See more photographs of Japan in our slide show at SmithsonianJourneys.org/Japan

Day 1: Depart the U.S. for Tokyo, Japan

Day 2: Tokyo Upon arrival this evening, transfer to your hotel where you learn about the journey ahead at a briefing with your tour director.

Day 3: Tokyo Spend the morning touring this amazing city that comprises 23 wards and covers a staggering 840 miles. Focus on a smaller area visiting some of Tokyo’s top sights, including Shinto Meiji Shrine, a peaceful enclave of temples and gardens, the Edo-Tokyo Museum, a historical presentation of Edo (the city from c. 1600 until 1868) and Tokyo (the new Edo from 1868 until the present); and historic Imperial Palace, surrounded by moats and ramparts, and home of the Imperial family. Visit Tokyo’s oldest temple, Bud d hist Asakusa Kannon, followed by the Nakamise Shopping arcade. This afternoon is at leisure; enjoy a welcome dinner tonight at a local restaurant. (B,D)

Day 4: Tokyo The day begins with a motorcoach tour of Ginza, Tokyo’s famed shopping, dining, and entertainment district boasting Japan’s most expensive real estate. Visit the gallery of preeminent calligrapher Koshun Masunaga, where you learn about this ancient art and browse the collection. Then the remainder of the day is at leisure to visit

some of Ginza’s department stores, boutiques, or galleries, or to set off in a new direction. (B)

Day 5: Mt. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park and Suwa Japan’s pastoral side is on tap as you leave Tokyo for Mt. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Here sits imposing Mt. Fuji, a dormant volcano (it last erupted in 1707) with a perfectly symmetrical cone that rises to 12,388 feet. The mountain’s majesty is breathtaking, as artists and writers have attested for centuries. Take a coach ride where, weather permitting, you’ll enjoy breathtaking panoramic views; then descend for a relaxing cruise on scenic Ashi Lake. Leaving the park, travel to the town of Suwa where you spend the night at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn where you take off your shoes upon entering and sleep on a futon. (B,D)

Day 6: Takayama Today travel to lovely Takayama in the Japanese Alps, considered one of the country’s most attractive towns with its 16th-century castle and old-style buildings. Your explorations center on three narrow streets in the San-machi-suji district where, in feudal times, merchants lived amidst the authentically preserved small inns, teahouses, and sake breweries that you see here. Enjoy a sake tasting then have free time to visit local shops that sell the region’s unique lacquerware and prized carvings of yew wood. (B,D)

Your Small Group Tour HighlightsLearn about Tokyo’s past during a special visit to the Edo-Tokyo Museum ... Visit the gallery of preeminent calligrapher Koshun Masunaga in Tokyo ... Experience an overnight stay in a traditional ryokan ... Tour the famed Kenrokuen Garden in Kanawaza ... Enjoy a full day excur-sion to Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, featuring many World Heritage sites.

Day Itinerary Hotel Rating 1 Depart U.S. for Tokyo

2-4 Tokyo Park Hotel Tokyo Sup. First Class

5 Lake Suwa Nunohan Hotel Not rated (ryokan)

6 Takayama Hida Hotel Plaza First Class

7-8 Kanazawa Nikko Kanazawa First Class

9-12 Kyoto ANA Kyoto Hotel First Class

13 Depart Kyoto for U.S.

Ratings are based on the Hotel & Travel Index, the travel industry standard reference. Unrated hotels may be too small, too new, or too remote to be listed.

Avg. High (°F) May Sep OctTokyo 72 78 70Kyoto 75 82 74

DestinationMotorcoachTrainExtension (train)Entry/Departure

Lake Suwa

Kyoto

Hiroshima

Pacific Ocean

Sea of Japan

Osaka

JAPAN

Guaranteed small group of no more than 24 Smithsonian travelers per departure

From Tokyo To kyoToEtErnal Japan13 days from $6,286 total price from Los Angeles, San Francisco ($5,595 air & land inclusive plus $691 airline taxes and departure fees)

Historically a land of delicate art and rich traditions, Japan is also known for its

bustling commerce and dizzying modernity. Experience fascinating aspects of Japanese culture, from a traditional tea ceremony to a stay in a ryokan, as well as historic and modern sites and the stunning scenery of Mt. Fuji. See the highlights of Tokyo and Kyoto, and go off the beaten path to the lovely historic cities of Takayama and Kanazawa.

Beloved by artists, climbers, tourists, and Japanese alike, Mt. Fuji stands as the country’s most enduring symbol.

