights into the daily life of the shogun. It is also provides us with a immediate sense of the environment that the shogun held audiences with trusted retainers such as William Adams. After free time to explore Kyoto, justifiably Japan’s cultural nexus, on your own. Your tour leader will advise how to make the most of your time.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 6
Another Shinkansen Bullet train transfer and ferry to the Seto Inland Sea and Naoshima, one of the many islands that dot the Sea. We have no record that Adams visited here although he would have at least passed by many times on his travels between Edo and Hirado. Naoshima has found new life as an centre of modern art. Some fabulous museums in beautiful seaside locations and site-specific art found in charming fishing villages make this a delightful place to visit. The island is small enough that much of it is accessible on foot and it provides us with some pleasant, gentle strolls. We continue our travels by train to Hiroshima, where we stay for the next two nights.
Breakfast provided.
Day 7
We start the day with a visit to Shukkei-en, one of the best Japanese gardens to be found today before travelling by tram, one of the last remaining in Japan, to the A-Bomb Memorial Museum and Peace Park. In the Park is found the Atom Bomb Dome, the remains of the old Industry Promotion Hall that was adjacent to the epicentre. Our final visit today is Miyajima, a UNESCO heritage site famous for its spectacular Shinto shrine that, very unusually, juts into the sea. We head back into central Hiroshima and our hotel for the night.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 8
Shinkansen Bullet train to Kokura for a guided one-hour walk around historic Moji and under the Kanmon Straits to Shimonoseki. Moji and Shimonoseki are twin cities that are spectacular set facing each other across the Kanmon Straits, which separates Honshu and Kyushu. Besides some great views the area, on the sea route from Asia to Japan, is replete with history from the before the Genpei Wars (1180 ~ 1185) through the opening of Japan in the 1860s to Japan’s colonial period. Lunch may be taken in a fish market with one of the best settings in the world, adjacent to the Straits along which ply a never ending stream of merchant ships. The fast flowing waters in the Straits provide some of the best quality fish including blowfish, a delicacy here. For those interested, time is available for a non-guided tour to Ganryu Island located in the Straits. Miyamoto Musashi, the author of The Book of Five Rings, fought and won his famous sword fight here. We return to Kokura for Bullet train and express trains transfer to Nagasaki, where we arrive early evening. We stay in our hotel accommodation here for the next two nights.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 9
After breakfast at our hotel we enjoy a guided visit to Dejima, the site of the Dutch trading mission during Japan's self-imposed seclusion that lasted until the 1850's. Dejima has largely been recreated and provides an excellent idea of life as it was for the traders and their impact on wider Edo Japan. We stroll through Nagasaki visiting the original and still atmospheric China Town and Glover Park, the site of Meiji period (1867-1912) western residences. At the Park we gain insights into the successes, trial and tribulations of the foreigner merchants who aided and abetted the opening of Japan and brought many new technologies to the fledgling modern state. Glover Park has fine views over Nagasaki Harbour one of the best harbour vistas in the world. Free time from midday for you to explore the city. Your tour leader will advise how to make the most of your time.
Breakfast provided.
Day 10
Free time in Nagasaki until midday, when we transfer by local trains to most westerly railway station in Japan. A short taxi ride brings us to our accommodation a Japanese inn-style hotel with onsen hot spring baths. Dinner is a sumptuous spread of local produce.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 11
After breakfast we explore Hirado town and soak up its charms. A guided tour offers fascinating insights into the way things were here in the early 1600s and highlights events and places associated with William Adams. The frustrations Adams felt; his acrimonious relationship with the commander of the long-awaited English trading mission; the trade voyages he undertook to Okinawa and beyond; the mystery of his home and private life in Hirado; his death in Hirado; and the controversy surrounding his tomb. All this while visiting the residence of the local daimyo (feudal lord), the church commemorating Saint Francis Xavier, who preached here in the 16th century, the sites of the old trading houses along the waterfront and the foreigners' cemetery with the grave of William Adams. Afternoon transfer to Fukuoka. Fukuoka, Japan’s Gateway to Asia, is a lively and thriving city that provides a great environment to finish our travels together in. Our accommodation is in a hotel conveniently located for Shinkansen Bullet train transfers to other parts of Japan and Fukuoka Airport.
Breakfast & dinner provided.
Day 12
Tour ends after breakfast. Walk Japan can provide advice on onward travel arrangements when you make your booking.
Breakfast provided.
This itinerary is subject to change.
Please see Tour Dates for scheduled tours and their availability. Contact Walk Japan for more information and to receive the booking form.