Japanese Ikigai and the Path to Happiness , Japan

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Culture with a local guide
See Japan like a local
Learn to cook Japanese style

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Culture with a local guide
See Japan like a local
Learn to cook Japanese style

Culture with a local guide
See Japan like a local
Learn to cook Japanese style

Find new meaning in Japan's old ways on a special cultural trip that explores Japanese philosophical concepts from wabi sabi to the bushido samurai code and ikigai.

Tokyo

Day 1 you'll arrive into Tokyo a shared shuttle bus transfer will take you to your first hotel in the historic Asakusa district. Richmond Asakusa for 3 nights. There's plenty to see on your doorstep including Tokyo's oldest temple Senso-ji, and you're also just a short hop from the Skytree if you wish to see the capital from above. Of course, you may just want to crash in your hotel room and sleep off any jetlag, that's why you are free this afternoon free for you to do as you please.

Day 2 you will join a guided tour of Tokyo. The walking tour shows two distinct faces of the capital: first the quaint, nostalgic district of Yanaka and elegant Rikugien Garden, before heading to fashionable Omotesando and the neon lights of Shibuya. Your guide will have an eye on sustainable tourism today as you visit family-run craft shops and traditional food stalls along the way for a fascinating first day in Japan.

Day 3 time to try your hand at the art of kintsugi. Literally “golden joinery”, kintsugi uses lacquer dust mixed with powdered gold to repair broken pottery or ceramics. The aim is not to hide the breakages but display the imperfections in a way that is even more beautiful. You will have a kintsugi lesson where you can learn about the history and techniques of this 15th century art and repair a broken item to take home.

Izu Peninsula

Day 4 and 5 you'll take the train from Tokyo down the coast to the Izu Peninsula. Your home tonight is a beautiful ryokan inn Hanafubuki near the sea. Dinner tonight is a fabulous kaiseki banquet at your accommodation.

Before you leave the ryokan inn, you must try the onsen hot spring baths. Unlike most places where bathing is communal, this ryokan has seven different outdoor baths that you can lock behind you for private use. A great opportunity to try hot spring bathing Japan-style in privacy.

Later, your journey will continue by train on to Kyoto. En-route you could stop off in Atami to visit the wonderful Museum of Modern Art. Overnight: Mitsui Garden Shijo

Kyoto

Day 6 and 7 Yor your first full day in Kyoto you will be accompanied by a private guide so you can really get to grips with the city's intricate culture and history. As part of your day together, you'll visit a temple for a meditation experience with the head priest – your guide is on hand to translate.

The priest will instruct you in how to sit, breath and focus before initiating a short 10-minute session of meditation. After sounding a bell to break you from your trance, he will give a further explanation of the ways of Zen before beginning another short period of contemplation. The priest can answer any questions you have about this form of meditation, Buddhism or life in general.

The following day you will receive a hands-on lesson in roketsu indigo dyeing today. The studio is a family-run business, and the instructors have more than 50 years' experience, utilising techniques developed by artisans working with kimonos. Roketsu dyeing is unique to Kyoto and makes use of wax to block dyes in an area finely drawn by hand on cloth.

Ayabe

Days 8 and 9. Today's travels will take you into the Japanese countryside. You'll take a train north from Kyoto to Ayabe station, a journey of around one hour. Here you'll stay at a beautiful farmhouse Furumaya House run by a young couple who chose to escape the big city and live off the land. This is a gorgeous place to spend a couple of days, relaxing with a book, wandering the country lanes, helping on the farm or chatting to your hosts.

The hosts at the farmhouse invite you to take part in a simple tea ceremony today. The ancient rituals surrounding the preparation and presentation of matcha powdered green tea date back to the 12th century when Buddhist monks began using tea in religious ceremonies. Later the practice spread to samurai warriors in their aim to bring a concentrated level of awareness to everyday activities. There is certainly a controlled meditative element to the tea ceremony and the carefully prescribed movements are based on four principles: harmony, respect, purity and tranquility.

In the afternoon you can also learn how to make simple Japanese dishes in the farmhouse kitchen. Pick up some new cooking techniques to incorporate into your life back home.

Kiso Valley

You'll need to be on an 8am train this morning for the four hour journey to Nakatsugawa, gateway to the Kiso Valley and the well-preserved postal villages of Magome and Tsumago.

The best way to explore this area is on foot – it's a three hour walk between the villages along the most beautiful remaining section of the old Nakasendo highway. The Nakasendo was one of the five routes used by samurai to travel between Tokyo and Kyoto during the Edo period and walking it today will reveal a side of Japan seldom seen by either foreigners or Japanese alike. Waterfalls, stone paths, mountain views, and bamboo forests all make this a walk not to be missed. Tonight you'll stay in a charming ryokan inn Daikichi Minshuku in Tsumago. The samurai trail continues today as you walk another section of the Nakasendo highway to Nagsio (one hour) and then take the train to Matsumoto. Matsumoto is home to one of Japan's best-preserved samurai castles. Having survived over four hundred years through wars, earthquakes and fires, the current keep dates back to around the late sixteenth century. Stay tonight at Richmond Matsumoto.
Matsumoto is famous for its soba buckwheat noodles and there are numerous restaurants in town serving this simple but tasty dish. Today you will be making soba noodles from scratch, learning how to serve them and then most importantly how to enjoy eating them! The 1-hour course takes place at Takagi, a shop that's been in operation for over 130 years and located close to Matsumoto Castle.

You have a final free day to explore Tokyo and perhaps see anything you missed at the start of your trip. Tonight, you'll meet up with another of our Insider experts and some other travellers for an evening food tour around Shinjuku. The route includes three stops at some of the best kept secret eateries, tucked down alleyways or hidden high above street level. En-route you'll get to see some of Shinjuku's famous neon scenery like something out of Blade Runner (the original movie, of course).

At the end of the evening, your Insider will part ways with you at Shinjuku's famous Golden Gai, a collection of cosy bars just a stone's throw from the bustling main streets. You're free to stay out for as long as you'd like with your new friends, or your Insider will happily to escort you back to the start.

Afterwards, your Japan trip comes full circle as you take the train back to Tokyo. This time you'll be staying on the west side of the city in the modern Shinjuku district at Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku.