Yoga World Tours

'A Life Changing Experience'

Japan is situated in northeastern Asia between the North Pacific and the Sea of Japan. The area of Japan is 377,873 square kilometers, nearly equivalent to Germany and Switzerland combined or slightly smaller than California.
Japan, is a living planet on its own. Closed of for so many years to the outsider, it has opened-up fully and has taken the world by storm.

The contradictions you see on the streets; the everyday struggle of incorporating western trends in sanitized Japan, where you won't see a rubbish bin as people not so long ago regarded eating on the street as being rude! Where banks don't have bullet proof windows and where you can walk in your pajamas in the early evening hours to the local bath house and no one will even look twice at you. Where you will pay the most to fill up your car with petrol but at the same time the best service in the world, where the pomp attendants run to the front of the exit, after they cleaned your car out with a team of 6 attendants like at a formula one pit stop, and bow to you almost with their noses to the ground when you leave. Where else is this possible? Only in the land of the Rising Sun. -Japan-

Even just their language, this is the only language in the world that has the most expressions to express "I am sorry" and "thank you" which are one of the most hardest expressions to come by from the rest of the population inhabiting mother earth. :

Geologically volatile archipelago, 85 per cent of Japan is mountainous. It is a relatively "young" land. The landscape is rugged and rocky, porous with natural springs. The scenery has been perfectly depicted in famous historic paintings and woodblock prints: snow capped mountains, pristine streams, sculpted pine trees and many flowering plants, with a rich variety of bird and insect life. The population is concentrated in clustered centers on the coast of the main islands, with the remainder in small towns dispersed through the fertile hinterland. Since the big cities are all in lowland plains, the mountains are left largely to agriculture, forestry and national parks.

Buddhism arrived from the mainland about 1,600 years ago, and its many traces overlap with those of the much older native belief system, Shinto. Modern Japanese profess not to be religious, yet the landscape is dense with the traces of a great spiritual legacy, including temples, shrines, tombs and wayside markers.

Japanese people are very conscious of their local roots, and from region to region there is a pleasing variation in dialect, cuisine and even, to a certain extent, appearance. Our journey takes us to the very centre of Japanese culture, to the Asia within Japan.

Japan

"Hot Spring Yoga Tour"

Friday 9th May - Thursday 22nd May 2008
14 days and 13 nights

$ 6,500

"Small groups, great guides, superb holidays"
(Included Meals, B = breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)

For bookings Yoga Tours Japan please click here

Day 1 - 9th May (Fri) : Arrival / Tokyo

You'll arrive today at New Tokyo International Airport (Narita).
Your ride to Tokyo town will provide a first view of the Japanese capital, so modern and familiar, and yet so different. Streets are busy but orderly and neat, lights and signs glitter everywhere, alternating with serene green oases.

 

You'll find a most comfortable room waiting at your hotel : Ryokan Shigetsu l After you check in we relax and meet all together, for your first real Japanese dinner, to go over the itinerary for the next few weeks. (L,D)

 

Activity of the day: Japanese bathhouse
Accommodation: Ryokan Shigetsu
W :http://www.shigetsu.com/e/index.htm

 

Day 2 - 10th May (Sat) : Tokyo

Our first early yoga session followed by a still somewhat western breakfast, we will show you Tokyo delights. You'll ascend the Tokyo Tower to the observatory level for a commanding view of the city, and visit the Imperial Palace Plaza. From there we will go to the Akihabara, the Asakusa Kannon Temple. Followed by a typical sushi lunch we have a little treasure hunt planned using the subway as the mase. We will end up in a very popular shopping area for the young travelers. Finishing of the day with a great dinner sampling the vast range of local brewed Sakes. (no hangover guaranteed! Well, almost then) (B,L,D)

Activity of the day: Observatory, Palace, Temple
Accommodation: Ryokan Shigetsu
W:http://www.shigetsu.com/e/index.htm

Day 3 - 11th May (Sun) : Tokyo > Nikko > Chuzenji

For our yoga session this morning we go to a place where other people practice their disciplines too. We will go back to the hotel for breakfast and prepare for a fun day of exploring.
Our yoga guides will take us this morning to the Toshogu Shrine, one of the most spectacular temple complexes in Japan. You'll marvel at the intricately carved details. From here we'll follow the Irohazaka road with its notorious hairpin turns upward into the mountains, where we'll stop to take a traditional Japanese lunch. A little hike with breathtaking views at Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls from the Akechidaira Plateau, followed with a well deserved soak in hot spring water!. Dinner will be an experience on its own with traditional home cooking. (B,L,D)

Activity of the day: Shrine, hike.
Accommodation: Nikko Tokanso info@tokanso.com

 

Day 4 - 12th May (Mon) : Lake Chuzenji > Mount Fuji > Hakone.

