Page 243 - Discoveries Await in 2022 & 2023

ASIA

and a hands-on lesson before we visit the 300-year- DAY 11 • Kyoto • Arashiyama Bamboo Grove Please note: This day includes an uphill walk of 200
old Omicho Market. • Kinkakuji • Controversial Topic: Ethnic steps to reach Senkoji Temple. Travelers do not have to
B,L — Kanazawa New Grand Hotel or similar Korean discrimination participate in this walk.
Explore the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove before we B,L — Hotel Elcient Kyoto or similar
DAY 9 • Kanazawa • Optional visit Kinkakuji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
Gokayama tour Then, venture to the outskirts of Kyoto for a DAY 14 • Kyoto • Ninja martial arts studio
Enjoy free time to explore Kanazawa on your own, or Controversial Topic about the discrimination faced • GCF visit: Kyoto’s YWCA • Controversial
join a full-day optional excursion to Gokayama—a by ethnic minority Koreans living in Japan. Topic: Empowering single mothers
UNESCO World Heritage Site. This village, located B,L — Hotel Elcient Kyoto or similar Visit a local ninja martial arts studio, and sit in on
in the remote Chubu Mountains, is renowned for the students’ practice. Then, visit Kyoto’s YWCA
its distinctive gassho-zukuri-style homes, which DAY 12 • Kyoto • Nara • Matcha tea (Young Women’s Christian Association)—
feature steeply pitched thatched roofs. experience a NEW Grand Circle Foundation site—which
B — Kanazawa New Grand Hotel or similar Explore Nara, visiting Todaiji Temple and Kasuga offers community services to meet the needs
Shrine, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Then, of women, children, and foreign residents in Japan.
DAY 10 • Kanazawa • Home-Hosted Visit: visit a local a tea company for a matcha tea-making Here, learn about the Controversial Topic of the
Tea with a local family • Kyoto demonstration and a hands-on experience of increased divorce rate in Japan and the impact it has
Enjoy a Home-Hosted Visit with a local family, grinding your own green tea using a mill stone. had on the lives—and independence—of
sitting down for tea and to get a firsthand glimpse B,L — Hotel Elcient Kyoto or similar single mothers.
of Japanese life. After, we ride the rails to Kyoto, B,D — Hotel Elcient Kyoto or similar
Japan’s imperial capital from the eighth to 19th DAY 13 • Kyoto • Buddhist Temple • Sushi-
centuries. This city remains an important cultural making in Kameoka DAY 15 • Return to U.S.
center today, and has been designated a UNESCO Head to Senkoji Temple. Try Zen meditation and Transfer to the airport in Osaka for your flight
World Heritage Site. have a tea ceremony. Then, embark on a boat ride to home, or to Kagoshima to begin your New! Kyushu
B,L,D — Hotel Elcient Kyoto or similar Togetsu Bridge, followed by a visit to Heki-tei, a house Island: Ancient Temples & Castles in a Subtropical Oasis
where samurai once lived and trained. Here, learn to post-trip extension. Travelers taking our optional
make sushi. Hiroshima: City of Peace post-trip extension will
transfer to Hiroshima by bullet train today.
B

Unique Accommodations

Hotel Recove Hakone
Hakone
Just steps away from the footpaths of the
Hakone Botanical Gardens of Wetlands, Hotel
Recove Hakone offers a variety of amenities,
including a restaurant, lounge, game room,
and outdoor hot spring bath. There are 118
air-conditioned rooms at the hotel, each with
satellite TV, wireless Internet, and private bath
with hair dryer.

Witness the splendor of Kinkakuji Temple on Day 11.

Japan’s Cultural Treasures Information & Reservations 1-800-955-1925 www.oattravel.com/ jpn 243

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