Japan

In one of Japan’s premier sushi restaurants, a master chef will personally prepare a welcoming feast for your party. You can watch or even help out as he expertly prepares fugu fish – deadly poisonous if not handled correctly, so watching may be a better option for the jetlagged among you. And if you’re interested in a more wide-ranging introduction to Japanese cookery, we’ll ask a renowned gourmand to guide you through the intricacies of traditional cuisine and its regional variations. 

While you’re in Tokyo we can also arrange an exclusive kabuki performance, with an English-speaking expert to quietly guide you through the performance. Or perhaps you’d like to visit a sumo stable to watch apprentices go through their paces – and then take your ringside seat to get up close (though hopefully not too personal) during a bout.

Heading south, you’ll likely want to explore Mount Fuji on foot or horseback. We’d also recommend a visit to Kyoto, the former imperial capital. We’ll reserve an ancient ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, exclusively for your party and introduce you to the nuances of the tea ceremony while a geisha serenades you with classical music. We’ll also make sure you gain access to sites such as Kinkaku-ji – after the madding crowds have departed, so you can experience this splendid Buddhist temple at its most serene.

We could go on: private heli-skiing in Hokkaido, personal calligraphy lessons from a national champion, soaking in a cypress-wood tub at a traditional country onsen or spa. But the main point is that a trip to Japan is not a matter of checking off monuments in a guidebook. It’s about the experiences you have along the way, and the extraordinary people who make them happen – which is where Brown + Hudson shines.  No one else unwraps Japan like we do.