A refreshing early morning yoga session followed with a traditional Japanese breakfast. The coach will pick us up in the morning, driving through the neatly tended countryside and beyond.

Mount Fuji with its perfect, snow-capped conical shape will hover into view, every more impressive as we approach. We'll continue right onto the slopes of Japan's highest mountain, and ascend to the halfway point at 2300 meters (7600 feet) for spectacular views of rolling fields, orchards, lakes, and streams. We'll take our lunch at the Highland Resort, followed by a relaxing cruise on Lake Ashi, and a thrilling ride on the Mt. Komagatake aerial tramway. A comfortable bed awaits you at the Nikko Tokanso with a hot tub while sipping some healing oolong tea. (organic green tea) (B,L,D)

Activity of the day: boat cruise, aerial tramway ride, Mount Fuji short walk.
Accommodation: Nikko Tokanso info@tokanso.com

Day 5 - 13th May (Tue) : Hakone > Nagoya > Gifu
We'll take a short drive this morning through the Hakone mountains to Odawara station on the main rail line, where we'll catch the Bullet Train for Nagoya After lunch we visit Gifu Castle and Kinkazan Ropeway and enjoy Japan Rhine Boat Cruise. We will enjoy a cormorant Fishing Show during our dinner. (B,L,D)

SHINKANSEN
Yoga Tours Japan

Activity of the day: Bullet train, castle adventure, boat cruise.
Accommodation at :Hodakaso Sangetsu.

Day 6 - 14th May (Wed) : Gifu
This morning will be a bit different, we will have a short walk to the base of a small mountain or big hill, we will do a short yoga session and hike up the hill where awaits us a breathtaking view and a cable carriage to take us back down again. From here yoga tours Japan goes to the biggest hotspring in this area where we will have a lunch and a good long soak and scrub. This evening we will do some voice testing at a karaoke bar and maybe try out luck at a local casino or patchinko pala…..in Nagoya. (B,L,D)

Activity of the day: Hike, public bathhouse entertainment center, Karaoke
Accommodation at: Hodakaso Sangetsu.

 

Day 7 - 15th May (Thu) : Gifu - Nagoya > Kyoto
We will have a late yoga start followed with a big western (kind of) breakfast. We check out from Hodakaso Sangetsu. to get ready for a full day touring . Visiting Noritake Garden. Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, Lunch included. After which we'll be off to see the sights. Nagoya grew as a fortified town, and we'll see the reconstructed Nagoya Castle with its tiers of roofs. Then yoga tours Japan will continue to the train station to board an express train for the Imperial City of Kyoto.

Activity of the day: Garden walk, museum, Castle visit
Accommodation: Ryokan Kinoe
W:http://www.kinoe.co.jp/kinoe_eng/index.html

Day 8 - 16th May (Fri) : Kyoto > Nara > Kyoto

After yoga, we'll tour the major sites of the ancient capital of Japan this morning, including the Golden Pavilion, Nijo Castle with its exquisite interiors.

After lunch at Kyoto's Handicraft Center, we'll continue to Nara, first capital of a united Japan. Highlights will include the Todaiji Temple with its huge Buddha; the 3000 lanterns of the Kasuga Shrine, and the Deer Park, where the animals are free to roam.
For the evening entertainment we have a traditional Japanese show with a Geisha dance…traveling back in time.(B,L,D)

Activity of the day: Several temple and shrine visits,
Geisha dance.
Accommodation: Ryokan Kinoe W:http://www.kinoe.co.jp/kinoe_eng/index.html

 

Day 9 - 17th May (Sat) : Kyoto

Yoga in the morning, We've included an open day at this point, for you to fill as you wish-and there's plenty to do and see in Kyoto! We will visit a sake brewery, and, among others, the Fushimi Inari Grand Shrine, with its thousands of bright gates.

Activity of the day: Brewery, shrine visits, town tour
Accommodation: Ryokan Kinoe -- http://www.kinoe.co.jp/kinoe_eng/index.html

Day 10 - 18th May (Sun) : Kyoto > Takayama

This morning after our yoga session, we'll board the Bullet Train for the rapid trip to Nagoya, then transfer to an express train to travel northward to Takayama, the town that time forgot. Though it's not all that far from Japan's major cities, sedate Takayama maintains its narrow streets lined with traditional wooden houses, their squared second levels projecting overhead. We'll have a chance to stroll streets lined with traditional craft chops.

