Tokyo
Day 1
Met at Haneda with a name sign, luggage handled, and a slow drive to Shiba Park past Tokyo Tower and along Ginza. Nothing else scheduled. Twelve time zones is not a day to put a temple in.
Day 2
Nakamise and Senso-ji in Asakusa, then the craft shops in the streets behind it: Bunkoya Ozeki for washi, Kumihimo Kiryudo for braided cord. A private tea ceremony, booked with chair seating rather than floor seating, which is a request we make at reservation and not on the day. Sushi-making for lunch. Tokyo Skytree. Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square and Spiral in Omotesando in the late afternoon, both indoors and both level. Dropped at dinner in Aoyama.
Day 3
Hamarikyu Gardens on the bay first thing, then Yasukuni Jinja and a ramen lunch nearby. teamLab Borderless in the early afternoon. Kappabashi for knives and ceramics, then the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku, reopened after four years closed for renovation. A drive through Azabu Juban and dinner at Gonpachi Nishi Azabu.
Day 4
An early start at Tsukiji outer market, before the tour groups. Meiji Jingu and the imperial garden inside it. The Miyashita Park rooftop, Shibuya Crossing from street level, then Shibuya Sky above it. Shinjuku Gyoen late in the day, when the light is best on the lawns. Dinner in Ginza.
Mt. Fuji and Hakone
Day 5
Out of Tokyo by road, in the company of the same driver-guide who would stay with them for all sixteen days and every one of the ten cities. For a journey like this one, we would not have it any other way. Kawaguchi Asama Shrine, Oishi Park on the north shore of the lake for the mountain, hoto noodles for lunch, and Oshino Hakkai in the afternoon. Into Hakone and Hotel Indigo Gora, where every room has its own onsen bath fed from the local springs. That was the reason for the property. A shared bath is not always practical and nobody should have to ask.
Day 6
The Hakone Open-Air Museum, with the Moores and the Picassos out on the lawns and no stairs to speak of. A cruise across Lake Ashi, lunch, then Odawara Station and the Hikari to Kyoto in first class. Straight to the Okura on arrival.
Kyoto, Nara and Uji
Day 7
Arashiyama at opening. The Togetsukyo Bridge, the bamboo grove while it is still quiet, Tenryu-ji beside it. Ryoan-ji and its rock garden, then Kinkaku-ji. Lunch at Nishiki Market and Sanjusangendo in the afternoon. Back to the hotel for a break, then out again in the evening for the Shirakawa Canal and the streets near Yasaka Jinja. Splitting the day in two is how Kyoto gets covered at this pace, and it works because the hotel is ten minutes from both halves.
Day 8
Nara: the park and the deer, Todai-ji and the Great Buddha, lunch, and Isuien Garden, which borrows the temple roof and the hills into its own composition. Back to Kyoto for a sake museum and tasting. A rest at the hotel, then Gion in the evening and a yuba dinner, tofu skin served every way it comes.
Day 9
Fushimi Inari early, on the lower paths and the first tunnel of gates, without going up the mountain. Then Uji for Byodo-in and the tea museum, and lunch on the river. The whole afternoon was left free at the hotel, deliberately, because there was a geisha performance and dinner in Pontocho that evening and both were worth arriving to fresh.
Osaka and the west
Day 10
A late check-out, then Osaka Castle grounds and lunch at Kuromon Ichiba. Into the hotel to settle, the Umeda Sky Building for the view, dinner, and Dotonbori after dark.
Day 11
The Nozomi to Hiroshima in first class. The Peace Memorial Museum, which should not be scheduled tightly. The Dome, lunch, then the ferry to Miyajima and Itsukushima Shrine with the torii in the water. Shinkansen back to Osaka for dinner. The longest day of the trip, placed after a short one.
The Alps
Day 12
The Limited Express Hida 25 out of Shin-Osaka, the only direct daily service to Takayama, chosen because it is one seat the whole way with no transfers and no platform changes. It runs up through Gifu and into the mountains past Gero. Sanmachi Suji in the afternoon, the Nakabashi Bridge, Takayama Jinya, and Hida Folk Village. Every one of those stops was droppable and they knew it. Dinner was left open and decided that evening.
Day 13
Early out of Takayama by road to Shirakawa-go. The Kanda House and the Wada House, lunch in the village, and up to the Shiroyama viewpoint over the thatched roofs. On to Kanazawa and an unhurried end of the afternoon in Higashi Chaya: the Shima tea house, sake at Kaikaro, gold leaf soft serve at Hakuichi. The hotel in Kanazawa is one minute from the station platform with no streets to cross, which is not a small thing at the end of a day like this.
Day 14
Kenrokuen in the morning, then Seisonkaku Villa next door, built in 1863 by a Maeda lord for his mother and one of the best surviving pieces of samurai domestic architecture in Japan. The Nomura residence in the Nagamachi samurai quarter. Lunch at Omicho Market, then a gold leaf workshop, which is done sitting down. Dinner at Kanazawa Temakizushi Coil, hand rolls made at the counter with a tea flight alongside.
Back to Tokyo
Day 15
A slow morning for souvenirs and Kanazawa Crafts Hirosaka, lunch at the station, and the Kagayaki to Tokyo in first class with boarding assistance on the platform at both ends. Back to the Tokyo Prince for the last night.
Day 16
Check out at noon, a proper lunch in the city rather than an airport one, and Haneda with three hours in hand.
How a program like this is built
The walker changes the plan in small places rather than large ones. Chair seating is requested when the tea ceremony is reserved, not raised on the day. The vehicle sets down at the entrance and collects at the exit, so the walking is the site and not the approach to it. Hotels are chosen partly on the distance from the door to the platform, which is why Kanazawa is where it is. Long legs run on one train with one seat and no transfers where such a train exists. Afternoons are left empty ahead of evenings that matter. None of it is visible on the finished itinerary, and that is the point.
