Study Component Schedule
(Please note that group classes are not held between Dec. 26th and Jan. 8th during the Winter session)

 *Arrival - there is an airport transfer available on arrival for the study component.
 **Public/Institute holidays affecting classes are listed here in full.

 Proposed Tour Schedule (this may change, please refer to notes below)

Day	Date	Destination(s)/Notes	Depart+	Return+	Lunch+
1	February 20th	2 night trip: We begin the tour with a visit to the Okutono Jinya, a 300 year old samurai barracks in northern Okazaki with a beautiful moss garden and a long association with the art of tea. During the feudal era it was seat of the Ogyu branch of the Matsudaira family (part of the extended family of the Tokugawa Shoguns), and a location for the manufacturing of gunpowder, a closely held military secret. The last lord of the jinya went on to found the Red Cross society in Japan, another relative established the modern Japanese navy, and a third established Japan's most famous school of tea. Okazaki still manufactures some 80% of Japan's fireworks, the legacy of generations of gunpowder experts. From Okutono Jinya we fast forward a few centuries as we visit the nearby headquarters of Toyota Motor Company. We will look through the interesting Toyota Kaikan, an extensive display, and also participate in a factory tour to see the welding robots of the automated welding lines, and the extremely complicated manufacturing processes in the assembly plants. Lunch is included today. In the afternoon we visit the Daijuji temple - which was the family temple of Tokugawa Ieyasu and currently contains a treasure trove of artworks, including the burial ihai of each of the 14 shoguns to die in office. Leaving Daijuji, we then head deep into the mountains, passing into Nagano on our way to the ski-fields of the Hakuba Valley, and our ski lodge accommodation for the next 2 nights in Tsugaike. Please bring warm clothing, spare shoes, and a towel.	0800 Please bring passport for accommodation check-in.	N/A	Yes
2	February 21st	Tsugaike Kogen  Skiing and Snowboarding: Today we begin enjoying the perfect fresh powder snow of the Hakuba valley. Our accommodation is "in snow", with the nearest ski run only 150 meters from the door. The tour program fee includes all accommodation fees, breakfast and dinner, daily lift pass, and ski or snowboard lessons if required. Equipment rental (ie boots, snowboards, skis, stocks/poles) is available and is subsidized to keep rental costs capped below 3500 yen per day. Clothing rental is not included, so if you need assistance with cold weather wear please consult with the Admissions Office in advance. We spend today exploring the vast Tsugaike runs. Night skiing or visit to the natural onsen bath is optional (separate fee). There are quite a few bars in the base village for apres ski drinks and entertainment.	N/A	N/A	No
3	February 22nd	Summit kanpai  Skiing and Snowboarding: The beginners have the chance to do another lesson, to gain a bit more confidence before we head to the top of the mountain for Yamasa's traditional "Summit Kanpai!" with a bottle of wine or champagne (beginners usually return from the summit via the relatively easy "Rinkan Gelande" (a forest trail with a gentle gradient and quite good scenery). If you wish to take a break from skiing and give your muscles a rest, there are a number of options available in the afternoon including snowshoe, tobogan and skiSkoot etc. We leave Hakuba in the late afternoon and usually have dinner in Toyoshina on our way back to Okazaki.	N/A	2130	No
4	February 23rd	Day trip: We drive deep into the forests of the Oku-Mikawa. Our first destination is very remote, a Senmaida, consisting of more than 1000 small rice fields in an painstakingly constructed terrace. We will then hike through verdant forests to Horaiji, a 1300 year old temple that also has a brilliantly preserved Toshogu shrine in a grove of 350 year old cedar trees towering above us. From Horai we will visit the Nagashino battlefield & its museum, learning about the famous battle that occurred here in 1575, before heading down the valley to the the mysterious Toyokawa Inari shrine, dedicated to a fox-riding god called Toyokawa Dakinishinten. The legend of Dakinishinten dates from the 15th century, and was believed by samurai warriors such as Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Millions of people visiting this shrine every year as it is one of the three major Japanese Inari gods.	0815	1800	No
5	February 24th	Day trip: We begin the last day of the tour exploring Mie Prefecture. Our first destination is the famous wedded rocks of Futamigaura, where pilgrims cleansed themselves prior to visiting the Grand Shrines of Ise, the most important shrines in Japan. From here we sample the delights of Okage Yokocho, an old style neighbourhood where pilgrims would let their hair down so to speak (class distinctions were usually ignored amongst pilgrims, offering men and women of different social class all sorts of possibilities). Many of the shops are centuries old, and we will enjoy a Matsusaka Beef lunch like no other. Lunch is included in the tour fee, so please let us know in advance if you are a vegetarian. We then set off to Mikimoto Pearl Island in Toba. One of the showpieces of Japanese inventiveness, at Mikimoto we can also watch female Ama divers working the seabed (without breathing apparatus) and enjoy a superb museum.	0730	1930	Yes

Discounts: As this is an off-season tour (the usual number of participants is 5 or less), it is possible to obtain a discount of 5000 yen off the program fee (in addition to the accommodation discounts offered through the "early bird" pass) if payment is completed more than ten weeks before program commencement.

 Notes: