in Tokyo Celebrate New Year s Day in Tokyo & Hawaii 12/26/18-1/1/19 Small Group Tour-Maximum 21 December 26, 2018 01 January 2019 Tokyo/Enoshima/Kamakura/Mt. Fuji Area 5nts/7days fr: $2995 double/triple $3595 single Traveling to Japan during New Year s is a great opportunity to capture a rare glimpse into the modernization of traditional Japanese culture. It is a time when most Japanese people return home to partake in traditional ceremonies and festivities. On this very special Omiyage Weekender Tour, experience and be part of that tradition. If shopping is on your list, we have it covered, with visits to Tsukiji Market, Ameyoko, Komachi dori in Kamakura and free time in Odaiba. There is also a free afternoon and evening in Ikebukuro where all the favorites are located- Don Quijote, Daiso 100-yen Store, UNIQLO and sister store GU, Tokyu Hands, the Sunshine City Mall and Seibu Department Store. For sightseeing enjoy an overnight stay in Kamakura after seeing the Great Buddha so that we can visit the award-winning winter illumination, The Enoshima Sea Candle Illumination. There is also a visit to the Edo Period, Odawara Castle, Itchiku Kubota Art Musuem and views of Mt. Fuji from Oshino Hakkai. New Year s Eve day includes a visit to Meiji Jinju Shrine and Shibuya Crossing Street just hours before the crowds arrive for the evening s welcoming of the new year. On New Years Day it s all about tradition beginning with hatsumode, the years first visit to a shrine. We will be visiting Nezu Shrine for the traditional prayer at the main hall and purchase lucky charms for a fortunate new year. After celebrating New Years Day in Tokyo, board your flight home and you get to do it all again, Hawaiian style with friends and family. It doesn t get much better than this. Join us, won t you. Itinerary/Details
Day 1 December 26 th, 2018- Wednesday Departure from Honolulu Please meet your Panda Travel representative at the Hawaiian Airlines Terminal, Lobby 3, Makai side at least 3 hours prior to the departure time. Hawaiian Airlines #821 Departs Honolulu 2:20 pm Arrives Narita 7:00 pm + 1 Day 2 December 27 th, 2018 -Thursday Narita-Tokyo (D) After clearing customs, our local English speaking guide will meet us for the drive to our hotel for the next 2 nights, the recently renovated, Sunshine City Prince Hotel, ideally situated in the Ikebukuro section of Tokyo. The hotel is less than a 10-minute walk from the Ikebukuro JR Station. The lobby of the hotel connects to a huge shopping and entertainment mecca with four towers, including a 240-meter-high skyscraper with an observation deck on the top. Sunshine City is typically open from 10 am to 10 pm seven days a week. There is a 24-hour Family Mart located right off the lobby in case you would like beverages, some hot and cold food items or just a late snack. Newly remodeled Sunshine City Prince Hotel & lobby Family Mart in hotel lobby Accommodations: Sunshine City Prince Hotel Free Day 3 December 28 th, 2018 -Friday Tokyo (B/L) After breakfast at our hotel we will head out for a full day of touring. Please meet your guide in the lobby by 8:30am. If you've ever dreamed about melt-in-your-mouth, out-of-this-world sushi, then you might have heard of Tsukiji, the largest fish market in the world. Most of Tokyo, and even high-end sushi restaurants in Hong Kong and San Francisco, gets their fish from this cultural landmark near the center of Japan's capital city. Tsukiji sits on some of the most valuable real estate in Tokyo. At some point in the future, the inner market will be moving to reclaimed land on Tokyo Bay. The 2020 Olympics are coming, and the city is preparing. Opened in 1935, Tsukiji sprang to life after the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed most of Tokyo in 1923. It has since become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city. Every morning sightseers start
lining up at 3 a.m. to watch the frozen tuna auction. The more expensive fresh tuna auctions where a single Bluefin once sold for nearly $1.8 million- are privately conducted. It is our first stop on tour and we will be here for 1.5 hours so that you have ample time to walk around and enjoy the outer market, visit knife-making artisan shops, tasting candies, nuts, and spices, and learning more about seasonal produce If you re a foodie, love markets, enjoy photography or simply like visiting unique places then you ll probably love Tsukiji. After a good stroll around the market, there s nothing like a sushi breakfast to complete the experience. There are plenty of sushi shops make sure to choose one where you see locals dining. If you don t feel like sushi, there are other options including ramen, donburi and more. If you finish early we encourage you to visit Tsukiji Hongan-ji Temple, less than one block away. With an Indian-style exterior, was built in 1617 near Asakusa, but was burnt down in a huge fire that swept through Edo (Tokyo) in 1657. The Temple was then rebuilt on the present site but destroyed again by the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923. The current main building was built in 1934.The main building possesses a distinctive ambience not found in other Japanese temples, due to its variety of architectural styles. Tsukiji Fish Market From here we are off to Ameyoko Shopping Street, famous throughout Japan for its wide variety of products. The name "Ameyoko" is a short form for "Ameya Yokocho" (candy store alley), as candies were traditionally sold there. Alternatively, "Ame" also stands for "America", because a lot of American products used to be available there when the street was the site of a black market in the years following WWII. You can get just about EVERYTHING here, clothes, bags, cosmetics, fresh fish, dried squid and spices are sold along Ameyoko. It is quite the scene to just walk around through the very crowded and narrow streets. An awesome place to sightsee, shop and eat! We will remain here for 1.5 hr., so you can shop at leisure.
