Takayama One-Day Tour : Old Town, Shodo, Tea And Much More!

Japan still remains a place full of mysteries. A culture completely different from ours with an incomprehensible writing system and customs that can be difficult to understand. All of that contribute to make it difficult to approach this world, but through this tour we will show how fascinating it is and give you the key to better understanding.

We will help you understand some of the main concepts of Japanese culture visiting Takayama, one of the cities that has kept the spirit of ancient Japan. In addition you will be able to experience firsthand some of the typical Japanese customs such as tea preparation and Japanese calligraphy, Shodo.

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*Possibility to book for smaller groups, please contact us in this case

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What you will experience on this tour :

• Takayama Historical Center
• Entering the home of the past shogunate, Takayama Jinya
• Street food of Takayama
• A “Shodo“class, the Japanese calligraphy
• Watching the preparation of the Japanese style tea, and tasting it served with typical local sweets
• An introduction to the Japanese culture

Useful information :

• Tour beginning meeting point : 9:30AM, JR Takayama Station
  *Takayama is easily accessible from JR Kyoto and JR Nagoya stations by using the JR pass with the JR Hida express train or by direct bus from Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya or Osaka for about 7000 yen
• Tour ends at JR Takayama Station, 3:30PM
• Guided tour
• Staff stays with the groupe for the entire duration of the tour
• Languages available for the explanations : English, Italian, Japanese
• Although the meeting point is indicated on the program, we will provide detailed information on how to reach us when you book the tour.

Tour Program:

Our trip starts at the JR Takayama Station, where we meet the other participants and the guide that will accompany us during this tour. We start straight away by visiting the historic center of Takayama. We feel the particular atmosphere of this old district, almost unchanged since Edo period (1603-1868). Our guide tells us the story of this buildings, the wood culture and takes us to the home of the old shogunate, Takayama Jinya.

For lunch it will be difficult to choose what to eat, there are so many options! Our recommendation is to try Takayama’s street food : it is full of diversity and offers loads of specialities of the Hida-Takayama region.

After lunch we head for the Shodo lesson. We learn how to write our favorites ideograms and enjoy an interesting conversation with the teacher afterwards. Of course our interpreter will translate for us!

Last but not least, we assist to the traditionnal way of preparing the Japanese tea. Our expert prepare the tea for us and we taste it afterwards. During this tea-time, we also eat locals sweets and are given a short introduction about the Japanese culture. Themes like the Japanese values, politeness, culture of respect and their link to the religion will be addressed.

We finish by going back to the JR Takayama station at 3:30 and hope you enjoyed this tour we us!

The rate includes:

• Pick-up service at the station upon arrival
• Private bus transfers for the duration of the tour
• Snacks during tea tasting (LUNCH NOT INCLUDED)
• European, english speaking tour leader living in Takayama, who supports the japanese staff and will accompagny you throughout the tour. Fluent in Japanese, English and Italian
• Hard sheet (shikishi) for writing your own Japanese calligraphy
• Japanese calligraphy lesson
• Tea preparation lesson
• Discussion on Japanese culture
• Escort to JR Takayama station at the end of the tour

Useful items to bring:

• Water
• Hat
• Umbrella
• Towel
• Bug repellent and/or spray (Summer)

Convinced ? Book now!

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