Our travel to Japan was focused on doing photography of the fall colours. After studying the details available on the internet we selected Gardens I Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto, Kanazawa and for tourism purposes we selected Hiroshima and Miyajima. In order to capture the fall colours in these areas we chose to travel in the early part of November.

There are several exceptionally good travel agents in Japan who do a meticulous and very efficient tour management. We took advise of business associates and selected KRONOS INTERNATIONAL in Tokyo do our travel arrangement. They booked all the Hotels, Train tickets and internal air travel tickets. However we chose to select guides for each city from the Viator or Tours by Locals web sites selecting those who had a special interest in photography.

Several leading professional Photographers from different parts of the world offer dedicated tours of Japan for Autumn and Spring photography. But this ties one down to a specific route and also if your spouse is accompanying then they have very little opportunity for general tourism. So we chose a professional photographer for our photo shoots on Kyoto and used regular guides from the web sites mentioned above for regular sight seeing in all the cities. The Guides are very well trained, informative and will go out of their way to help you in every possible manner. Very good service indeed.

Must say that Japan is expensive for Hotels, Guides, Local Car transport and Entertainment. If you need spacious rooms in a hotel they are available but at a much greater price. So one has to be liberal in ones budget . Alternative is to do a tour by your self using conducted tours and translation on smart phones. But it can be a challenging job for those who are not savvy smart phone users. Understanding Japanese Train time tables is a challenge!

We found a practical and reasonably priced way to transfer bigger luggage a day from the hotel where we were staying a day before the travel by Shinkansen Trains to the hotels where we were staying at the next destination. This helped us immensely in the train journeys. This is a well established service in Japan and was arranged by the travel agent.

Day 1: Arrive Haneda
Day 2, 3, 4 : Tokyo
Day 5, 6 : Kawaguchiko and Mount Fuji
Day 7 : Hakone
Day 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 : Kyoto
Day 13 : Fukushima ( Only for witnessing Sumo Wrestling Tournament )
Day 14, 15 : Kanazawa
Day :16 Tokyo for return flight

The Japanese dedication to high quality of service was experienced by us. Not even once did we have to call and remind any of the service providers about their arrival. Absolute flawless and seamless arrangements.

Shinjuku Goen park, Imperial Palace, Koishikawa Korakuen Garden, Showakinen Park

All the Five lakes surrounding Mount Fuji, Oshino Hakai in Yamanshi Prefecture, Momji Corridor and Cherito Pagoda in Kawaguchiko

Eikando Temple, Ryaonji Temple, Tofukoji Temple, Arayashima Firest, Ginkakuji Temple, Fushami Inari Temple, Sanzen-in Temple.

Kenroken Garden.