A Walking Tour in Japan
Barry, Roe, Claire, Manny, Aisaku Oruto (our guide for the day), Harriett, and Teri, at Sensō-ji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo
Hora wo fuku (洞を吹く) “Blowing one’s own horn”
I was asked to put together and lead a two-week walking tour in Japan that took place in October 2025. I had led four folding bicycle tours starting in 2016 and most recently in April 2025, but I had never led a group without bicycles. Here are two reviews of the tour, one by Teri, who put together the six-member group for this tour, and the other by Barry, who joined the group with his wife Roe. My comments follow these reviews.
Teri’s review:
I thoroughly enjoyed our adventure. It was one of my favorite trips, and a very favorable first group tour experience (customized is the way to go). I enjoyed each of the communities we visited and the variety of city/landscapes. Our itinerary was a good taste of some of the key cities and historic sights. I could easily have stayed longer in each location.
Highlights of the trip for me included:
You all made the trip especially fun and memorable. I enjoyed getting to know you all, walking, talking, sharing meals and laughing together.
We walked about 6-8 miles a day which was a good length for me. Manny, of course, walked many more miles!
Our homestays in Otowa. How special it was to be welcomed by Toshi and Rebecca into their home. The amount of work they put into hosting us, helping to arrange homestays, collecting obi’s and haori’s, and touring us around is greatly appreciated. Yoshi and his family were wonderful hosts and I very much enjoyed meeting them and learning about their lives in a rural community and traditional home. Yoshi’s cooking was delicious, and it was fascinating learning about his healthy living lifestyle. I look forward to staying in touch.
Traveling by public transportation. Japanese infrastructure is impressive and shows how public investment in the built environment and public transportation can improve life for residents and visitors alike. I am so envious!
Kamakura, Kyoto, Otowa/Lake Biwa, Noda Hanga Wood Block Arts Studio [野田版画工房], I.M. Pei Museum, Shirakawa-go, and Yuwaku Onsen were my favorites.
I’ll need to review my photos and the names of the temples, shrines, and gardens we visited to choose my favorites.
Last but not least, Alex as our tour guide:
Being a scholar of Japanese history, culture and politics made our trip interesting, educational, and fun. His expert language, and interpreting skills were so helpful and made traveling easy. And he was calm when we inundated him with questions of what does this say or what ingredients...
Alex turned my initial research and wish list of cities and sights into a robust itinerary. I appreciated his efforts to avoid the very touristed sites. Given the crowds we encountered, I can’t imagine what the more popular sights would have been like.
I appreciated the somewhat flexible schedule that allowed us to wander and to choose our own sights to visit if we wanted to go off on our own. Although that was a little intimidating at first.
I appreciate that when glitches arose, Alex was right on it to find a happy solution.
What I would do differently:
I would have appreciated a little more downtime to tour neighborhoods and hang with the group. It is a tricky balance between wanting to see as much as possible in the allotted time and just enjoying being together and experiencing the local scene. I might also incorporate some group check in time to see how folks are feeling and if we wanted to adjust our activities. For instance, the last morning in Kanazawa, I would have appreciated choosing activities as a group when we found we had more time to explore, although I did enjoy my walk around the port and I think you all enjoyed the automaton museum.
As much as we saw sights that were not the most touristed, I found the crowds at many of the temples and gardens to be overwhelming and diminished my enjoyment of the space. I was not able to sit quietly and enjoy the spiritual or natural qualities (even though I was able to find some of the least populated paths). Sometimes the timeline for touring the sights on our own was a bit tight to see all there was to see in a leisurely way. Maybe fewer sights…
I would choose to see even more off the beaten path sites in the future.
As much as I wanted to see Nara, I was hoping to see the quieter side. I had no interest in the deer park and didn’t know that we would need to walk through it and the mass of tourists feeding aggressive deer to get to the sites on our itinerary. I agree with Barry, the temple we happened upon on our route back to the train station was very pleasant. I wouldn’t eliminate Nara from the itinerary, but I’d spend more time researching and finding those quieter places! I read after we got home that there is a downtown somewhere that we didn’t see that is less crowded than the main drag and other less accessible temples/shrines thankfully without deer!
Noda Woodblock Print Studio, Higashiōmi, Shiga Prefecture
Barry’s review:
I must start by saying this was a marvelous trip and much of the success of the trip for me boils down to how well organized and detailed was Alex’s planning for the trip. The careful route planning, transportation arrangements and hotel choices made life easier for all of us. Also, it must be noted that Alex’s deep love for the history and culture of Japan enriched our experience.