ASIA

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Day 7: Takayama, Shirakawago, Kanazawa Pay an early visit to the river side Miyagawa Morning Market selling flowers, fruit, and vegeta bles, a blaze of dazzling colors and exotic foodstuffs. Then leave Takayama for the World Heritage site of Shirakawago Gassho-zukuri Village. Comprising buildings re locat ed from authentic villages nearby that were razed for a dam, the village is also a vibrant com-munity whose residents work together to preserve the unique traditional architecture here known as Gassho style. Next visit that dam – Miboro – the largest dam constructed using “rock-fill technology,” i.e. just stones and clay. Late afternoon reach the castle town of Kanazawa, an alluring coastal city that survived the ravages of World War II. (B,L)

Day 8: Kanazawa Today’s tour of this culturally rich city features renowned Kenrokuen Garden, a national landmark whose origins date to 1676. Also see Ishikawa Gate, the only remaining section of the town’s original castle; the Gold Leaf Museum celebrating the art and craft of gold leaf technology; and the Higashi Chayagai tea house and geisha area. Your last stop is the Nagamachi Samurai district, where the ruling family’s samurai warriors lived. (B,D)

Day 9: Kanazawa and Kyoto This morning visit the Kutani Ceramics Museum celebrating this quintessential Japanese art form, and the Asakusa Isokichi Art Museum. Then board the train for Kyoto, once Japan’s Imperial Capital and now the country’s cultural and artistic capital. With its many temples, shrines, artful gardens, and well-preserved wooden architecture, Kyoto embodies Japan’s rich culture and complex history. (B,D)

Day 10: Kyoto Today’s tour reveals the highlights of Kyoto, which was spared destruction during World War II. Highlights include 16th-century Ryoan-ji Temple, with the dry garden of sand and rocks (kare-sansui) and Kinkaku-ji, the lakeside Tem-ple of the Golden Pavilion. Also visit the ornate Nijo

Castle (c. 1603), where the shogun asserted control over the city and its people and attend a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, a historic, ritualized ceremony of form, grace, and spirituality. (B)

Day 11: Nara Today, enjoy an excursion to Nara, Japan’s ancient capital. Take a walking tour to see the Kasuga Taisha Shrine and Todaiji Temple, both World Heritage sites, and the Nara National Museum. Return to Kyoto late afternoon. (B)

Day 12: Kyoto See the sights today from a slightly different perspective as you embark on a cycling tour through the grounds of the Imperial Palace and its garden, Kyoto-gyoen, and the Gion district where geishas gather. Dismount to stroll through Miyakawacho, where the geishas live, and Machiya, a neighborhood of traditional townhouses. Tonight enjoy a fare well dinner at a local restaurant. (B,D)

Day 13: Depart Kyoto for the U.S. Travel by coach to Osaka, to board return flights to the U.S. (B)

Young girl in traditional attire

2014 Tour Dates and Prices including international airfare and all taxes, surcharges, and fees

May 14 Sep 13 Sep 27

Los Angeles, San Francisco $6,286

Portland (OR), Seattle $6,486

Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit,

$6,686

Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix

Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Miami, $6,786 Orlando, Tampa, Washington, DC

Land Only $4,995

Please call if your city is not listed. Prices are per person based on double occu pancy and include airline taxes, fuel surcharges, and departure fees of $691, which are subject to change until final payment is made. Single travelers please add $1,195. All 2014 tour prices above (excluding airline taxes, fuel surcharges and departure fees) are guaranteed.

Business Class upgrade on round-trip transpacific flight: $4,595 per person from San Francisco (upgrade is on request and pricing is subject to change).

Your Tour Price Includes• Round-trip air transportation from listed cities• 11 nights accommodations: 10 nights in Superior

First Class and First Class hotels; 1 night in traditional Japanese ryokan

• 18 meals: 11 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 6 dinners • Extensive sightseeing as described, including all

entrance fees• Services of a professional Tour Director • Lectures by Smithsonian Expert• Private motorcoach transportation throughout your trip• Train transportation as described• Luggage handling for one bag per person• Gratuities for Tour Director, local guides, dining room

servers, airport and hotel porters, and all drivers

Your Tour Price Includes• Round-trip train transportation Kyoto/Hiroshima• 2 nights accommodations at Hotel Granvia Hiroshima

(First Class)• 3 Meals: 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch• Extensive included sightseeing: Isukushima Shrine;

Hiroshima touring by local “Hiroden” train; visit to Peace Memorial Park and Museum; Japan Maritime Service School

• Services of a professional Tour Director• Gratuities to Tour Director, dining room servers, hotel

porters, and drivers

HirosHima: City of pEaCE3 days/2 nights for $895 total price

Single Supplement: $95

Discover the modern and cosmopolitan city of Hiroshima, reborn from the atomic

des truction of World War II.

Post-Tour Extension

“It was excellent, very enlightening, very memorable.”-Smithsonian Traveler

Carol Morland is a Japanese art historian, with special expertise in the painting of the Edo period. She has taught courses in East and Southeast Asian art at the University of Michigan and Nanzan University (Nagoya, Japan). Carol has been

an editor for the Asian art magazine, Orientations, and has translated Japanese articles for that publica-tion and others. Most recently, she was an assistant curator at the Honolulu Museum of Art, where she focused on the museum’s collection of ukiyo-e. Carol holds an M.A. in Japanese studies and a Ph.D. in Japanese art history from the University of Michigan. She will lead the September 27 departure. The other departures will be led by comparable experts.

Smithsonian Expert

53Call 1-877-338-8687 or visit SmithsonianJourneys.orgTo Register