Its noontime and time for lunch at a local restaurant. Ameyoko- best spot to find omiyage items After lunch we are off to Asakusa, the traditional, low-rise, down, and dirty Tokyo of yesteryear. Although on the surface it s ye olde Japan, this was the first part of the capital to have significant western influence. It was even the site of Japan s first cinema. Attractions in the area include one of Tokyo s most historic temples Sensoji, and the impressive Kaminarimon Gate that marks the entranceway to the temple. Also, you can t miss Phillip Stark s Golden Poo on the roof of the nearby Asahi Breweries headquarters. Sensoji Temple dates to 645, but with the original destroyed in the air raids of 1945, today s building is a 1958 reconstruction. At the top of the steps, as a mark of respect, clap twice and bow your head. It s also customary to make a small offering by tossing coins into the wooden rack. The Five Storied Pagoda was built in 1973 and amongst others; it stands in honor of comedians! Standing 54 meters high, reinforced with concrete and steel, and like all pagodas, running down the center is a giant pillar of Japanese Cypress tree wood. Once through the gate you ll be in Nakamise Shopping Arcade. The street is lined with colorful, lively stalls selling traditional knick- knacks, festival foods and rice crackers. There are over 50 shops along this shopping street. No worry, we will have time to shop and taste some of the food treats along the way. Asakusa and Nakamise Shopping Arcade From here we make our way back to the hotel, arrival by 4:00pm and the remainder of the afternoon and evening is free. For dining options, try the 3 rd floor of the Sunshine City Mall where the whole floor is dedicated to restaurants. One recommendation is the tonkatsu restaurant, for some heavenly pork cutlets Accommodations: Sunshine City Prince Hotel Free Day 4 December 29 th, 2018 -Saturday Tokyo-Enoshima-Kamakura (B/d) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 9:00am as we journey off to Kamakura and Enoshima.
The drive time is approximately 1.5hr and we will make a road stop along the way. Kamakura became the political center of Japan, when Minamoto Yoritomo chose the city as the seat for his new military government in 1192. The Kamakura government continued to rule Japan for over a century. It remained the center of Eastern Japan for some time before losing its position to other cities. Today, Kamakura is a very popular tourist destination. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Eastern Japan, Kamakura offers numerous temples, shrines, and other historical monuments. Once here we will be visiting the Great Buddha of Kamakura, a bronze statue of Amida Buddha, which stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple. With a height of 13.35 meters, it is the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. The statue was cast in 1252 and originally located inside a large temple hall. However, the temple buildings were destroyed multiple times by typhoons and a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th centuries. So, since 1495, the Buddha has been standing in the open air. The Great Buddha rises serenely from its base, with gorgeously draped garments that you can hardly believe are forged from bronze. The serene expression is so evident; you feel the peace the artists intended to convey. The Great Buddha of Kotoku-in is an iconic image that represents Japanese culture. It is not just big, but beautiful. This Great Buddha or Daibutsu as is commonly called is a National Treasure and one of the centerpieces of the city's cultural heritages. For a small donation, you are permitted enter the Buddha and see from the inside how it was cast. Take a few moments to enjoy this unique experience. Close by, a visit to Hase Temple, famous for having one of the largest wooden statues in Japan, that of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. According to the legend, in 721 AD the pious monk Tokudo Shonin discovered a large camphor tree in the mountain forests near the village of Hase in the Nara region. He realized the trunk of the tree was so large that it provided enough material for carving two statues of the eleven-headed Kannon. The statue he commissioned to be carved from the lower part of the truck was enshrined in Hasedera Temple near Nara; the statue from the upper half (the larger of the two) was thrown into the sea with a prayer that it would reappear to save the people. Fifteen years later in 736 on the night of June 18 th, it washed ashore at Nagai Beach on the Miura Peninsula not far from Kamakura, sending out rays of light as it did. The statue was then brought to Kamakura and a temple was constructed to honor it. Since time immemorial, Hasedera Temple has been known as the 4th station among the 33 holy places in the Kanto area. Built along the slope of a wooded hill, the temple's main buildings stand halfway up the slope on a terrace which allows for nice views of the coastal city of Kamakura. Along the stairs leading up the slope stands the Jizo-do Hall with hundreds of small statues of the Jizo Bodhisattva who helps the souls of deceased children to reach paradise. From here, also close-by is Komachi dori Shopping Street where you will have free time to walk around, shop for souvenirs and enjoy some delicious snacks and foods. This is a good spot for lunch!
