Inspiring Vacation tours to Japan

No, but I’m looking at Inside Japan for a kinda my way type tour in April 2025

I am also working with Inside Japan. It is "independent" travel but they hold your hand.
My consultant is super. If you want her contact information, send me a private message.

I’ve been emailing with Luke at Inside Japan. Nothing concrete yet though. Will do more research and probably start being serious January 2024.

@valerie, hope you don't mind if I piggyback onto this thread. I'm also thinking of Japan but probably not until 2026.

Barbara and vandrabrud, thanks for the info on Inside Japan - I will check them out!

Our two long time friends went to Japan with Inspiring Vacation for 2 weeks in March/April this year. They found the tour on Travel Zoo. They had a great time. All was good. I don't know if it makes a difference if you book directly with Inspiring Vacation, but it sounds like the company is legitimate. I myself would prefer not to book through a third party like Travel Zoo, but it worked out fine with our friends!

What ORDtraveller is saying rings true with me.....However, a first trip to an Asian country can seem daunting.

I feel pretty comfortable now that I could arrange a successful trip to Japan on my own. If my budget was severely limited, that is what I would do. But, of course this is after I have been corresponding with my Inside Japan agent and studying other sources.
It is convenient to have easy access to full day guides at each stop, to have the transport card handled and to know that there will always be assistance at the other end of a phone call or email.

I have visited Japan several times for very short (3-4 days) personal and employer/business trips, and have found it incredibly easy to navigate. On your arrival, it may be helpful to take an organized day trip or two from Tokyo using one of the tour companies that your hotel can tell you about. It's fair to say that Japan is my favorite destination - wish I could get a job there for a year or so!

...Japan is quite easy to tour independently if you want to consider it.

I agree with this 100 percent. I have been to Japan a half dozen times, and I have never had any issues with a DIY independent itinerary.

If anything, it has become easier for English speakers to travel in Japan than when I first went 20 years ago when English in hotels and tourist sites was much less common than it is now, but it still wasn't a barrier to me back then.

Japan is incredibly easy to visit on your own. It's surprisingly affordable too.

I'll echo others and say Japan is pretty great to travel independently. My wife and I usually take tours when we go to Europe, but in Japan, we got along fine on our own - and we only knew a few Japanese phrases. If you're worried about the language, you can stay at a Western brand hotel, and the concierge can help answer questions, make reservations and give you directions. The public transit system is unparalleled, and the shinkansen (bullet train) makes it easy to travel long distances across the country.

If you do go independently, I recommend booking half-day or full-day tours from sites like Viator. We really enjoyed this hybrid of independent exploring and touring.

Folks, I just posted my trip report in the Trip Reports section. Hope you find it useful.