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Travel with: 5+ handpicked travel buddies

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Stay in: Simple spots

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Come for: 3 months

Three months moving through Japan. Solo travelers who travel together—designed for people with time, curiosity, and zero interest in tours or packages.

Art islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Temples older than most European cities. Forest pilgrimage routes where monks still walk. Mountain villages with thatched roofs and nothing else for miles. Trains so punctual the UK would weep. Tokyo neighborhoods where entire streets sell one thing. Onsen so hot you have to ease in slowly. Food so good you'll eat standing at a counter at 6am.

One day a week is planned together—forest shrine walks in Kumano, sake brewery visits in Takayama, art island hopping in Setouchi. The rest of the time you shape your own days and tell everyone about it later. Accommodation is characterful and well-chosen—ryokan where you sleep on tatami, small hotels in quiet neighborhoods, places locals would actually stay.

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This trip works for you if

You want adventure travel through Japan beyond Tokyo and Kyoto's main temples, are happy on local trains as you are on bullet trains, find joy not boredom in slow mountain towns, and approach things like traditional onsen etiquette or temple lodging with curiosity even if they're outside your everyday.Most people on this trip are over 50, done with work or taking a break from it, and treating this like the gap year they never had. Unlike rushed Japan tours, you'll spend weeks in places, not days.

Tour Details

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Name: Electric Calm
Brand: DECADES
Price: £ 250.00 GBP GBP
Availability: Stay in: Simple spots

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Itinerary

Naoshima, Setouchi Islands

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Tucked between dramatic karst mountains and the Nam Song River, Vang Vieng is a small town with big scenery — lush greenery, winding rivers, and a slower rhythm. Known for its outdoor adventures, it’s also a place to sip coffee with mountain views, wander riverside paths, and watch the cliffs turn gold at dusk.

Hiroshima + Miyajima

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Kyoto

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Kumano

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Map

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Photos

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Itinerary

Naoshima, Setouchi Islands

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Art on islands with no traffic

Your host meets you at arrivals. You drive into town, check in, take a quick shower, and meet the other Pioneers (a small group, usually 8-12 people) for a first drink before heading out for dinner.It's the first meal together. Nobody knows each other yet, but that changes fast. Within an hour you're hearing about someone's ceramics studio back home and why another person finally left their job last spring.Japan's art island—Naoshima sits in the Seto Inland Sea, art installations tucked into hillsides, Yayoi Kusama pumpkins on beaches, museums designed by Tadao Ando built into the landscape. Rent a bike and figure out your own route. Ferry to Teshima for its single-room art museum where water moves across the floor in patterns you can't predict. Or Shodoshima for olive groves that look more Mediterranean than Japanese. Villages are small, roads are quiet, locals outnumber tourists. Evenings are simple—local restaurants, early nights, the kind of pace that lets you settle in.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like: Art House Project walking tour—abandoned houses converted by artists, enter private spaces, see how art lives

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Packing Up & Moving On

Ferry + Train - 3 hours. Naoshima to Hiroshima—island hopping through the Seto Inland Sea, then mainland Japan.

Hiroshima + Miyajima

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The morning everyone should take

Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum—you'll spend a morning there, it matters, no way around it. The city rebuilt itself into something functional and calm. Good food, wide streets, locals who've moved on while holding memory. Ferry to Miyajima takes twenty minutes—the floating torii gate sits in the water at high tide, on sand at low tide. Itsukushima Shrine, deer everywhere, mountain hikes if you want altitude. Stay overnight on the island if you can—once the day-trippers leave, it's yours. Or base in Hiroshima and ferry over. Either works.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal. It'll be something like: Okonomiyaki cooking class—Hiroshima-style layered pancake, cook your own, locals teach technique

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Packing Up & Moving On

Shinkansen - 2 hours. Hiroshima to Kyoto—bullet train through Japanese countryside, Mount Fuji visible on clear days. VISIBLE FROM THIS FAR SOUTH?

Kyoto

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Two weeks isn't enough but it helps

Two weeks in Kyoto means you stop being a tourist by day three. Find your café, your walking route, your temple that isn't on anyone's list. Mornings could be Fushimi Inari before the crowds, Philosopher's Path when it's empty, or Nishiki Market buying breakfast to eat at the counter. Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) is stunning and packed—go early or skip it. Gion has geishas but also just functions as a neighborhood. Arashiyama's bamboo grove gets photographed to death but the monkey park above it doesn't.Day trips radiate out at your own pace: Nara for deer and Todai-ji temple, Uji for tea plantations, Lake Biwa for actual space, Kurama and Kibune for forest hiking and riverside restaurants. You'll figure out the bus system, know which convenience store has the best onigiri, develop opinions about which ramen shop is best. Two weeks gives you that.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like: Koyasan temple stay - 2 nights. Sleep in temple lodging, 6am prayers with monks, vegetarian meals, walk Okunoin cemetery at night with only lanterns lighting 200,000 graves.

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Packing Up & Moving On

Train - 3.5 hours. Kyoto to Kumano—multiple trains through mountains, scenery gets wilder as you go.

