Sake Journey’s 2016 Fall Tour
Our November 2016 Japan Travel Map
Sake Journey’s Itinerary
November 2, 2016
Arrive in Tokyo and Joy of Sake Tokyo. Guest will arrive in Tokyo on a flight of their choice on this day or earlier. We’ll meet at our upscale Tokyo Hotel, located near Tokyo Station, and as a kick off to our Sake Journey, we’ll partake in one of the best sake festivals in Japan, the 2016 Tokyo Joy of Sake! After checking into our Tokyo Hotel, we’ll travel to the Joy of Sake and enjoy an evening of hobnobbing with sake brewers and tasting a wide range of award winning sakes – with the highlight on sakes not for sale in the U.S.
November 3, 2016
Sake Exploration Day Tokyo After a relaxing breakfast at our hotel, we’ll strike out into Tokyo for a magnificent day of sake exploration. We’ll visit some of our favorite sake shops, hidden sake pubs and we’ll have time to do some shopping all long the way. Go truly behind the curtain of Tokyo’s sake scene!
November 4, 2016
Travel to Hakkaisan Sake Brewery. Next, we will travel by First Class shinkansen to visit one of the most famous Breweries in Japan: Hakkaisan Sake Brewery. After a tour of the sake brewery, we’ll lunch at Hakkaisan’s delicious Soba Restaurant and tour their beautiful and brand new sake snow storage facility. In the evening we’ll dine at a private dinner with the Executives of Hakkaisan, enjoying rare sakes not for sale to the general public. Later, we’ll relax in the evening at the beautiful and charming Hakkaisan Guest House.
November 5, 2016
Hakkaisan Tour and travel to Kyoto. The second full day on our Journey has us starting our morning with a traditional kurabito “brewery worker’s” breakfast at Hakkaisan Brewery. After breakfast, guests can walk the beautiful grounds of Hakkaisan, visit the unique “snow storage” sake facility, do some shopping or grab a coffee and Hakkaisan “baumkuchen” in their cafe. Next, we’ll travel by first class bullet train to Kyoto.
November 6, 2016
Free day in Kyoto. In this magnificent city, we will start with a free day to explore Kyoto. On this day, you are free to roam far and wide and explore Kyoto at your leisure. Visit the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, or stroll the gorgeous Gion district. This is your day for relaxing and shopping and taking in all the splendors of Kyoto. If you want to experience the sake side of Kyoto, join us on a tour of Matsuo Taisha – the shrine to the god of sake! In the evening, we’ll visit our favorite sake spots for the best nihonshu and food kyoto has to offer.
November 7, 2016
Travel from Kyoto to Kobe. Not far from Kyoto, in Hyogo prefecture is the world famous Nada sake brewing area near Kobe. We’ll visit Kobe Shushinkan Brewery, makers of Fukuju sake, to taste sake made to exacting standards with the famous water of this region. Lunch will be at their famous Sakabayashi restaurant and of course, all paired with Fukuju sake. After our brewery tour, we’ll enjoy an evening in Kobe, and dine at a fantastic Kobe beef restaurant for a meal we won’t soon forget!
November 8, 2016
Kobe to Hiroshima. On this day we’ll travel from Kobe to Hiroshima. In Hiroshima, we’ll explore the famous “Saijo” district, filled with sake breweries! You can be sure we will also enjoy Hiroshima style foods and sake along with our brewery tour!
November 9, 2016
Travel from Hiroshima for a final izakaya night in Tokyo. We’ll travel by first class bullet train from Hiroshima to Tokyo and spend our final night together at a fun, hidden and local Tokyo Izakaya. Let us surprise you with some rare and hard to find sakes along with the best sake pub cuisine. It’s a wonderful way to cap off our tour!
November 10, 2016
Enjoy a final relaxing morning in Tokyo. Breakfast is included at our hotel. You can travel more within Japan or elsewhere, or head back home. Either way, you’ll have wonderful memories of your Sake Journey!