It was enriching to see some of the historic sites, temples and gardens that are so central to appreciating Japan. But perhaps it is not so important to always have it be the most prominent examples of those sites. After we had endured the crowds at the first big palace complex, and again at the big Buddah in Kamakura [Kōtoku-in 高徳院], perhaps we did not need so many shrines on the agenda. And one smaller shrine/garden that we encountered the afternoon after the Philosopher’s Walk outing was blessedly uncrowded, allowing a much more relaxed and pleasing perusal of the grounds. The big garden on the outskirts of Kyoto that we did that morning was a treat [Shūgakuin Rikyū 修学院離宮] – the fact that they limited group size was a crucial factor – it was such a beautiful site and I will long remember the simple historic buildings and the manicured grounds (and the many steps no doubt).
In contrast, the day devoted to Nara was one of the most unpleasant experiences for me – too many people and the deer were pretty much disgusting to me. We did have a nice lunch that day and I’m sure there were other redeeming activities but they are over shadowed by the over-crowded temple and the unnatural, intrusive behavior of the deer.
On the other hand, the time spent wandering side streets was for the most part edifying. And meals were almost all delightful, with a variety of choices that exposed us to different aspects of Japanese culture. The addition of your local contacts, Alex, was often excellent. Sumi was a delight and the river boat ride to a delightful park right in the midst of modern Tokyo was nice. The bento box lunch in the tea house was a terrific part of this excursion too. Dinner with Leo [my good friend Ryō Yokoyama] was great – again, a local view point – and Michael [my friend of of over 30 years, Michael Hoover, a longtime resident of Kamakura] was a great addition to the meandering around Kamakura. The architect friend was not as successful to me, despite my shared interest in architecture, since casual conversation was not possible with the language difference. For me, that day might have been better spent investigating one of the museums we passed by on our walk.
I must add in here that I greatly appreciate that diversions were possible. Despite its small size, the contemporary art museum in Kamakura was a nice change of pace, and figuring out a way to get to the I.M. Pei museum, the Miho Museum, was greatly appreciated. The collection was interesting though not exciting, but the building and the setting were stunning. Thank you and Toshi for making that happen.
Another completely different aspect of the trip was including the time with Rebecca and Toshi, and the two nights of home stays. Those accommodations were perhaps not as physically comfortable as our hotels but the exposure to real village life was terrific, highlighting the warm hospitality we encountered everywhere. And while Rebecca is naturally more reserved, Toshi was full of warm hospitality – does he do everything with a twinkle in his eye? I’m sure I’ll never again have the opportunity to harvest persimmons!
Another small-scale village highlight was the visit to the Noda Hanga studio. The work they are doing and the glimpse of how they have built their life around their art is inspiring. Other small-scale experiences were worthy, such as the visit to the robot museum (who knew?) and the fish market. Indeed, the real action at the fish market was no doubt at 4:00 AM when the wholesale trade was happening but I still enjoyed seeing the quieter side and, were timing different, would have enjoyed lunch in the little sushi bar (though I understand that would not have worked for everyone).
I’m sure I’m forgetting details but cannot fail to mention the pleasure of the Onsen experience. After two plus weeks of walking and climbing steps and overloading my visual senses, the evening of quiet soaking and sumptuous dining in luxurious surroundings was a welcome conclusion.
Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture
Fairly expressive of how I felt after walking all day.
My response:
I am immensely grateful to Teri and Barry for taking the time to compile their impressions of their two-week visit to Japan. Other members contributed shorter reviews of the tour as well. I enjoyed travel with all the members of this group: Everyone was interested in Japan. They engaged with the experience of moving through unfamiliar and sometimes challenging situations, including large crowds, confusing transit systems, unfamiliar food, strange bathing customs, complex toilets, etc. I was proud to lead this group of Americans because I think they represent some of the best virtues of my country: Openness, curiosity, kindness, respect.
I also appreciate the comments about what did not go so well. Several of the places to which I took the group are wildly over-touristed. I warned Teri that Kyoto is filled with overseas tourists, but she felt that it was essential that the tour include this essential representative of Japanese culture. For the most part, I think I managed to navigate around the most congested areas, but I could have done better.
Nara: I am taking this city off future tour itineraries. Between the approximately 40,000 tourists who visit the city every day (an astounding 15 million each year) and the superabundance of supposedly tame deer (1,500 at last count), Nara has become virtually impassible. I should have known this from my visit in April 2025 on a bike tour. With bikes at least, it was possible to avoid some of the thickest crowds; it was more difficult to sidestep both the tourists and the deer on foot.
On future tours, I will be sure to leave more free time for people to do their own explorations. And I will cut down on the number of temples and shrines we visit!
Finally, a word about touring on foot versus by folding bicycle. I am not naturally a walker, which probably has something to do with my body mechanics and also my temperament. I am impatient by nature, and walking just feels too slow for me. I much prefer cycle touring to touring on foot. There were some champion walkers in this group: Manny, for one, walks about 10 miles each and every day while he listens to recorded mystery novels. I am in awe of people who walk like that. I think that any future tours of Japan will be folding bicycle!
