CUISINE & Culture of Western Japan

October 16-27, 2024

Nagasaki, Karatsu, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Miyajima

Escorted Group Tour

Designed for return visitors to Japan, Esprit’s food tour takes you off the beaten path on Kyushu and western Honshu Islands with Andrew Bender, one of Esprit’s most experienced guides and a noted travel and food writer.

You will journey from intimate, timeless villages to scenic, modern cities, rugged coastlines and geothermal peaks, as you taste local flavors from street food to kaiseki (haute cuisine). Cooking classes, visits with artisans of food and drink, and gourmet meals are carefully curated to show off the region’s culinary highlights. Along the way, you’ll take in the unique history, spirituality, one-of-a-kind crafts and natural beauty of western Japan. Accommodations span comfortable, contemporary hotels and a historic, wood-built ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).

The tour begins in beautiful, historic Nagasaki with its fascinating, complex history encompassing European traders and missionaries – and one of the defining moments of the 20^th Century.

A day trip along the coastline will take you to the starkly beautiful, geothermal terrain of Shimabara-Unzen National Park, before continuing to Kyushu’s rugged, picturesque northwest coast to intimate Karatsu, for centuries one of Japan’s great pottery centers. You will meet local ceramic artists in their studios, view the inspiring floats used in the local festival and stay in a traditional inn operated by the same family for 5 generations, a travelers’ favorite since the Meiji Period. 
 

After a stop in the island’s ancient capital of Dazaifu to visit age-old Shinto sites and the futuristic Kyushu National Museum, you arrive in lively Fukuoka, Kyushu’s largest city, where rivers and canals animate local street life and food ways. A visit to the old part of town is balanced by visits to the vibrant yatai (food stalls), ramen restaurant and a cutting edge cocktail scene. 
 

Finally, the Shinkansen bullet train, a local train and ferry speed you to western Honshu and Miyajima Island, home to the UNESCO World Heritage Itsukushima Shrine, fronted by its iconic “floating” torii gate. Our tour concludes in Hiroshima, with a visit to the Peace Park and a tour of a working sake brewery with the brewmaster.

Day 1

Depart Home



Depart USA via individual flights to Tokyo and connecting flight to Nagasaki via Tokyo Haneda Airport. You may wish to arrive a day or more early and spend free time in Tokyo before flying to Nagasaki to meet the group. Travel Planning Tips will be provided for your arrival and change of planes in Japan.

Day 2

Arrive Nagasaki, Japan

Welcome to Kyushu, Japan’s westernmost main island. After your individually arranged flight and transfer from Nagasaki Airport (included in the tour price), you will be at leisure for individual sightseeing in the city using suggestions from Esprit’s Client Information Portal (provided after registration). This evening there will be an optional, casual orientation at our centrally located, modern hotel.

Accommodations: Hilton Nagasaki

Meals included: None

Day 3

Nagasaki

Our immersion into local history begins at the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, chronicling the unique, East-meets-West encounters that took place here and inspired tales from Madame Butterfly to the 1,000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. We continue to Dejima, the man-made island that served as an Edo-Period Dutch trading post and Japan’s sole point of contact with the outside world for over two centuries, now filled with faithfully reconstructed period buildings and surrounded by the modern city. After a casual, harborside lunch of donburi (rice bowls topped with fish, seafood or other choices), we will ascend a hilltop to Glover Garden, where homes and commercial buildings from the Meiji Period (1868-1912) have been faithfully reconstructed with stunning harbor views. Fittingly, tonight’s welcome dinner is shippoku-ryori, Nagasaki’s unique, multicultural style of kaiseki cuisine.

Accommodations: Hilton Nagasaki
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 4

Nagasaki

Today we will concentrate on the atomic bombing sites on Nagasaki's north side, learn how this city came to be chosen for the bombing at the last minute and visit the museum and sites of the destruction. After a cooking lesson of tempura (the iconic Japanese dish that originated in Nagasaki), we will visit Suwa-jinja, the city’s most storied Shinto shrine, where we will receive a blessing through kagura, ritual dance accompanied by ancient music and chanting. The rest of the day is at leisure, or you may opt to join your tour leader for a nighttime cable car ride up Mt. Inasa. The spectacular views across the city and bay have been ranked among the top three in the world, alongside Hong Kong and Monaco.

Accommodations: Hilton Nagasaki
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 5

Shimabara Peninsula to Karatsu

We begin our journey around northwestern Kyushu with the Shimabara Peninsula, southeast of Nagasaki, known for its landscape of mountains, splendid views of the Ariake Sea, and hot springs. Our visits include Japan’s longest hot-spring foot bath, lunch where we will choose our own ingredients steamed over natural hot springs, and an optional short hike in Unzen National Park, among the steam vents called jigoku (‘hells’ in Japanese), which have a stark beauty and a unique role in the region’s history and legends. From here we continue to intimate, coastal Karatsu, famous for centuries as a pottery town. Our accommodations for the next two nights are at Yoyokaku, called one of Japan’s must-stay ryokans, in the same family for 5 generations and affiliated with one of the city’s most important ceramic-making families. In addition to in-room bathing facilities, you may take advantage of the inn’s grand baths before our elaborate, multi-course kaiseki dinner.

