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| The Ultimate Japanese Dining Experience |
| June 1 - 10, 2007 |
| 10 days, 9 nights |
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| For those with a passion for delicious food and good company, this is your invitation to join The Ultimate Japanese Dining Experience. Yoshii & Globetrotting Gourmet® lead you on the less traveled path, discovering the wonders of Japan through its foods. The Globetrotting Gourmet® UltimateJapanese Dining Experience is a deluxe 10-day food tour. Combine superlative 5-star hotels, delicious food and gala banquets, fresh market tours, cooking demonstrations with hands-on instruction, and you have our wining recipe. |
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Tour price includes airport transfers, 5-star hotel accommodation, first class Japan Rail ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo, private coach between Osaka and Kyoto, daily breakfast and most meals, cooking demonstrations and market tours. Exclusive of airfares to and from Japan. |
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| Your flight will be met by our representative on the floating island airport of Kansei, from where you will be transferred to downtown Osaka. As arrival times vary widely today, dinner is not included tonight, but the hotel offers a choice of several delicious restaurants. |
| For those arriving early, Yoshii will escort an optional no-host group to nearby Hankyu station for draft beer and robotayaki snacks at a typical fast-serve counter for Japanese salaryman en route home. The station is a veritable labyrinth of eateries reminiscent of the movie Blade Runner, and we’ll explain the myriad differences and cooking styles, before walking back to the hotel. |
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Saturday 2 June |
O/N Osaka |
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| Osaka is lauded as Japan’s kitchen, and arguably the country's gastronomic capital, with a famous aphorism to go with the laurels: kyo no ki daore, naniwa no kui daore "People in Kyoto go broke buying clothes, but in Osaka, they eat themselves bankrupt." We'll begin our day in Japan's second city first travelling to Namba and Dotonburi, with its string of wholesale kitchware shops. |
| Konamono is the term conjured to describe Osaka's "flour cuisine" of dishes cooked in a pancake-like batter. And okonomiyaki and takoyaki are the city's two standouts. Okononomi means "as you like it" and yaki is "grilled." Cabbage, egg and wheat flour are its basic ingredients, plus myriad fillings and toppings. At lunch we will taste the city's best, cooked right before your eyes. It is humble, but filling. |
| You will also have a taste of Osaka's most famous street food, takoyaki, or octopus balls. Chef Kuri Hara has been plying his trade for some 11 years now, and has been featured on NHK television for serving the city's most delicious. The surrounds are humble, but the balls as good as you can get. As we are near the restored Dotonborigawa riverfront, we'll hop on boat a one-hour cruise of the city, then return to our hotel to rest before dinner. |
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| This morning we drive to Kyoto, stopping en route at Himeji castle and its nearby sake factory. Here you will learn about the production of Japan’s rice wine and spirit, shochu. We'll also visit the small town of Sasayama, often called "Little Kyoto" because of its pristine state, and renowned local cusine specializing in boar (noshishi) and black soybeans, kuro mame. Walk down Kawaramachi Tsumairi, formerly Sasayama’s main street and merchant district. The area has remained virtually unchanged since the heady days of the Edo period and offers some insight into 17th century architecture. Apart from the souvenir and vegetable shops there are two museums (not included) and a couple of antique shops well worth visiting. Also the local Ouko-shuzou sake brewery. |
| After lunch, view the scenic road sites to Kyoto, Japan’s royal capital until the Meiji restoration. As Kyoto was relatively unscathed in the war, it is a rich repository of traditional architecture, gardens and arts. |
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Tonight stay at an onzen or natural thermal spa, in a ryokan Japanese country inn, located on the shores of the Biwa lake. This is pampering luxury, Japanese style. Here, you will learn both the etiquette of Japanese bath culture, and also have a sumptuous kaiseki ryori meal. Afterwards, snuggle up on a futon, sleeping on tatami mats. |
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| After a traditional Japanese ryokan breakfast, (and perhaps a last minute bath!) today you’ll visit some of Kyoto’s most famous temples, palaces and gardens. While you are touring, your luggage will be securely sent to the hotel awaiting an afternoon check in. We begin our day in Kyoto walking to the city's premier hill top temple, Kiyomizu. Begin on the backstreets near Maruyama-koen park, then up the winding hill lane past tourist shops specializing in local fare and crafts. (The local streets are festive. You may even see traditional geisha in travelling by rickshaw.) Savor the sweeping view of Kyoto from the temple's lofty terrace. We'll then bus to nearby Sanjusangedo Hall. |
| Afterwards, eat a bento box lunch at a nearby restaurant, then try your hand at making Kyoto's famed wagashi sweets when we visit two of Kyoto’s most famous traditional confectionery shops. Kyoto wagashi are renowned throughout Japan for their beauty, although to a Western palate they might seem like chewy gluten, typically filled with a sweet beat paste. You'll also learn about higashi, a refined art of dry sugary sweets, often served to compliment and contrast the bitter astringency of macha tea. As we are near the Kyoto national museum and their neighboring Koyokuni Jinsha Shinto shrine, you are free to stay in the area and make your own way home (the Shichjo subway station is nearby) or come back with us to the hotel. |