Take as long as you like to poke around-we'll be staying the night at TAKAYAMA. (B,L,D)

 

Activity of the day: Bullet train, guide town exploration walk, museum
Accommodation: Nagase Ryokan
W:http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/db/takayama/nagase.htm

Day 11 - 19th May (Mon) : Takayama > Shirakawako > Kanazawa

Waking up in a garden of peace we will conduct our yoga session in the open air. We'll experience traditional rural Japan throughout the day. First we'll visit the famous Takayama outdoor market, where farmers bring their produce. You'll find both the familiar and the exotic. Our scenic route will take us alongside Lake Miboro and the Shokawa River to impossibly picturesque Shirakawago, its farmsteads set among piney mountains and green paddies. Designated a World Heritage site in 1995, it's especially known for its Gassho-Zukuri, "clasped-hands" thatched roofs pitched steeply to shed winter snows. We'll continue to Gokayama, another World Heritage rural village, where we'll learn about the craft of Gokayama Washi, traditional Japanese paper making. We'll find our rooms waiting at the cute Takitei Ryokan!(B,L,D)
Shirakawago

Activity of the day: Touring and papermaking mill with paper making workshop
Accommodation: Takitei W: http://www.takitei.co.jp/

Day 12 - 20th May (Tue) : Kanazawa - Tokyo

We'll spend the morning with our yoga session followed with a nutritional japans breakfast. We set out to visit Kanazawa, an unusual castle town that retains many of its old structures. We'll walk through Kenroku-en, one of the most exquisite formal gardens in traditional Japanese style, visit the Kutaniyaki kiln where vividly colored lacquer ware is crafted, and stroll the streets of the Nagamachi Samurai neighborhood lined by old wooden houses and crisscrossed by old canals. In the afternoon, we'll board the express train, connecting to the Bullet Train that will speed us back to Tokyo by evening to our first accommodation that we started of in. back to familiar grounds and a great day ahead. (B,L,D)


Activity of the day: Guided town tour ( lunch we have planned here is at a very special place!)
Accommodation: Ryokan Shigetsu W:http://www.shigetsu.com/e/index.htm

Day 13 - 21st May (Wed) : Tokyo

We will have our yoga session early this morning, as we will have a fun day planned at Mami Flower design school. (http://www.mamifds.co.jp/english/index.html) The term 'Flower Design' first came into existence together with its creator, 'Mami Kawasaki, Flower Designer'. With the aim of spreading in Japan the 'very natural use of flowers within our daily lives' that she encountered as a student in the United States, she founded the 'Mami Flower Design School'. More recently, Keita Kawasaki has established the theory of 'Japanese Flower Design' and combined this with his own artistic sensitivity to create today's school, which is increasingly drawing the attention of people all over the world. Today you learn how to make your own creation to take back home.

We will enjoy our last dinner with some amazing people you have met during your tour with us. This is the time to exchange addresses and say slowly goodbye to new friends made. (B,L,D)

Activity of the day: Flower arrangement work shop.. picture by Mamiko Flower Design School.
Accommodation: Ryokan Shigetsu W:http://www.shigetsu.com/e/index.htm

Day 14 - 22nd May (Thu) : Tokyo / Departure

To Yoga or not to Yoga, this is our last day……we sadly say goodbye and hope to see you on our next Yoga World Tours discovery…we hope this was indeed an other life changing experience with Yoga Tours Japan.
We've arranged your transportation to Narita Airport in time to check in and catch your homeward-bound flight. By now you'll understand the traditional word of farewell: Sayonara. (B,L,D)

 

 

Cost : US$6,500.-

Included in Yoga Tours Japan
- 14 days, 13 nights accommodation
- 14 dinners, 14 lunches, 13 breakfasts (which are an experience on its own!)
- Japanese bathhouse
- All transport
- Yoga lessons
- Observatory
- Palaces, castles
- Temples
- All Hikes and walks as mentioned
- Flower arrangement work shop Kayaking
- Papermaking mill and workshop
- Brewery
- Musea
- Boat cruise,
- Aerial tramway ride,
- Geisha dance and theatre
- Surprise entertainment

Not Included -
- Alcohol
- Tips & gratuities
- Cancellation & travel insurance (we strongly recommend insurance)

For bookings Yoga Tours Japan please click here


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