Small group tours to Japan

Environment:
The natural landscapes we explore are some of the richest, often most challenging, yet at the same time some of the most fragile environments on earth. With education, experienced leadership and appropriate equipment and techniques, it is possible to travel responsibly through these regions. For us, it is critically important that such wilderness travel experiences do not diminish the natural values of the environment. We only travel in an intimate group of maximum 13 passengers.

Our environmental sustainable principles: True sustainability is a guiding aspect in all aspects of our business planning and operations. Specifically our tour operations should be managed in a way where the natural and cultural values of the host region are undiminished in the long-term. Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.

Our Responsible Travel Guidebook: Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while travelling.

Global Warming and Carbon Balancing: The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!

Community:
This unique itinerary takes you away from the main tourist paths in Japan and introduces you to a rural Japan that rarely sees any benefit from the tourist dollar. On the trek we stay at local family run inns and live as the locals do. By staying with these families, and travelling in regions which do not rely on tourism, we help provide extra income to local rural communities who otherwise would not benefit at all from purchases made by travellers. Meals are made by the families we stay with and the ingredients are taken from their own crops or from other local families. Purchases from local handicraft and, artisan are encouraged.

However it is the learning of traditional customs and displaying a cultural sensitivity by living like the locals that makes a big difference on this tour. The Japanese “ryokan” is such a delicate environment, with compact spaces and displayed heirlooms, that for the first encounter something of a bull-in-a-china-shop feeling is inevitable - especially in the entrance as shoes are put on and removed.

Traditional-style accommodation means sleeping on “futon” bedding laid out on tatami floors. In the mountains it is usual for groups to sleep together in the same room, modified by sliding partitions. Our inns understand that westerners may be more comfortable with privacy, and assign two-person rooms when there are few other guests. But privacy throughout is difficult to guarantee without paying a premium. Hot showers and tub bathing is at the end of the day when a communal bath is heated (women and men are separated), but usually only wash basins are available in the morning. Japanese love bathing together, communing as they soak. This is a surprisingly good opportunity to meet the locals. Every traveller is thoroughly briefed on Japanese custom which ensures we are welcomed time and again by our Japanese hosts.

Our responsible travel principles: Our company aims to maximise the positive benefits of tourism for host communities. This includes training and employment of local staff, using local suppliers and assisting in the development of sustainable local businesses. We actively minimise the negative effects that tourism can have by ensuring that tourism does not divert resources away from local communities or drive up prices on local resources.

We provide opportunities for real cultural exchange, where locals and visitors alike can share and learn from each other in an environment of mutual respect. We contribute to the welfare of the host community. This is epitomised in our Community Project Travel program where we organise for our travellers to spend time in disadvantaged villages upgrading basic facilities such as health, education and water access. We strive to educate our travellers about the destination and its local cultures as well as providing guidelines on appropriate behaviour to minimise impact.

No local payments policy: Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travellers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travellers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.