Reviews

We had a great time and the concept of group tours was new. In hindsight we should have spent some time at the welcome meal for people to introduce themselves.
For our taste there were too many “western style dinners”, particularly as they were of low quality. We loved the Japanese food and realized that it must have been a challenge to serve 27 people quickly.
The schedule was kept to, despite some folks returning late to meeting points, there was no contingency for this,
Our tour leader did an amazing job juggling the schedule and some special requests.

Our wonderful guide “ Jimmy “ made the trip so special his knowledge and how he looked after us was exceptional.

Knowledgeable, organised and friendly tour guide. Good variety of places/ experiences e.g. temples, snow monkeys, bullet train. Enjoyed the meals and the opportunity to taste different Japanese foods. Hotels were of a good standard. We did feel that categorizing the tour as 'physical level 1' was not accurate as on some days a lot of walking and steps were involved.

The Experience Japan tour was a great introduction to Japan for a first time visitor.
The pace of the itinerary was fairly full-on and the group I travelled with were interesting people who seemed very open to enjoying the tour. There were occasions when I wondered if anyone from Wendy Wu had actually attempted to visit everything in the time allocated as we didn't have enough time to properly explore some of the sites (for example, the queues at Matsumoto castle meant we didn't all get chance to see inside). Our wonderful guide, Yu, was exceptional and as flexible as the itinerary allowed. He managed to get us all where we needed to be within the time allocated - not an easy task, but he accomplished it with tenacity and good humour.
Quite a lot of the travel was by coach, which was comfortable and spacious. There was a moderate amount of walking involved as we toured the various sites, but none of it was strenuous. The train journeys were very good and well organised. Yu's English was excellent and I really appreciated his knowledge of the areas we visited and his enthusiasm for sharing information about the Japanese language and culture, including providing tastes of local delicacies.
The hotels were quite varied and all were comfortable. Food options were mainly buffets. I did expect more Japanese menus, but on a group tour all tastes need to be accommodated and a buffet is probably the easiest way to do this.
Highlights for me were the train rides, beautiful clear views of Mt Fuji (we were so lucky with the weather these two days!), vending machines, the lovely mountain scenery, the onsen, and getting a small insight into a different culture to my own.
I could have happily dispensed with the river cruise in Osaka (underwhelming), the origami and fan painting. I realise these activities are optional and if I visited again I would prefer more free time to explore and immerse myself in the places we visited. The shrines were really interesting, but towards the end of the tour I did feel as though I'd probably seen enough for the time being.
The trip felt a bit like a whistle-stop tour of Japan at times, but it has provided me with a very good idea of what I'd like to do next time I visit - and I do think there will be a next time.

We felt the brochure was misleading as this tour was rated level 1. We are fit ,but found the tour strenuous and tiring. To be fair we saw so many wonderful things but some passengers had difficuties.
The first transfer surprised us that we needed to get a bus then taxi. After 16 hours flying with 3 flights this wasn't ideal. It was even less ideal on the return when we were expected to do the same and be at the airport a 5.45 am. Eventually Toshi our guide was able to arrange a taxi at a very late stage. We really enjoyed the activities, tea ceremony, origami and fan painting. We would have liked a couple more evening buffets to allow for a bit more International food and not quite so much Japanese food. On hindsight we would have liked an evening with Geisha music singing and dancing. Probably at extra cost. We really enjoyed the holiday and were very lucky with the blossom and weather. Thank you.