One must stop here is at Kamakura s famous cookie store for a sample. These dove-shaped butter cookies make for a great Kamakura souvenir and omiyage gift. The dove motif was inspired by the plaque above the main prayer hall at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, where the character for "Hachi" is shaped to look like a dove. Now, off to Enoshima, a small tourist island close by to Kamakura. It is best known for its beach culture, views of Mt. Fuji and three different shrines that are collectively known as Enoshima Shrine. They are all dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. Our visit here is is to enjoy the Enosshima Sea Candle Illumination. From December through the middle of February this award-winning large-scale illumination takes place every night. Enjoy free time to walk around and take in the beautiful displays. At the main venue thousands of brilliant lights are colored and illuminate the entire botanical garden. There are also many tall tropical trees decorated with colorful lights which create the appearance of huge monsters standing in the dusk. The illuminations continue deep into the woods and the forest turns into a sea of lights. The "Enoshima Sea Candle" is the tower / observation deck / lighthouse that has become perhaps the landmark symbol for the area itself. The nearly 60-meter tower sits atop the highest point on the island, offering full, 360-degree panoramic views of the surrounding areas. In clear weather you can enjoy some of the best, most beautiful views of Mt. Fuji. We now make our way to our beautiful beachfront hotel for the evening, Kamakura Prince Hotel. Our arrival will be by 7:00pm followed by a Japanese dinner at 7:30pm. After dinner the remainder of the evening is free. Our hotel is located right off the shore of Shichirigahama Beach, a part of famous Shonan area of Sagami Bay. All the rooms face the ocean and offer views of Mt..Fuji and Enoshima Island. Accommodations: Kamakura Prince Hotel Free Day 5 December 30 th, 2018 -Sunday Tokyo-Lake Kawaguchi-Tokyo (B/L/D) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 8:30am as we are off on a full day of touring that ends back in Tokyo later this afternoon. The morning begins with a short drive to Odawara City to visit Odawara Castle, the symbol of the city and a humble reminder of a great history. Odawara Castle was as an impregnable castle owned by the fifth daimyo of the Hojo clan, the samurai family that governed Kanto area for about a century from the end of 15th century. From the Edo period, the castle became a reserve for Hakone and Tokaido and functioned as a cornerstone of defense in the Kanto region. The current castle tower was rebuilt in 1960, and reopened in May 2016 after the completion of a seismic retrofit and renewal of the exhibition etc. This three-layered, four-story castle tower has a tsuke-yagura (connecting tower) and watari-yagura (hall turrets) on the top. A full view of Sagami Bay can be observed from the top floor.