Accommodations: Yoyokaku Ryokan
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 6

Karatsu

After a sumptuous Japanese-style breakfast in our inn, we begin our exploration of Karatsu with visits to some of the city’s leading ceramic artists, and lunch catered by a nationally renowned tofu shop and served on local pottery. Then we will visit the meticulously crafted hikiyama floats used in the city’s main festival. The rest of the afternoon is at leisure. Suggestions include the museum inside the restored Karatsu Castle, shopping for pottery or walking the calming seaside park, Niji no Matsubara, before dinner at our inn.

Accommodations: Yoyokaku Ryokan
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 7

Fukuoka

A drive of approximately 90 minutes takes us to lively Dazaifu, early capital of Kyushu. Beautifully nestled amid Dazaifu’s wooded hills, the futuristic Kyushu National Museum boasts a priceless collection chronicling the region’s history of trade with the Asian continent. Following lunch on your own at one of many casual restaurants (look for Dazaifu's local specialty sweet, umegae mochi, bean-paste dumplings embossed with plum blossom designs), we will stroll the sprawling, photogenic grounds of the Dazaifu Tenman-gu Shrine, 1,100 years old and dedicated to the Shinto god of scholarship. We arrive in cosmopolitan Fukuoka in the afternoon and have dinner in true local style at yatai (open-air food stalls) lining the city’s many waterways. Fukuoka has over 150 yatai, more than the rest of Japan combined!

Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Fukuoka
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 8

Fukuoka

We begin the day with some traditional sites of Fukuoka including Kishida Shinto Shrine (city shrine and home base of one of Japan's great parade festivals) and the nearby Hakata Machiya Folk Museum, celebrating life in the city's historic merchant homes, followed by presentations about local crafts such as prized, multi-layered Hakata-ori weaving. Lunch today is a cooking class of practical, everyday Japanese specialties, with the afternoon free for individual exploration in the city's parks, museums such as the acclaimed Asian Art Museum, design and craft shops. Tonight’s dinner is the city’s most famous dish, Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen in hearty, pork-based broth, plus side dishes. An after-dinner visit to a bar highlights the latest of Japan’s cutting-edge cocktail culture.

Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Fukuoka
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 9

Fukuoka

Today represents a trip through history in the Fukuoka countryside. We begin in Munakata City, home of a fifth-generation soy sauce factory from the late Edo Period (circa 1850), where we will hear from the owner about how this historic factory keeps innovating. For lunchtime, we arrive in Mojiko, Kyushu’s northernmost point and a beautifully preserved port town. Lunch will feature yaki-curry (baked curry rice), a local take on this popular Japanese comfort food, at a former private club from the Taisho era (1912-1926), and we’ll have time for exploring the historic sites and museums while enjoying inspiring views across the strait to Honshu Island. After returning to Fukuoka, the remainder of the afternoon and evening are at leisure for relaxing, exploring the city’s sights, shops and restaurants, or a workout in the hotel gym.

Accommodations: Grand Hyatt Fukuoka
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Day 10

Hiroshima

Before departure today, we will ship our large suitcases to onward destinations and travel with carry-on luggage. The Shinkansen (bullet train), a local train and a ferry speed us to western Honshu Island and Miyajima, home of the UNESCO World Heritage site Itsukushima Shrine, whose torii gate seems to float on the water. We will explore the island and its sights, casual restaurants and cafes, and lively shops before heading back to the mainland and our two-night stay in vibrant Hiroshima. Tonight’s dinner is a cooking workshop for the city’s most famous specialty, okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) filled with noodles and other ingredients.

Accommodations: Sheraton Grand Hiroshima
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 11

Hiroshima

After breakfast, our day begins at Hiroshima’s Peace Park, featuring many moving memorials and the recently renovated and expanded Peace Memorial Museum. Alternatively, you may choose to visit some of the city’s other sites such as the rebuilt Hiroshima Castle (now a museum with exhibits on castles and feudal history) or its affiliated Shukkei-en Garden, whose features are said to be miniaturized versions of nature – enjoy them over a bowl of tea while admiring the scenery. From Hiroshima, it is a journey of about 45 minutes to the town of Saijo, a longstanding sake-making center. Following lunch at a local restaurant, we will tour with a master brewer at one of the numerous sake breweries in the picturesque town. The day ends with a farewell dinner.

Accommodations: Sheraton Grand Hiroshima
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 12

Depart for home

Following breakfast in our hotel, transportation will be provided via convenient airport limousine bus to Hiroshima Airport (HIJ), or continue on your own to other destinations within Japan. Please refer to flight planning tips provided by Esprit.

Meal included: Breakfast

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