Review

Terrie Raymond

Northern Tohoku and Western Hokkaido Mini Tour

September 22, 2019 - September 29, 2019

I would be very hard to single out something as “the best”. Taking in the baths was something (initially) outside of my comfort zone , that I quickly adapted and enjoyed. Scenery was amazing. On my last day, we did a hike thorough a volcano valley with active sulphur lakes and steam vents. (Made the ones I’ve seen in Hawaii look like midgets). As we traveled to several local/more rural areas, I had many options to meet with locals. In most of the hotels, I was the only Westerner, but I felt welcomed and accepted. It was also nice to travel within Japan by a variety of transports, local train, high speed train, local buses. Gave things a more authenic feel and experience. I especially appreciated that Samurai Tours did NOT do any of those (utterly annoying) pre-arranged tour stops at a merchandiser so they can push their wares in exchange for providing lunch._______________________________________________________Thank you so much for your kind words and great review of our tour! We so appreciate the time you took to give us your feedback, and we are so happy you had a good time. Our guides are truly the best in the business, and it sounds like that was part of what made your trip so special. We hope to see you again sometime in Japan!~Samurai Tours Staff

Itinerary

The tour itinerary was pre-defined. But, because I had the immense good fortune to have been the only person booked on the tour, the Guide and I were free to add some minor adjustments.

Lodging

FABULOUS! The tour operator (Samurai Tours) provided an excellent mix of Western and Traditional Japanese accommodations, so that you could experiment with something different and then dip back into something familiar. Also, an excellent assortment of different kinds of hot springs – sulphur, iron, sodium, alum, etc.

Food

Very good. I had the opportunity to try many new dishes and enjoyed most of them. I am not a fish-eater, and I knew beforehand that most of the cuisine was fish-based. There were a few dishes I passed over, but there was always so much else to choose from that my fish-avoidance wasn’t a problem

Guides

My guide was Mukai Chiwako --- On a scale from one to ten she is a one-hundred! Her English was excellent so I always felt at ease and never at a disadvantage. We played a game where I would pick 3 or 4 words of Japanese for her to teach me each day, and I would round-out her English education by teaching her familiar slang terms. She also had an excellent grasp of history, which is something I particularly appreciated as I had many, many questions. She had a very good sense of when to assist and when to avoid “hovering”. I can’t think of enough praise to describe the job she did.

Pre-Tour Handbook

Tour Organization

This was my first visit to Japan and this was exactly the introduction I was hoping to experience! The trip spanned the northern half of the main island and included the northern island of Hokkiado. If you want to see, experience, taste what Japan is like for the Japanese … this is an excellent trip/itinerary. My guide, Mukai, said that the trip I was on is a recently added itinerary, and I would highly recommend it for travelers new to Japan that need a shorter trip (I.e, less than 2 weeks).

Tour Transportation

Would you go on another tour operating by Samurai Tours: Yes!

Would you recommend Samurai Tours to friends or family: Yes!