Reviews

Our first escorted tour and probably the best holiday we had! From being greeted off our delayed flight in Osaka with a big smile from our Wendy Wu greeter, ensured we were on our way to our hotel. A big smile and greeting from our guide, Taichi Imamura at the hotel although late, made us feel "at home" and he ensured that we had our bentobox dinner.
Words cannot describe how Taichi made sure that everyone knew what was happening at each place we stopped at, where the best rest rooms were, places to pick up snacks. Even taking photos for everyone with their cameras and phones to ensure all memories were saved of the magnificent sights we saw. All the coach drivers were fantastic throughout the tour, hotels were very good and generally spacious and the places we were taken to for lunch and dinner had excellent facilities and good quality food. I can safely say that all the people on the tour, which comprised Australians, New Zealanders, Tasmanians and English, from the very first evening to the last all got on and mixed amongst each other and some great fun times were had by all.
We even found time to locate a few "Irish hubs"(pub) on the evenings and had some great laughs with Brian and Brenda from New Zealand, Tom and Kim and Stella/Julia in them. There were so many places we saw including Mount Fuji, Hiroshima dome and museum (which brought the heartache of suffering to mind), so many beautiful shrines and temples, finishing with seeing Sumo wrestling and the gorgeous Imperial East gardens and Shabuya scramble crossing.The views from the Sky Tree Tower were unbelievable too!
So clean, so cultural, so friendly, so beautiful. That was Japan uncovered for us!
Thank you Wendy Wu Tours

Adviser listened very well, answered all questions fully, was pleasant and understanding.
It appears that all information is detailed and transparent.

A very enjoyable holiday that took in the major attractions in Japan. There was a full programme of visits and activities and we especially enjoyed Kyoto, Tokyo and Himeji Castle. The food was enjoyable, especially the Authentic Japanese cuisine. There is never too much free time on these tours, but we would have appreciated a bit more free time to shop or explore independently.
Add on days at the beginning in Tokyo and at the end in Osaka to get the most out of your trip.
Great bunch of fellow travellers with the majority from Australia and New Zealand. Our guide was excellent and kept us organised.

Fantastic tour of Japan. Excellent tour guide and organisation amazing. Hotels good, transport good, coaches, boats and bullet train. Very hectic schedule but well worth it. Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima all excellent cities to visit with all meals included at authentic local restaurants and hotels. Japanese tea ceremony, origami and noodle making all excellent experiences. Mount Fuji amazing to see from hotel as cloud lifted especially for us. Lots of temples and museums as part of tour. Food takes some getting used to as lots of raw produce, especially fish. Lovely group of mostly Australians and all got on really well and have made some new friends who we will hopefully keep in contact wil via oyr holiday whatsapp group.

As always service is good. Nothing is too much trouble. Have used you 3 times for our main holiday.

Excellent. Gary was very helpful and gave us lots of information. He didn’t rush us and he gave us good discounts. Booking was smooth and easy.

Brilliant tour guide . Evening meals and breakfast great .
Lunch meals too many and not worth having . Not enough time spent at sites, no free time. Lunches should be cut in 1/2 or scrapped and vouchers given .

Sapporo not worth going to . Time could have been better spent in Tokyo and Osaka .

Too much time on coaches , faster transport was available .

What we did see was very good , simply not enough time to explore.

Wendy Wu Discover Japan tour was interesting and it was good that all meals were found so we didn’t have to hunt for good restaurants. Food was very good and more than plentiful. Sometimes eating in the hotels where we stayed and sometimes our guide walked with us to nearby restaurants. The days were quite full on and the coach travel a bit difficult as seats were small and my (tall) husband struggled to get his knees into the seat space. It would have been better to travel a bit more by train. Our guide was knowledgeable about historical Japan and the many shrines and temples we visited. We did ask her for some more up to date information about how the Japanese live now as we felt this would have been more interesting and we got very little on this side of things. Our tour group was mixed with people from the UK, Australia and New Zealand which gave a great atmosphere and everyone got on really well. Hotels were mostly very good, modern style. One was down a side street so we had to trundle our cases uphill which was a challenge for some and we helped each other. We did some crafts like paper making and decorating chopsticks with gold leaf. Watched a tea ceremony, did some sake tasting and some origami. These were good activities making a change from touring round temples. The transfers were odd as on arrival in Tokyo we were taken by taxi to the hotel. On leaving Osaka we were taken by taxi to a bus stop then waited 90 minutes for a bus to the airport. We would have preferred to return to Tokyo for the last night then flown straight back rather than going from Osaka to Tokyo and then flying home - it made a very long day coming home.Overall we enjoyed the tour but found that admin from Wendy Wu was poor. We got different answers to questions we asked, sometimes no reply to emails with requests regarding transfers etc. We had to write many emails to get flight options to upgrade to premium economy. For this reason we would not book another tour with Wendy Wu as touring should come with reassurance to things we need to know before travelling without so much hard work on our side to gain information.

We booked our first Wendy Wu over the phone and the lovely Beau helped us with the booking process and answered any questions that we had. The booking process was extremely efficient and straightforward. Thank you Beau for all your help.

