Japan 8 day itinerary

Planet

During this trip to Japan, the itinerary consists of you staying in very traditional Japanese Ryokans or more Western-style hotels. This means that we are using locally run hotels/Ryokans. In a place like Japan, our customers will receive a video and information on travelling in the most environmentally friendly ways before the trip. This is to better their understanding of Responsible Travel.

We take pride in encouraging our customers to travel in more environmentally friendly ways throughout their trip in Japan! Within this trip we will ensure to book customers trains/bullet trains to each destination that they will need transport to as opposed to using hire cars. Train travel will offer the best opportunity to mix with locals and personal encounters such as these can become your most cherished memories. This reduces the carbon emissions and reduces road congestion.

Once arrived at each destination in this trip after the train/bullet train journey, we encourage our customers to use other means of travel within the destination. Such as hiking, walking as most excursions and sites you can get to by foot, taxis, you can also hire a bike (in some destinations it is free for bike hire) if you wish to see the area that way! During your stay in Kyoto, you will definitely spend a day aboard a bike to discover the city’s hidden backstreets. You can expect to whiz past willow lined rivers, along narrow streets and alongside traditional merchant houses.


We actively encourage our travellers to refill water bottles while they are away instead of continuously purchasing more. We also encourage our travellers to promote hotels that have water stations in place and use solar power. An example of this would be within the Ryokan type accommodations, they try to use renewable energy in some of their uses. In the more In-Style accommodation they have onsen powered by the hot springs in the area. So this ties in with some of their environmental policies.

We begin the responsible journey here in Brighton from our office. We do this by providing our team with a healthy locally-sourced daily lunch and recycling food waste. Our office is virtually paperless, and the paper that we do use comes from the company we recycle through, this will therefore create a closed loop.

People

Before you set off we will provide you with a Know Before You Go that gives you plenty of tips about the country, with cultural information and phrases to help you get by. Also, our Responsible Traveller document has useful info on local customs to ensure mutual respect between our customers and local community.

During the duration of the trip we will make sure to support the local communities as much as we can and encourage our customers to dive into the local cultures and take the time to learn them and interact with the local community more. This will really get the customers familiar with Japanese customs and traditions. Japan is rich with culture and history, we definitely encourage our customers to experience it and touch on it within this itinerary.

We encourage our customers to purchase local goods, this is because not only will it give them the full experience of Japan and their locally produced foods/souvenirs etc. but it also helps the locals benefit from the income from tourism going straight into their pockets. The accommodation we use in Japan don't usually offer breakfast options, this is because we like our customers to venture out and try the local produce and see what they can find locally for breakfast! Also during this trip we ensure that our customers find some of Japan’s most unique culinary gems over the course of their stay in Japan.

As well as supporting local projects in all of our destinations through support from our customers, we also do a little fundraising at home for local and international causes. In Japan we have chosen to support Mirai no Mori. This organisation was started in 2011 by English Adventure. This supports children who have been abused, neglected, and/or orphaned. The organisation creates life-changing outdoor programs for these children to support their growth into happy and successful young adults - giving them a better chance.