Next, off to lunch at a local restaurant at Oshino Hakkai, a set of eight ponds in Oshino, a small village in the Fiju Five Lake region. This village is on the site of a former lake that dried out several hundred years ago. The eight ponds are fed by snow melt from the slopes of nearby Mt. Fuji that filters down the mountain through porous layers of lava for over 80 years, resulting in very clear spring water that is revered by the locals. Next to one pond, you can enjoy drinking the cool water straight from the source. The ponds are quite deep and have interesting freshwater plant life and large fish that make a visit to the ponds almost like visiting an aquarium. From here we are off to visit the Kubota Icchiku Kimono Museum, located near Lake Kawaguchi with majestic views of Mt. Fuji. The museum is an artist s paradise, built by the artist Kubota Itchiku and highlighting his priceless creations. He was a textile artist who dedicated his whole life to reviving and mastering the lost art of Tsujigahana silk dyeing, a traditional dye technique, used to decorate elaborate kimonos during the Muromachi period (1333-1573). Itchiku Kubota was 20 years old when he first encountered tsujigahana. After suffering through a hard prison life in WWII he came back and began to study tsujigahana. He devoted the remainder of his life to this. 29 years later, in 1977, he had his first exhibition Itchiku Tsujigahana" at the age of 60. Its beauty and high-quality technique gained reputation and the exhibition was also held abroad. It went around cities like Paris, New York, and London. He also has received various awards. In 1994, Itchiku Kubota Art Museum was opened. His works are exhibited in the main building of the museum. This building has a complicated wooden structure using Hiba trees (cypress family) more than 1000 years old. Both traditional artisanal techniques and modern log cabin methods are used to construct the building. The building has an open ceiling and the wooden structure is visible. There also are a Japanese tea house and a cafe where you can enjoy the view of a waterfall as well as tea and sweets, and a gallery with a collection of glass beads. Enjoy the beautiful traditional artworks as well as a walk in the garden and path to take full advantage of the beautiful natural environment of the museum. We now make our way back into Tokyo and our hotel for the remaining two nights, Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba. Odaiba is a popular shopping and entertainment district on a manmade island in Tokyo Bay. It originated as a set of small manmade fort islands (daiba literally means "fort"), which were built towards the end of the Edo Period. The center of Odaiba is Aquacity Odaiba. It includes a shopping mall with a 300-meter-long boutique street, a multi-flex cinema that employs the latest acoustic and screen technologies, and a gourmet zone that stretches over 15,000 square meters, which is obviously the largest such zone in Japan. Attractions here include the Odaiba Seaside Park that overlooks Rainbow Bridge, Fuji TV headquarters and studios where visitors can see the sets of popular TV programs, and Palette Town, a "theme park for women" with an interior modeled after a European city in the 18th century, and which accommodates over 150 shops.
Arrival at out hotel will be approximately 6:30pm. Please meet your guide in the lobby by 7:00pm as we are off to dinner at a local restaurant. Fireworks over Rainbow Bridge at 7:00pm? We will have to wait and see. Accommodations: Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba Hotel Free Day 6 December 31 st, 2018 -Monday Tokyo (B/L/D) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 9:00am as we are off on a very special local touring day, visiting two special areas that later this evening become almost impossible to get to. The morning begins with a visit to Meiji Shrine, located right in the middle of one of Tokyo`s most popular areas is an amazing urban oasis, Meiji Jingu. It is a shinto shrine that is dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. After the Emperor s death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration and the construction of a shrine where his soul would be enshrined was undertaken. The area around an iris garden in Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken had been known to visit was chosen as the building s location. With the passing of the resolution, construction began in 1915, formally dedicated in 1920 and finished in 1926. When you enter the grounds of the shrine, probably the first thing that will get your attention is the, torii (the traditional gate to a Shinto shrine) you pass under. It is enormous and majestic, completely impossible to miss. There are three torii in total between the Harajuku entrance and the main building. But once you pass under the first one, you enter the forest which blocks out the sights and sounds of the city. While walking along the path to the shrine you will pass huge barrels of sake. These barrels are donated every year by Meiji Jingu Nationwide Sake Brewers Association to the enshrined deities at the shrine, and they make for a great photo opportunity for the visitor. About five minutes past the sake barrels you`ll come to the entrance of the main shrine area, from where you can see the Mode Gakuen building far behind in the distance. The two buildings really contrast each other. Mode Gakuen, an icon of the modern age and Meiji Jingu an icon of ages past, but still relevant in the modern era as it one of the main places for News Years prayers and is still very culturally important. Hatsumode