Great credit to Wendy Wu for a superb guided tour of Japan. Beginning in Osaka (good), Kyoto (better), Hiroshima (excellent), Kanazawa (excellent), Nagano (excellent) and Tokyo (super), the tour offered a fine variety of interesting vista and experiences.
They managed to pack a huge amount into each days sightseeing without putting undue pressure on any member of the group. Kudos here to a truly outstanding guide Taichi, whose English was faultless, attention to the group unwavering, had a great sense of humour and was a fountain of knowledge.
When travelling to Japan, you need to maintain an open mind about food. The dining experience is vastly different to our Western tastes, but the quality was very good at all times, even if our taste buds didn’t necessarily appreciate all that was put before us. My wife is coeliac, a condition unknown in Japan, yet her dietary needs were catered to better than any other trip we have done.
Is it worth the cost and jet lag?
A resounding YES.

EXCELLENT
Guide (Carrie)
Itinerary
Hotels
Restaurants
The group of 17 (from UK and Australia)
NOT SO GOOD
Initial welcome to Japan at Osaka Airport

We had a brilliant time filled with so many experiences- it fulfilled my lifetime dream to visit Japan and see the ancient sites whilst experiencing modern Japan too. Our guide, Kaori was great fun and very informative. Whilst it was a whistle stop tour with a lot of travelling included, we had a good balance of time spent at attractions, having experiences and eating out at restaurants, sampling local cuisine. Being vegetarian we were very well looked after wherever we ate. We enjoyed shopping in quality outlets to buy lovely souvenirs. Our colleagues were great company and the group gelled really well. We had some free time at the end of the tour to enjoy Osaka and our transfer was easily managed too. The only shame was that on arrival we had to wait a further 2 hours at the airport before the next transfer bus which meant that we missed our dinner and nothing was provided for us on that first night. Luckily we could pick up some snacks from the convenience store. We were issued a refund but that wasn’t much of a welcome after such a long journey. Given that Wendy Wu arranged the flights they must have known this would happen so this was disappointing but didn’t spoil our overall experience. We had a great time in Japan!

re Japan Uncovered #16 27 March - 11 April 24

Having toured Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia with Wendy Wu a few years ago we were confident in booking this tour with Wendy Wu and we were not disappointed.
The tour is a busy one and a lot of walking is involved. In some of the castles we visited stairways were steep and slippery due to having to take our shoes off. We would say that the physical rating of 1 is misleading. During the 14 days that we toured we walked 141 kms (87.5 miles) about 10 kms (6 miles) per day which is tough on someone who is not very mobile and indeed some of our party missed out seeing some places as they could not manage the distance.
Hotels were all very good. some with lovely views over the coast and Mount Fuji. Only the 2 European chain hotels had bars (Sheraton & Mercure) but there were vending machines everywhere to purchase drinks when required.
The food was Japanese apart from a few buffets which included more European dishes. I will say that we found the meals very samey. On occasions we had the same for lunch and evening meal but there was always plenty of it and a selection of different items so you could pick out what you liked.
We enjoyed the Castles, Temples, Gardens, Bullet Train, Snow Monkeys and of course the cherry blossoms.
Our guides English was a little slow and he had the habit of repeating instructions over and over making it longer to get anywhere ie into our hotel rooms but was flexible when he needed to be.
Not a lot of free time on the tour. We were lucky to arrive at lunchtime in Osaka and so had free time until the evening meal so we took the train to Osaka Castle where we wandered the gardens. We were glad that we did as we saw more than when we returned the following day. At the end of the tour we had 2 free afternoons which again enabled us to take the train back into Tokyo Centre to wander around.
All in all a great time seeing everything that you should when visiting Japan.

I was disappointed as a solo traveller that my flight into Osaka was the last to arrive and I missed the evening meal on the first day
I was surprised that everyone had travelled by different routes
I was also one of the first to leave Tokyo at 6:30am, so missed breakfast and final goodbye’s
Our guide Emiku Honda was brilliant and knowledgeable
The group was friendly and a good mix of ages
The tour was ‘full on’ some days, evening meal 60mins after being dropped off from the day’s activities
I loved the places we visited and feel that I saw the highlights of Japan
I really miss the warm toilet seats!

A very enjoyable holiday which exceeded expectations. The Japan Uncovered itinerary very successfully showcases the highlights of Honshu. We were extremely lucky with the weather and the group gelled well so that there was lots of fun and laughter even when the rain fell. We were led by the charming and knowledgeable Hajimje Yoshida who was always prepared to ‘go the extra mile’ for us. Only a few disappointments! Firstly there was the absence of a transfer ****** to meet us at Osaka Airport when we first arrived because he/she went to the wrong airport. We all bemoaned the lack of variety in the lunch and dinner meals. Many of us were also alarmed at the need to cross a railway line in Takayama with all our luggage, dangerously, on an escalator, because the hotel destination would not allow bus parking outside. Lastly we were appalled by our booking at the sub standard Rembrandt Hotel.