Kotohira Tours

My husband and I took our honeymoon on one of your tours, and in a word? Perfect. The entire experience was excellent, I would recommend yours tours to anyone, and hope to return myself soon! The selection of the itinerary was excellent, I enjoyed everything we did, the main highlights in my opinion was the meiko experience (please continue doing this!) it was really a once in a lifetime experience, she was so graceful and beautiful and she taught us a new drinking game, which I loved, it was so much fun! My husband particularly liked the Nara deer park, it was amazing seeing all the beautiful tame deer and to feed them was a joy. We both enjoyed our accommodations, especially the onsen, the hot baths are a must try, the outdoor bath was an almost unreal experience since it was cool that night, the hot bath was perfectly relaxing and very peaceful. But the people who helped make it all possible? Niwa San and Kim. I cannot rave about them enough. For starters Kim was always attentive, answering all our questions graciously, and providing a knowledgeable amount of information and detail about the areas we visited and about the country and culture. She went above and beyond on our last day helping us make reservations for a taxi to take us to the airport, staying behind and helping more than expected, going above and beyond to put us at ease. By the end of your trip with her, she will feel like a friend rather than a guide, and that to me is a true testament to her grace, knowledge, capability, and overall her kindness. Kim if you read this we love you, and genuinely enjoyed the time we had with you! Keep up the good work! And Niwa San? A total lifesaver!! To begin with he is a capable and safe driver, I had total faith in his driving abilities and he greeted us each and every time we boarded his bus, a nice touch to making the trip feel personalized. He also loaded and unloaded our luggage whenever we reached our accommodations, but the real testament to his kindness and dedication was when I left my phone on the bus. He found it, contacted me letting us know he had found it, and even charged it for me so I could have it the next day! Words are not enough to describe how grateful I was! You have top notch people, true professionals. Everyone keep up the good work. Thank you for the perfect vacation!

The All Japan Tours "Charms of Hokkaido 2025" was fantastic! Having planned our own tours to Japan in the recent past, we were very thankful to have had a guided tour of Hokkaido, especially in winter! Our coach driver: The weather in Hokkaido on this year's tour was frigid and snowy (which is why we came), so having a reliable, safe coach driver made the trip relaxing and comfortable. Our tour guide: Katsume Miharu (Miharu-san) was a fantastic guide! Funny, entertaining, experienced and very knowledgeable. She made the trip so enjoyable and went above and beyond to help us remedy an issue regarding forgotten/left items at one of our hotels. Thank you, Miharu-san! Our Itinerary: One thing we appreciated about this tour was being able to explore most of the places we visited without the requirement to remain in a group the entire time we visited each site. This is different from Rick Steves' Europe tours and Viking River Cruise tours that we have been on in the past. Being free to explore on our own made the tour feel more like our own personally planned tour. We were able to visit most of the scheduled places in the itinerary, except for the Abashiri ice breaker cruise which was canceled due to inclement weather and high seas. Better safe than sorry. AJT did a great job of rearranging the scheduled day for our visit to Upopoy National Ainu Museum due to being closed on the originally scheduled day. This amazing cultural heritage facility is absolutely beautiful, and we were moved by the music and dance performance. Our Tour Highlights: If we were to list the highlights of the tour, we would simply be including the whole itinerary, however, our top five places on the tour were: - Okurayama Ski Jump Observatory - Historic Village of Hokkaido - Upopoy National Ainu Museum - Wakasagi Smelt Fishing - Lake Akan International Crane Center Winter Festival Sites: We visited the most important, well-known winter festival sites in Hokkaido, and were not disappointed. The Sapporo Snow Festival was amazing, as were Asahikawa Winter Festival, Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival, and the Sounkyo Ice Fall Festival. Our Lodgings and Meals: AJT booked very nice hotels during this tour, and we were able to experience both Western and Japanese-style accommodations. The included meals and restaurant facilities at the hotels were first-rate. Our most memorable meal was in a Japanese restaurant in the indoor shopping mall connected to the Grand Park Otaru Hotel. Our group enjoyed several nigiri sushi, tempura, miso soup, noodles, etc. Our favorite Western-style hotel was the Grand Park Otaru, and our favorite Japanese-style hotel was Hotel Abashirikoso on Lake Abashiri. Our Weather: As mentioned earlier, the weather in Hokkaido was cold, snowy, and often windy, and this is what we came for! We cannot stress enough how important it is to dress appropriately for ever-changing conditions (layers). Most of the sites we visited had treacherous snow-packed, icy walking conditions, so sturdy snow boots and removable ice cleats were a necessity. At this point, I must embarrass myself by saying that I did NOT have ice cleats (the ones I brought did not fit my boots, and I should have tested them more carefully before leaving for the trip). As a result, I spent a lot of very slow, walk-like-a-penguin treks through the various sites, luckily without mishap. We thoroughly enjoyed this AJT trip to Hokkaido and heartily recommend it for anyone wishing to experience the cold, rugged beauty of this impressive Japanese island.

After the initial snafu with our original tour guide being unavailable the first day and slight change in schedule due to museum being closed the day we were supposed to go, the tour was fantastic. Our tour guide, Miharu was knowledgeable and very funny and made the sometimes long bus ride go by quickly.

First day was weak but the weather, our jet lag and the unknown was what we experienced. The rest of the tour was great. Some of the sites and the tour guide put us at ease and astonished. Grade 10 or 10.

Tomo san was a superb guide, knowledgeable, interesting and most of all, a thoroughly beautiful person to spend a holiday with.