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Food & Drink
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Fireworks, Yukata, and Live Music: Meiji Jingu Shrine's Prayer for Safety for Visitors Festival. Special One-Day Tour—Enjoy the Tokyo Summer Through a Shrine Fireworks Display
An extraordinarily special day at Meiji Jingu Shrine and Meiji Jingu Gaien, right in the heart of Tokyo. Take part in a special prayer ceremony for the safety of visitors to Japan at the Meiji Jingu Kaguraden, where you will be presented with a prayer talisman with your name written in katakana. Next, enjoy lunch at Forest Terrace Meiji Jingu inside Meiji Jingu Gaien. After a summer yukata dressing service, head to your special seats at Jingu stadium for a live show and fireworks. You will have an opportunity to take photos with live performer Ken Matsudaira (TBC) and watch a show of 400 fireworks to welcome you to Japan. Accomodation at a nearby hotel and arranged transport in special chartered vehicles will make your stay easy and comfortable. Enjoy all this and many other special perks and spend a summer in Tokyo unlike any other.
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Special Night Admission to Itsukushima Shrine, Bugaku Dance Viewing, and G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023 Attraction Tour
This tour will include a guided walk around the island of Miyajima, as well as lunch at Akushu Restaurant, which uses ingredients with ties to Hiroshima and the G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023. The tour will then visit the Miyajima History and Folklore Museum for a participatory cultural experience, followed by dinner at Momijidani Park, where guests will have the opportunity to watch a ceremonial performing art known as "kagura" on stage from dedicated spectator seating. The highlight of this tour grants guests special access to Itsukushima Shrine after hours for a bugaku dance performance. Finally, projection mapping created especially for this tour will be shown against the backdrop of the Japanese garden at the Miyajima History and Folklore Museum. This will be a four-part program comprising “Nature and Religious Beliefs from Ancient Times,” “Medieval Period: Itsukushima Shrine and the Rise and Fall of the Taira Clan,” “Early Modern Period: Development as a Trading Post and the Prosperity of the City,” and “Modern Period: War and Reconstruction, Peaceful Times, and the G7.”
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World Natural Heritage Site of Shiretoko: Experience Fishing with Rausu Kelp Fishermen and Learn about Japanese “DASHI” Culture
The setting for this experience is the World Natural Heritage Site of Shiretoko. Rausu Kelp fishermen are traditional Japanese craftsmen, and one of their production sites will be made specially available to those wanting to experience the actual production of Rausu Kelp. Participants can see kelp fishing up close, try their hand at washing and drying kelp, and learn how kelp is made into different sorts of products. Some of the kelp fishermen will be offering tours on their fishing boats to help you get a sneak peek into the underwater world. You can use actual fishing gear to look down into the seabed to see how kelp grows. You can also help make some local dishes and special lunches with the fishermen’s wives. Finally, the tour will take you to the fish market (normally closed to the public) to see all the various types of fish caught in the local area and to watch the fish auction. Enjoy traditional Japanese culture at a deeper level. Seaside Cottage KOBUSTAY will open in February 2025, allowing guests to experience the kelp fisherman’s lifestyle in its entirety.
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Dinner Show Featuring Gagaku Court Music by Hideki Togi and Japanese Cuisine with an Illuminated Mikazuki Falls
Kusu, Oita Prefecture, will host a special tour based around the theme of “The Legend of Mikazuki Falls,” a Heian-period tale of true love in Kyoto. This tour offers abundant attractions for international tourists seeking to experience what makes Japan unique.
For two days, there will be dinner shows featuring live performances of gagaku ancient court music by Hideki Togi at Arashiyama Taki Shrine during the mid-autumn Harvest Moon, when the full moon shines brightest in the clear night sky. The Togi family have passed down gagaku court music from generation to generation since the Nara period 1,300 years ago. Hideki Togi, who inherited this tradition, has performed at court ceremonies and gagaku concerts held at the Imperial Palace throughout his career. He has also played a large role in promoting traditional Japanese culture and encouraging international goodwill. Sushi Kappo Yamanaka, a famous restaurant frequented by food connoisseurs from all over Japan since its opening in 1972, provides the cuisine for dinner shows. The seafood used for their Hakata sushi is procured from the Genkai Sea and other nearby coastal waters and is carefully selected by the restaurant's owner. The chefs will spare no expense in preparing your meal for this gem of an event. The dinner will also feature local Kusu Rice, which is the same type of rice specially offered to deities at the Daijosai Festival.