is the first shrine visit of the year to pray for good fortune and health for the year to come. Close to ten million visit Meiji Shrine each year, with three million visitors alone between New Year s Eve and the 3rd of January. Let s enjoy a walk-through Meiji and see what preparations are in place for this evening. From here, very close by is Shibuya Crossing Street, considered to be the busiest intersection in the world where at peak times it is said that over 1,000 people cross at one time, coming from all directions and yet manage to dodge each other. Come, join in and experience what it feels like. Later this evening the streets around here will be closed to traffic as Tokyoites will be out welcoming the new year at the Shibuya crossing countdown event. While here in Shibuya we will stop and meet Tokyo's most famous pooch, Hachikō. This Akita dog came to Shibuya Station every day to meet his master, a professor, returning from work. The professor died in 1925,
but Hachikō kept coming to the station until his own death 10 years later. The story became legend and a small statue was erected in the dog s memory in front of Shibuya Station. From here we are off to lunch at a local restaurant in the Shibuya area. After lunch we make our way back to Odaiba and our hotel so that you can enjoy free afternoon of leisure and shopping. Please meet your guide at 6:30pm as we are off to enjoy a New Years Eve buffet dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner, enjoy the area around our hotel as folks will be out and about ready to welcome in the new year. Accommodations: Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba Hotel Free Day 7 January 1 st, 2019 -Tuesday Tokyo-Narita (B) Shinnen Akemashite Omedetou Goziamasu! After breakfast at our hotel, please meet your guide by 9:30am as we are off on a very special New Year s Day in Japan. The day begins with joining the crowds in the traditional celebration of doing hatsumode, the year s first visit to a temple or shrine. At the shrine, there is the opportunity to pick up one s official fortune and burn the important objects you picked up at the temple the previous year in a big bonfire. Some of the area s most popular temples and shrines draw many thousands of visitors and therefore we have chosen a smaller shrine to visit, Nezu Shrine. Nezu Shrine near Ueno Park is one of Japan's oldest shrines, and certainly one of its most attractive. It is set in lush greenery, with ponds of carp, pathways that are tunnels of small shrine arches, and elegant, beautifully colored, wooden structures that reflect Japanese culture in all its age and beauty. Legend has it that what later became Nezu Shrine was first founded in Sendagi, just north of its current location in Nezu, by the fearsome Prince Osu, also known as "Yamato Takeru" who is said to have lived in the first century A.D. Nezu Shrine was relocated to the Nezu area in the mid-17th century on the occasion of Shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa choosing his successor. Such is Nezu Shrine's status in history that it features not only in the doings of the Shoguns but of the Imperial family too. When the Emperor moved his seat from Kyoto to Tokyo in the late nineteenth century, he sent envoys to Nezu Shrine to have the Shrine intercede with the gods on his behalf. Nezu Shrine is noted for bringing good luck and is an excellent place to do hatsumode. It is also a shrine devoted to the granting of impossible wishes. A particularly memorable feature of Nezu Shrine is its scores of small, vermilion torii Shinto shrine gates that cover the paths on the hillside above the main shrine, making for a tunnel effect. The torii-lined pathways lead to and from a viewing platform that is part of the smaller Otome Inari Shrine, a shrine-within-a-shrine that overlooks the main shrine buildings, and over a sizable pond directly below. From here we are off to visit another popular spot on this day, Tokyo Tower. Standing 333 meters high in the center of Tokyo, Tokyo Tower is the world's tallest, self-supported steel tower and 13 meters taller than its
model, the Eiffel Tower. A symbol of Japan's post-war rebirth as a major economic power, Tokyo Tower was the country's tallest structure from its completion in 1958 until 2012 when it was surpassed by Tokyo Skytree. Due to its central location, the observatory offers an interesting view of the city despite being only at a relatively moderate height. There are also some "look down windows" in the floor to stand on, a souvenir shop and a cafe where you can enjoy refreshments. There are a variety of options for lunch while we are here. Enjoy free time to look around and have lunch on your own. From here we make our way towards Narita and a very important stop at AEON Mall close by to the Narita Airport. Shopping on New Year s Day has become popular in Japan with many sales and bargains to be had. Be ready for a crowded event once we arrive here, but makes it more fun! We will allow you plenty of time here to spend quality shopping time for yourself as well as pick up some last-minute omiyage to bring home to celebrate New Year s Day all over again! The supermarket here is also a great spot to pick up a dinner bento to enjoy at the airport. Departure from the AEON Mall by 5:30pm for the short drive over to Narita Airport and begin the check in process for our flight home. Narita Airport also offers up opportunity for some great last minute duty free items. Hawaiian Airlines #822 Departs Narita 9:00 pm Arrives Honolulu 8:40 am Don t forget that its New Year s Day here in Hawaii! Enjoy the day with friends & family!