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| We’ll first travel to the city's central Nishki food market, and Aritsugi knife shop – considered Japan’s priciest but best! Here, even a humble tea caddy is a work of art, and showroom staff will hand-engrave your name on each purchase. We then walk to Kyoto’s oldest soba and udon restaurant, admittedly humble but delicious, then on to a nearby bakery for buckwheat cookies. (As we are near the city’s Sake museum, we'll also visit there.) Afterwards, the group will split: either returning directly to the hotel, or walk with us down Teramachi Street, the city’s traditional merchant district. We’ll point you to a fourth-generation cutlery shop, and afterwards you are on your own to shop. |
| On our last night in Kyoto, we’ve scheduled an optional dinner at Kyoto’s most prestigious kaiseiki ryori restaurants. And at $1000 per person surcharge, it will be a memorable repast. Be indulged by the senses, with each table setting stunning to the eye and palate alike. Our dinner price includes transport, sake and tea during the meal, and blow-by-blow commentary from Yoshii-san. |
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Wednesday 6 June |
O/N Tokyo |
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| After breakfast we take Japan’s famous bullet train to Tokyo. First class, of course! (Please arrange for the porter to pick up your bags by 09:45.) Those sitting on the train’s left side will have a great view of Mt. Fuji. You'll receive a bento box lunch on board, and once in Tokyo go to Tokyo’s liveliest street market in Ueno. First we'll visit the exquisite Shitamachi museum which highlights typical Tokyo lifestyles between the Meiji restoration of 1868 and the great earthquake of 1923. At bustling Ameyoko market, see how Tokyo residents shop for their daily provisions. We’ll also stop at one of the city’s best tea shops for a taste of rare gyokoro, skirting Ueno Park, and finish with dinner in a local izakaya, or inn. |
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Thursday 7 June |
O/N Tokyo |
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| This morning is devoted to the world’s largest wholesale fish market. We’ve staggered the morning’s schedule: for those wishing to view Tokyo’s famous tuna auctions, please meet in the lobby at 5 a.m. for the 10 minute walk to nearby Tsukiji market. Otherwise, meet at 7 a.m. in the lobby, and greet the early risers over sashimi breakfast in the market. We’ll then walk around the world’s largest wholesale fish market, viewing live fish in tanks, whole tuna being sawed into prized steaks, and time permitting, the vegetable wholesale market. Don’t forget to visit retail stands for last minute knife purchases, or even whole pieces of wood-hard bonito. Hotel breakfast not included today, as we will be eating at the fish market. Lunch is on your own. |
| In the late afternoon we re-group for a sashimi cooking demonstration, and tastings. Yoshii-san will show how to deftly carve raw fish, plus demonstrate some simple recipes of tsunomono pickles. The remaining evening is free. |
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| Today we travel further outfield of Tokyo, to the historic town of Noda, home to Japan’s most famous soy sauce manufacturer. Kikkoman has generously offered to show us the emperor’s private soy sauce factory where they produce the famed Goyogura shoyu. We’ll also watch a video on the manufacture of soy sauce, or shoyu, plus visit the ancestral home and museum of the company’s founding Takanashi family, and you will have a chance to purchase prestigious shoyu varieties like twice brewed saishikomi and whole bean marudaizu brewed in wooden casks. Lunch is a fusion surprise, using moromi, or fermented soybean paste extracted from soy sauce production. |
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| After returning to Tokyo, the remaining afternoon and evening are free: Visit the nearby Ginza for some of the world’s most prestigious shopping, go to the Kabuki theatre for stand-by seating at cut price rates, or eat at one of Tokyo’s best restaurants. We’ll help guide you, and of course, if you are on your own feel free to join us over a no-host dinner. |
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Saturday 9 June |
O/N Tokyo |
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| After breakfast, walk to the river via Hama Rikyu gardens, then catch a ferry for a unique view of the city from an unusual water vantage point. We cruise up to Asakasa, Tokyo's historic heart, and home to the city's oldest temple. Lunch at Japan's most famous tempura restaurant, Aoimarushin, which has been in operation since the 19th century. We then walk via myriad market stalls of Nakamise Dori to nearby Kappabashi Dogu-gai Dori street, which houses teems of professional cooking shops, before returning by train to our hotel. Nakamise Dori sells souvenirs of all kids, antiques, and festival foods, such as kaminari okoshii toasted rice crackers, and fun-shaped ningyo-yaki red bean filled buns. |
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As this is your last day in Japan, you are free until we re-group in the evening. Tonight’s gala dinner is special indeed. Yukari restaurateur Kimio Nonaga actually beat the Iron Chef in a television competition! Here the multi-coursed dishes excel in flavor – even a humble walnut in tofu literally leaps from the plate to the palate! Try his Spanish mackerel smoked in cherry blossom tea, pickled fish sushi, and sea urchin jelly. |
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| Morning and day at leisure until transfer to Narita International Airport for departure. If you have an evening departure, please advise; late check out surcharges may apply. Please ask us about additional nights in Tokyo, and if your flight home takes you via Singapore or Bangkok, ask about our special stop over packages there. |
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| Singapore: We include private airport transfers, with overnight stays in one of the city state’s trendiest new hotels, right in the heart of Chinatown. > Details |
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Bangkok: Stopover packages include private airport transfers, one day private guide (using taxis and public transport) and overnight stays in a superbly-located 5 star hotel. > Details |
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| for flight & insurance options |
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