Japan- cruise or land tour

The least time to fly from lower 48 states is Seattle to Japan via Circle Route is 8 hrs 40 mins. I flew this way and you can usually see the Gulf of Alaska from way up. One time I flew from Vancouver BC to London on Mid-Summers Night and it was Daylight most of the way. We went over Hudson's Bay and had a short stop in Iceland in which earth was red, and over Ireland which was green. I always ask for a window seat, They have fast trains in Japan. I just visited Tokyo and environs on a stop-over from visiting the Philippine Islands.

You should choose land! You will get so much more out of your trip to Japan by touring on land.

I did both last April, and I was glad that I did. It was such a long flight to get there that I wanted to optimize my time. I started out with a few independent days in Tokyo where Team Lab Planets and getting to walk through the Imperial Palace grounds for cherry blossom viewing were highlights.

I then joined my 8 night land tour from Inspiring Vacations, an Australian Company. We focused on Tokyo and to the south staying in Hamamatsu, Osaka, and Shizuoka. It went to what I would call “typical” tourist sites with a few others such as the Ninja Museum thrown in. Lodging was fine, the guide was great, and we were often parking our bus right next to other tour companies that were charging twice as much for the same basic itinerary. Our guide gave us great insights into Japanese language, food, and culture. I learned a great deal.

We ended our tour back in Tokyo and I took the train the short distance to Yokohama and boarded the Diamond Princess there for a 12 night cruise that circumnavigated the main islands of Japan ( one stop in Busan) and allowed me to see more of a variety of geography and experiences than I saw on the land tour. I loved seeing ports to the North. I found I really enjoyed the cruise, but that I was also glad I had done the land tour as well. Cruise excursions give you even less time to connect with local culture than a land tour. They are at the very best a sampler and you are pretty isolated from the population.

I love combining a land tour with a cruise and have also done this in Turkey as well as planning to do so in Southeast Asia.

I cannot speak to a cruise, but we went to Japan in 2017, and I think you will miss quite a bit if you just do a cruise. I am thinking inland locations - Tokyo and Kyoto in particular, and both cities are a must-see! If you are looking for a tour, we have taken several very good ones from OAT (overseas Adventure Travel) and their Japan itineraries seem to cover the highlights. When we went, we did all the planning ourselves, using www.japan-guide.com, Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor. It was all amazing.

Land. Many of the places visited on a cruise aren't even for a full day while on a land tour you might get 2-3 days at the same place.

Bring lots of things to distract you on the plane and arrive a couple of days, at least, prior to your tour. It will allow you to get over any jet lag and have extra time to see the sights.

Japan is not as difficult as it seems to get around.

I did a 2 week land tour many years ago and enjoyed it quite a bit, going off away from the tour for a couple of days to visit a busness I had bought from. Since I spoke Japanese fairly well at that time, I had no trouble getting around on my own.

Cruise Youtube channel TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ( note the 2 Ls, the British spelling ) has taken 2 cruises around Japan and has several useful videos on the trips

Checkout Youtube channel TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS for several useful videos on cruising Japan

We did Japan in 2015. Originally, we were doing a cruise that went around Japan, but it was cancelled, so we transferred to a Celebrity cruise from Tokyo that visited five ports in Japan (one in Okinawa) as well as Shanghai and Taiwan, ending in Hong Kong.

Still, we wanted to do more of Japan than the cruise, so we planned several days to fly in early and do it with individual tours.
We spend about three days in Tokyo, did a day trip north to amazing Nikko, the a tour (local company) to Nara and Kyoto on the fast train. Nara and Kyoto were the highlight of the trip. Kyoto wasn't damaged in WWII and it was special, we did three days in Kyoto and Nara.

The cruise was wonderful and we visiting ports like Osaka, Nagasaki and Kobe. Okinawa was interesting and Taiwan was special, we did two full days there. The museum in Taipei was special, it was all the stuff from the national museum that the nationalists removed from Beijing. Hong Kong is great (we had been there before).

I know OAT and Odyssey are good tour companies, just make sure you have plenty of time in Kyoto. We love Gate 1 Travel, but not sure what they have for Japan.

We love Japan, especially the wonderful people. Also, it is one of the cleanest countries in the World (NO trash on the streets).

Since you have more than a year before you plan to go, I suggest spending some time looking at travel books: Rough Guide to Japan, Lonely Planet Japan and others that show up in the library catalog under Japan - Guidebooks. Check the itineraries of the various tour companies to see which areas they cover and for how long. Do they agree with the guidebooks? Do they seem like what you would like to spend your time doing?

My first trip to Japan was on a Road Scholar tour actually run by Walk Japan, with wonderfully knowledgeable guides. Road Scholar now offers a wider variety of tours, none of which covers as much ground as the one I took years ago. As you consider the recommended tours consider how big the tour group is, how much time you will spend on trains and buses, free time, are all the meals with others, etc. Since you are familiar with the Rick Steve's tours you have taken, you will have some idea how you feel about this.

Maybe you don't need a tour at all. After checking the guidebooks & information from the tour groups, could you arrange your own? A day in Yokohama rather than that 3rd day in Tokyo; Hamamatsu and its music museum; Himeji Castle; Okayama (castle & garden) and nearby Kurashiki; over the bridge to Shikoku with more castles, gardens & museums; a loop north to Matsumoto with the Castle and Yayoi Kusama art in the Matsumoto Art museum. There is so much you won't see on a tour, but you could always plan to go back for more afterwards. Good luck, have fun.