Japan Unmasked tour in April
Joined Japan Unmasked tour in April 2025 as a solo traveler and caught the tail end of the cherry blossom season in the mountains. Fantastic tour with a good mix of big city, small town, and nature experiences. Amazing tour guide David. Folks who are used to walking/hiking will have more fun. Install Google Maps (a must for getting around, works great for metro in Tokyo) and Google Translate (useful for shopping). Experiencing traditional style lodgings enhanced the tour tremendously. Nagano, Takayama, and Hiroshima/Miajima were the most memorable for me, all for different reasons. Travelers should keep an open mind about the group dinners since izakayas are not everyone’s cup of tea (so research restaurants in advance and get help with making reservations if you’re a picky eater). I wish I could have also visited Hakone, but that’s for another trip to Asia since a 2 week tour was already plenty long. At some point I’ll go back for that and likely pair up Japan with another Asian country for a custom tour. Happy to work again with Inside Japan/Inside Asia, everyone I interacted with was very helpful and positive.