Walk Japan has launched seven new tours to celebrate the reopening of the country after COVID-19. The tours provide a range of intimate experiences of the countryside, society, culture and heritage of Japan’s less-visited regions.
Walk Japan, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022, began with the “Nakasendo Way,” the company’s signature tour of one of the historic thoroughfares of Japan. Since then, Walk Japan has crafted a roster of 34 guided, self-guided and specialty tours that cater for a range of walking abilities and interests.
The seven new tours include:
- “Michinoku Coastal Trail” & “Self-Guided Michinoku Coastal Trail Wayfarer,” North Honshu – These two tours follow the best sections of the 637-mile Michinoku Shiokaze Coastal Trail in Japan’s Tohoku region and provide a choice to be with or without a tour guide. Starting in Hachinohe and ending in Kesennuma, travelers follow the trail along the Sanriku Coast aside the Pacific Ocean over beaches, along cliff tops and through coastal fishing and farming communities. Offered April to June and September to November. Guided option is nine days; self-guided option is 10 days.
- “Shio-no-Michi: The Salt Road,” Central Honshu – The guided tour explores an ancient trade route from Matsumoto, a castle town, through remote mountain villages before reaching the shores of the Sea of Japan. Traversing rural countryside of rice paddies, beech forests and streams set against a backdrop of oft-snow-capped mountains, this tour follows in the footsteps of ancient travelers. Offered May to June, and September to November; nine days.
- “Self-Guided Tokaido Wayfarer,” Central Honshu – A self-guided walking and gastronomic adventure along the central section of the Tokaido, Japan’s greatest thoroughfare that connected Kyoto to Edo—now modern-day Tokyo. The varied scenery of rural landscapes, coastal stretches and towns is emblematic of Japan both of today and yesteryear. Guests find themselves traveling through Japan’s history up to the current day. Offered year-round; six days.
- “Onsen Gastronomy: Gifu,” Central Honshu – A guided tour visiting northern Gifu Prefecture in the geographic center of Japan; a largely remote area of mountain ranges, valleys, plateaus, villages and period towns. A richly forested hinterland far from the oceans; the local cuisine is deeply rooted in delicious rustic fare, which together with the region’s onsen hot springs provide symbiotic sustenance. Offered April to November; five days.
- “Self-Guided Kunisaki Wayfarer,” Kyushu – A self-guided tour following in the footsteps of monks on the little-known and much less-visited Kunisaki Peninsula from temple to temple along rugged forest trails and quiet lanes in verdant countryside. The tour begins at the Usa Grand Shinto Shrine and ends on Himeshima, an island in the Seto Inland Sea. Offered January to June and September to December; six days.
- “Onsen Gastronomy: Oita & Kumamoto,” Kyushu – A guided tour starts appositely in Beppu, the onsen hot spring capital of Japan, before exploring Oita and the adjacent Kumamoto Prefectures in northern Kyushu, a region known for its varied, rural landscapes, food sourced from the fertile land, rivers and the surrounding seas, and for its abundance of onsen. Offered year-round; five days.
For more information, visit www.walkjapan.com.
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