Discovery covers the best of Japan! Ultra-flexible, with expert guides and support. Japan Discovery includes wild snow monkeys, ice & snow sculptures, intriguing fire & fertility festivals, old sake breweries, remote cliff buddhas & beautiful white sandy beaches. Enjoy cormorant fishing, make ceramics with master potters, soar to a glacier formed caldera & soak in invigorating onsens, explore rustic senmaida and UNESCO World Heritage listed areas including Ryoanji & Hiei-zan, plus Koya-san & the Kumano Kodo, and the thatched house communities of Shirakawa-go. Ski/snowboard on groomed powder snow in Japan's Alps or enjoy the backcountry, or try a bit of surfing Japanese style. Experience for yourself world class manufacturing, brilliant artworks and historic treasures, spectacular alpine valleys & much more. See the Sapporo Snow Festival, the Gion and Nachi, climb up Mount Fuji, and climb down into Fuji-san's ice caves! Play with the latest electronics or party all night in Pontocho and the Gion area of Kyoto, see the best of Nara, including the parts that most tours and guidebooks inexplicably continue to miss. Take a boat into Dorokyo gorge, or down the rapids of the Tenryu, or glide across vast Lake Biwa to pay your respects to the goddess Benzaiten on Chikubu island. Learning is never this enjoyable, and Yamasa's Japan Discovery program remains the only one of its kind.

Mix an appreciation for avant garde culture, UNESCO World Heritage sites, blade runner style cities and peaceful buddhist temples (which are often side-by-side, after all this is Japan).

The tours are designed to introduce you to both traditional and modern Japan. Even in well known areas such as Kyoto & Nara, there are many sites which few Japanese know about or experience and that are never in foreign language guidebooks. All our tour group sizes are small, so we are able to take you to places "off the track" - including parts of Japan that are completely inaccessible by public transport and that visitors rarely see. One of the features of Japan Discovery is that you will be able to see parts of Japan few people have the opportunity to. The links below connect you directly to yamasa.org's multimedia Student Travel Guide called "Destinations". The main destinations are listed below.

If you would prefer to browse through chronologically - click here and then on the tour dates.

Spring tour destinations:
Spring is the perhaps the best season to visit Japan. The climate is perfect, rainfall is low and clear skies common. The cherry blossom trees are in full bloom from late March and Spring festivals abound. We visit places including Yakushiji in Nara, Chikubu Island and the beautiful Tenryu Gorge We will still encounter some snow in the high country, particularly when we visit Komagane, and the mountains are particularly beautiful as wild flowers emerge from the snow thaw. Class sizes at this time are small - its an excellent time to study as well.

Summer tour destinations:
Spend your summer in Japan and experience the liveliest season of the year. In Okazaki you will be able to enjoy many local events and festivals, swim/surf/sunbake or people-watch on the Atsumi Peninsula beaches and carry the Mikoshi. We also climb Mt. Fuji and hike in Kamikochi, enjoy riverside dining and Gion district nightlife in Kyoto, cool off at Goza Beach and explore the World heritage listed Shirakawa-go.

Autumn tour destinations:
After the heat of the summer has passed, leaves slowly fade to the brilliant reds and golds of autumn, cool winds come from the north and snow gradually returns to the Alps. As always, the Japanese consider this as good an excuse as any to spend long, cool evenings outside drinking under the reddened canopy of leaves. We visit Japan's oldest castle at Inuyama, and enjoy the Cormorant fishing. Visit a Japanese sake brewery and hike along the old Nakasando route between Magome and Tsumago. Class sizes at this time are small - its an excellent time to study as well.

Winter tour destinations:
Winter! We head to the alps and ski at Hakuba - down the same slalom runs used in the 1998 Olympics, or guide a snowboard into the halfpipe. Walk through the ice caves of Narusawa and step back in time at Uji. We soak in outside onsen baths, party in the Gion district of Kyoto, make Washi at Obara and more. Ring in the New Year at a local temple or join us later in the winter at the ancient fire festival at Takisanji temple. Winter is a cool time to visit Okazaki. The climate is mild and snowfalls are light. Enjoy!