Kumano

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Forest routes older than kyoto

Kumano Kodo—Japan's ancient pilgrimage routes through cedar forests that have been walked for over 1,000 years. You're not doing the full trek, but sections of it—Daimon-zaka approach to Nachi Taisha shrine, trails between villages, forest paths where the only sound is your footsteps and birds. Stay in temple lodging if you want the full experience—tatami mats, vegetarian meals, morning prayers you can join or skip. Onsen towns like Yunomine have outdoor baths fed by volcanic springs—proper hot, sit in the river temperature. It's quiet, old, the kind of place that resets something without trying.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like: Kumano Kodo overnight hike—sleep in mountain hut, share space with Japanese pilgrims, predawn start

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Packing Up & Moving On

Train - 4 hours. Kumano to Takayama—back through mountains, elevation climbing as you approach the Japanese Alps.

Takayama

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The alps at walking pace

Takayama sits in the Japanese Alps—Japan's mountain heartland with wooden merchant houses from the Edo period, sake breweries you can visit and taste, morning markets selling pickles and crafts. The old town is small, walkable in an hour, but you'll come back to it. Day trip to Shirakawa-go for thatched-roof villages that look like they're from another century—they still function as villages, not museums. Gero Onsen if you want hot springs. Kamikochi if you want serious mountain hiking—alpine valleys, clear rivers, trails that keep going. Takayama itself runs quiet and easy, good food, mountain air, early nights.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like: Mountain vegetable foraging—guide shows you what's edible, cook it for lunch, mountain stream water

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Packing Up & Moving On

Train - 4.5 hours. Takayama to Tokyo—back down from the mountains, bullet train from Nagoya, city rising as you approach.

Tokyo

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Neighborhood life, not tourist districts

We'll base ourselves in a Tokyo neighborhood—Nakameguro, Shimokitazawa, Daikanyama—somewhere with local character, not a tourist district. You'll find your coffee shop by day two, your ramen place by day three, your route to the station that avoids the crowds. Tokyo's massive but you'll live small: local supermarkets, neighborhood shrines, parks where salarymen eat lunch.Explore districts at your own pace: Tsukiji outer market for breakfast, Shibuya for the crossing everyone photographs, Harajuku for youth fashion and Meiji Shrine's quiet forest, Asakusa for Senso-ji temple and old Tokyo feel. Shinjuku's skyscrapers and Golden Gai's tiny bars. Akihabara if electronics or anime interest you.Day trips: Kamakura for coastal temples and the Big Buddha, Nikko for elaborate shrines in forest, Hakone for mountains and hot springs, Yokohama for port atmosphere. You won't do it all. That's fine. Tokyo rewards repeat visits, not checklist completion.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like: Tsukiji tuna auction viewing—3am alarm, watch wholesalers bid on frozen tuna, sushi breakfast after. Capsule hotel night—experience the tiny sleeping pods, understand Japanese space efficiency

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Packing Up & Moving On

Train - 1.5 hours. Tokyo to Hakone—mountain resort area, views of Mount Fuji on clear days.

Hakone / Fuji

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Soak until your skin wrinkles

Hakone means hot springs—proper onsen towns where you stay in ryokan, sleep on futons, eat kaiseki meals, and soak in mineral baths that smell of sulfur. Lake Ashi sits in an old volcanic crater—take the pirate ship across (yes, really), ride the ropeway over sulfur vents, hope for clear skies so Fuji appears. It's a classic Japanese mountain resort area, done properly. Quiet, restorative, the exhale before Hokkaido's wide spaces.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like: Mount Fuji sunrise stay. Stay at the base, wake at 4am, watch sunrise with Fuji right there—not from a tour bus, but close enough to understand why people climb it.

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Packing Up & Moving On

Flight - 1.5 hours. Tokyo to Asahikawa, Hokkaido—north to Japan's wildest island.

Hokkaido (Asahikawa / Furano)

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Japan's wild card

Hokkaido's different—Japan's northernmost island, bigger, emptier, more space between things. Asahikawa's the base—famous for ramen, gateway to Daisetsuzan National Park. The park's serious hiking—volcanic peaks, alpine meadows, bears (rare but real). Furano's flower fields in summer, ski resorts in winter, farm-to-table food year-round. Biei's rolling hills look like screensavers—patchwork fields, lone trees, photographer heaven.The pace is slower, the landscapes are bigger, the cold is real (even in summer it's cooler). It's Japan with room to breathe, the kind of ending that gives you space to process everything that came before.

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What We Do Together

You'll be the first through. We're still building this part—that's half the appeal.

It'll be something like:Daisetsuzan bear territory hiking—serious wilderness, guide carries bear spray, see where bears actually live

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Packing Up & Moving On

Transfer to Asahikawa Airport. A backpack of finds, we'll drop you back ready for whatever's next.

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From

£17,853

excluding flights

Was

£23,805

excluding flights

Dates & Prices Book Discovery Call

Electric Calm

3 months in Japan.

This trip works for you if

Tour Details

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