Land of the Rising Sun

After your flight, you transfer to your first nights accommodation and check in.  There are no planned activities aside from a group meeting on the evening of day 2, followed by dinner. Your leader will leave a note for you at reception informing you of what time and where this important meeting will take place.  This evening, if you feel like it, you could head down to Ginza by subway to see the extraordinary display of neon (particularly the Sony building, which houses all the latest products – many of which won’t reach the UK) at Tokyo’s equivalent of Piccadilly Circus. You could also go to Roppongi Hills to see the world class Mori Art Museum, or the Tokyo City View observation deck – the city can be seen in all its glory from the 52nd floor of the tower. Hotel - 1 night

Today we leave Nikko for Hakone. First a local train (1 hour) then a bullet train (1 hour) another bullet train (1 hour) and finally a bus (30 mins) and you reach Hakone. It’s astonishingly easy to travel by train in Japan. Trains operate with metronomic precision, and the sight of a white-gloved guard, bowing to a carriage full of travellers, is something you’ll never forget!Hakone is in the hot spring region. Take a boat ride across Ashino-ko and then a cable car journey over the mountains. It may be possible to glimpse Mt Fuji in the distance, but the lake and mountain views are anyway splendid. You can again finish the day with an onsen (hot spring bath). Onsen are segrated into male/female, clothes are not allowed so be prepared to shed them and get naked! Guesthouse - 2 nights

Travel by train again today (5 hours) to Hiroshima. On 06 August 1945 Hiroshima emerged from comparative anonymity to become a major icon of the 20th century, and a universal symbol for destruction when the first atom bomb devastated a huge area of this busy industrial city. The Atomic Dome (A-dome), at the epicentre of the blast is the vestige of one of the only buildings not to have been entirely flattened. The charred structure of twisted steel and crumbling concrete, once an exhibition centre, has been carefully preserved as a memorial to those who perished as a result of man’s inhumanity to man. Almost opposite lies the Peace Park, with the memorial to the victims of the bomb. It contains the names of all those who died in the explosion or subsequently from the long term effects of radiation. This place of pilgrimage attracts many thousands of visitors - Japanese and foreign alike. The flame will continue to burn here until the last nuclear weapon on earth has been destroyed. Visit the nearby island of Miyajima to see the free roamin deer. Guesthouse - 3 nights.