Reviews

Our first escorted tour and probably the best holiday we had! From being greeted off our delayed flight in Osaka with a big smile from our Wendy Wu greeter, ensured we were on our way to our hotel. A big smile and greeting from our guide, Taichi Imamura at the hotel although late, made us feel "at home" and he ensured that we had our bentobox dinner.
Words cannot describe how Taichi made sure that everyone knew what was happening at each place we stopped at, where the best rest rooms were, places to pick up snacks. Even taking photos for everyone with their cameras and phones to ensure all memories were saved of the magnificent sights we saw. All the coach drivers were fantastic throughout the tour, hotels were very good and generally spacious and the places we were taken to for lunch and dinner had excellent facilities and good quality food. I can safely say that all the people on the tour, which comprised Australians, New Zealanders, Tasmanians and English, from the very first evening to the last all got on and mixed amongst each other and some great fun times were had by all.
We even found time to locate a few "Irish hubs"(pub) on the evenings and had some great laughs with Brian and Brenda from New Zealand, Tom and Kim and Stella/Julia in them. There were so many places we saw including Mount Fuji, Hiroshima dome and museum (which brought the heartache of suffering to mind), so many beautiful shrines and temples, finishing with seeing Sumo wrestling and the gorgeous Imperial East gardens and Shabuya scramble crossing.The views from the Sky Tree Tower were unbelievable too!
So clean, so cultural, so friendly, so beautiful. That was Japan uncovered for us!
Thank you Wendy Wu Tours

There was a good mix of activities and visits, although the number of tourists at this time of the year was greater than anticipated. Personally, I enjoyed the drumming and sumo wrestling most of the activities.
The scenery was spectacular with very green mountains and actually seeing the top of Mount Fuji while at the phlox festival was also a highlight.
Takayama was a lovely town which was probably worth another day.
On the whole some of the street food was more to my taste than some of the included vegetarian food as I found it rather too bland, but that's just my preference.

We were able to understand the Japanese culture both the traditional and the modern so much better after the trip. We watched Sumo wrestling played tradition drums and stayed in a bhudist monastery among many activities. On the other hand we went to a robot restaurant and went on the bullet train. The guide showed great initiative in catering for the needs of quite a diverse group of people.