This event, featuring Japanese-style lighting of Mikazuki Falls and Arashiyama Taki Shrine, gagaku court music accompaniments by Hideki Togi, and a collaboration with local restaurants in Kusu town, will continue for the next two months.
The beauty of Mikazuki Falls and Arashiyama Taki Shrine, lit up in a quintessential Japanese style, makes for the perfect view to enjoy with the gagaku court music by Hideki Togi in the background, and is sure to be a hit on social media! This event offers a precious opportunity to experience the true depths and beauty of Japanese culture. Centered around luxurious Japanese tradition and history, this special event will make for unforgettable memories. -
TANADA MORNING
Inagura's rice terraces have captivated many, and have also been selected among the “100 Best Rice Terraces in Japan."
Okazaki Shuzo, a sake brewery in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture that has been brewing high-quality sake for 350 years, tends to these fields. This not only provides the brewery with rice for sake, but also preserves the landscape.
Anyone who works the rice fields knows that the Inagura rice terraces are the most beautiful when bathed in the morning light. Now, visitors will have the chance to take in the sights, sounds, and flavors of this landscape as part of a new type of sake tourism by Okazaki Shuzo: the rice terrace breakfast.
Enjoy a private breakfast among the rice terraces, a landscape formed and perserved by sake brewing, while basking in the morning sun. -
Beginners Adventure Tours
[Course A]
・Spectacular views! Zip downhill on an e-bike from Bihoro Pass overlooking a caldera lake (Lake Kussharo) in Akan-Mashu National Park (electric-assisted bicycle tour)
・Kayak along the Wakoto Peninsula, a place of boiling hot spring water, before coming ashore to experience the volcano in Oyakotsu Jigoku
・Eat a special homemade lunch using locally-produced ingredients on the shore of Lake Kussharo
・There is also an additional mini-cycling tour available, going by e-bike through agricultural, mountain, and fishing villages to Sunayu for a footbath in the hot springs
・Our final destination is Mt. Io, a geopark where you can feel the real pulse of Hokkaido's Tomoshiri
[Course B]
・Start from Omagari Lakeside Park, a field used by inmates of the former Abashiri Prison (the sunflower and cosmos flower gardens are at their best in August and September!)
・Take a leisurely ride on an e-bike along a bike path that uses the old Kushiro Line with Lake Abashiri at its side
・The coral grass with their bright red leaves that bloom in autumn at the brackish Lake Notoro are at their best in September
・Cycle by e-bike in the magnificent rural landscapes overlooking Cape Notoro
・Cross a sea relic lake! Kayak on Lake Notoro, Abashiri Quasi-National Park
・Cycle by e-bike to Cape Notoro Lighthouse while overlooking the Sea of Okhotsk where ice drifts and re-emerges!
・Have lunch at Connectrip, a hands-on facility at Lake Abashiri, where you can bake your own pizza! After stretching out the dough and topping it off with your favorite local ingredients, bake it in the stone oven for your very own stone-baked pizza! -
Ascetic Training, Senchado Tea Ceremony, and Fucha Cuisine at Manpukuji Temple
Manpukuji Temple was founded in 1661 by the Chinese monk Ingen Ryuki and is the head temple of the Obaku sect of Zen Buddhism. It is characterized by its Chinese-style architecture, in which its seven halls are arranged in the Ming Dynasty style.
The Daio Hoden Main Hall—the only one made of teak in Japan—the Dharma Lecture Hall, the Kaizando Founder’s Hall, and more, still stand as originally constructed. Highlights of the temple also include its Important Cultural Properties, which consist of twenty-three main buildings, corridors, plaques, and hanging couplets.
You can also experience the Chinese culture of the time through the temple's collection of Buddhist statues, framed inscriptions, paintings on sliding-door panels, and hanging scrolls by Buddhist artists from China.
Zen Master Ingen introduced a great number of things to Japan, many of which are taken for granted today. Such imports include kidney beans, watermelon, lotus root, sencha green tea, bamboo shoots (moso bamboo), chairs, tables, and manuscript paper.
