The itinerary was great and I saw many of the things I wanted to see. I have a great deal of feedback to share about our trip. I HOPE YOU WILL READ MY REVIEW OF THE TRIP AS I HAVE SOME VERY SPECIFIC COMMENTS.
1. Disappointed not to see more japanese cutlural venues in Tokyo. We got more of that as the trip progressed to the small old towns, islands, Kotyo, Hiroshima and southern Japan.
2. We didn't get to see very many good museums.
3. Disappointed the buses were not setup with WIFI or electric plugs, especially when we spent many days traveling on a bus.
4. The tour was a bit rushed. We should have had more time at the many of the small towns and shrine / temples to explore. Time limit was about an hr at each location. Trip could have been longer than 14 days. Trip especially rushed at MT Fuji and the 5 lake district.
5. Tokyo: Poor decision to drop us off in downtown Tokyo main highrise shopping district. We didn't go to Tokyo / Japan to shop at major department stores. We want to see the unique things made in Japan. Like seeing silk fabric and how it is made. The imperial park didn't show much other than the flowers in bloom, couldn't even see the outside of the Impreial Palace. We arrived a day early and saw some sights that should have been included in the tour.
6. FOOD: My NO 1 issue of dissatifaction! Didn't like the fact we had no CHOICE in the food we ate! Often times no explanation on what the food was that was put in front of us. Everything preordered and in most cases cold and tempura food not hot and crispy. No explanation of the food meal protocol in terms of courses, like the rice being served last. I don't like sushi or fish, so in most cases I had little to eat at the meals included in the tour. I prefer the option to pick the food I eat. There were NEVER any American type offerings in the menu. Even the food options in the buffet were mainly Japanese food items. We had better meals on our own.
7. Guide: did a great job, but she could have used a 2nd person to assist her or had some local guides like what was ADVERTISED in the tour literature. She was very organized , but she could benefit from more training to be more efficient and then she wouldn't have been so stressed. Talagafar need to provide their guides with technical aides to make it easier, more effective and understandable for communicating with the guests on the tour. She had to write the daily schedule every day on white paper and tape it to the bus driver's back plastic shield, so everyone could always reference the schedule.
8. Sholji had a husband and wife who caused her and the other guests problems everyday and it became a real problem for her. She tried to handle the problem best she could, but they created an incident that everyone was exposed to.
9. Hotels: They were all excellent.
10. Buses were all good, great drivers and comfortable.
11. Disappointed NO performances of Japanese dancers, drum show or any type of musical performances. We wanted to see Japanese culture and that is a big component of the culture we missed. I have seen such performances in the US and that was key to the culture.
12. I understand all travel companies have made major cuts to the venues they offer and the sights /components we see during the tours. this has made traveling less enjoyable. In this trip we privately arranged for a kimono dressup evening. Everyone who participated LOVED the experience and many who didn't participate were sorry they didn't. You should provide more optional tours. The tea tasting tour was one of your extra tours, but that option wasn't very interesting.
13. Bullet train: This was a great experience and navigated us through the station efficently.
14. We could have used more time in Hiroshima. Beautiful city.
15. CHerry Blossom season was why I picked this time of year to visit Japan. Climate change is impacting the bloom season in Japan, you might rethink when you schedule this trip as there were little Blossoms in Tokyo, but we did find one town near Mt Fuji that had a nice display of Cherry Blossoms.
