Japan ancient capitals self guided walking tour

Environment

You will experience the ‘Satoyama’ landscape of rural Japan, the border area between arable flat land where rice is grown, and the mountains. Managed sustainably over centuries, it is biologically diverse and supports a wide variety of wildlife. We are conscious about our carbon footprint and this particular tour does not involve long-distance travelling within Japan. We use public transportation on our trips rather than chartered motor vehicles to lessen our environmental impact.
Our tour features a family-stay at an organic farm. This means that our accommodation suppliers value locally-produced food, which has a lower carbon footprint and further encourages economic activity in the community.
Choosing smaller lodgings such as this home-stay experience, or traditional Japanese inns in Nara for example, owned and run by local people, helps and supports local communities and businesses. This means we aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of natural resources, culture and society, treating them with respect and fairness.

Community

Focusing on the lesser-known walking routes of the Kansai area, this tour features a friendly family-stay at an organic farm. This immersive farm-stay fosters genuine interaction between local populations and visitors. Hosts at this organic farm-stay are examples of the 'I-turn' movement in Japan, whereby city dwellers return to the countryside, reversing the trend of recent decades, and re-create a lifestyle more closely connected to the land. We want to support this movement and allow our guests to experience the rural lifestyle. Bringing visitors to country communities, such as the peaceful agricultural community of Asuka, helps sustain their economic viability. Encouraging economic activity in the community means that their society and culture can endure, too. This is particularly important for rural areas, many of which faced decades of decline and depopulation as younger people moved away to the cities. There are now welcome signs that this tide has started to turn.