Fucha cuisine, the Chinese version of Japanese Buddhist Shojin vegetarian cuisine, is beautifully presented and tastes divine. It is one of the highlights of the event that allows guests to truly experience Chinese culture.
There are Zen monks at Manpukuji who continue to practice asceticism to this day. These monks devote themselves to their practice through zazen meditation, Zen dialogue, religious services, alms begging, and other daily temple work at the Zen dojo located on the temple grounds. Visitors can deepen their understanding of the history and culture of Manpukuji from a digital guide available in seven languages: Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese (simplified and traditional). -
Heian Jingu Tsuki Otoyo: Kyoto Harvest Moon Concert 2024
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration that originated in China to celebrate the fullest and brightest moon of the year. It is now celebrated with great enthusiasm in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and many Southeast Asian countries. This year, the festival falls on August 15, as per the lunar calendar. Traditional "moon-viewing parties" will be hosted this October in the modern setting of Kyoto’s Heian-jingu Shrine. The Daigokuden (outer hall of worship) will be lit up in the background for special live performances by talented musicians to embody the elegant and romantic time that is mid-autumn.
■ Dates: October 12 (Sat.) - October 14 (Mon.)
■ Admission: All seats reserved, advance purchase 8,000 yen / 25,000 yen with meals included (scheduled/admission date designated)
■ Performer: October 12 (Sat.): Hiromi Go October 12 (Sun.): Erika Ikuta October 14 (Mon.): NEO PIANO
[Special Gift for Visitors: Original Japanese Sweets]
This tradition of admiring the moon originates in China. There, they serve round mooncakes in the shape of the full moon. The Tsuki Otoyo Kyoto Harvest Moon Concert represents East Asia's shared culture of affection for the moon. Original Japanese sweets will be handed out to all who join in on the festivities.
[Plan with Dinner]
Enjoy an exquisite dinner at Rokusei, a restaurant located near Heian-jingu Shrine. Savor their Kyoto-style kaiseki cuisine which embodies the culinary culture of Kyoto cultivated over its long history.
Time: 5:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m. each day (concert begins at 7:00 p.m.)
Details: Kyoto-style kaiseki cuisine -
Night Festival at the Tokyo National Museum
The Tokyo National Museum has the longest history of any museum in Japan. It's collection includes numerous masterpieces exemplifying Japanese art, including paintings, swords, calligraphy, and kimonos. This summer, the museum will be holding a special exhibition to showcase valuable cultural assets, such as Buddhist statues and paintings inherited from Jingoji Temple in Kyoto.
In addition to these precious tangible cultural properties, guests can experience the Japanese summer traditions of matsuri festivals and temple fairs.
The temple fair atmosphere cleverly recreated on the museum grounds will greet guests as they enter through the Kuromon "Black Gate" instead of the regular entrance. Once inside, guests can enjoy traditional Japanese festival sweets, such as cotton candy and shaved ice, and take part in popular festival activities and items, including target practice, ring toss, wind chimes, daruma dolls, and masks.
A variety of festival foods will also be offered, from takoyaki octopus dumplings and yakisoba noodles to Japanese beer, chocolate bananas, and other such festival treats. -
Tour of the Suzuka 8 Hours Road Race with VIP Activities
The Suzuka 8 Hours race will take place on July 20 and 21. There are two types of exclusive tours on offer for those wanting to enjoy the race.
The Hospitality Package spans both race days and allows guests to watch the race up close and in person in an exclusive mobile showroom set up directly beside the course for an exhilarating and immersive experience. The local restaurant Kakiya will be offering sukiyaki with Matsusaka beef for this event, and there will be opportunities to meet the riders and coaches of Ducati Team Kagayama, one of the teams competing in the Suzuka 8 Hours race.
The Touring Package is a limited-number set package which includes everything from the Hospitality Package, as well as a few exclusive extras. On July 18 and 19, participants will travel by motorcycle to Iga Ueno, Ise Shrine, and other tourist spots around Mie Prefecture. On July 20, participants will ride on the actual race course of Suzuka 8 Hours. Finally, on July 21, participants will get an exclusive look at the race behind the scenes.