Japan

Arrival: airport to hotel

Meeting point

Airport arrivals hall, Narita

Transfer

Private Toyota Hiace, roughly 75–90 minutes to The Gate Hotel, Ginza, depending on traffic.

New Year's Day

Directions

Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line from Hibiya Station (linked underground to Ginza) direct to Meiji-jingumae, roughly 15–20 minutes, or a taxi of similar length.

1 January is Hatsumode — the first shrine visit of the New Year, and one of the most distinctly Japanese experiences a visitor can have. Meiji Jingu, a serene forested shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, is the classic choice and one of Tokyo's most important Shinto sites. On New Year's Day it draws some of the largest crowds in the country, so budget for a genuinely long wait — possibly an hour or more to reach the main hall — and dress warmly for the queue. The reward is a rare, festive atmosphere: families in kimono, amazake and grilled mochi from the stalls near the entrance, and the ritual itself — a bow, a coin, two more bows, two claps, a wish, a final bow.

Afterwards, Yoyogi Park next door is a good place to stretch the legs, and Omotesando — Tokyo's tree-lined answer to the Champs-Élysées — makes for a pleasant wander past architecturally striking flagship stores, even though most will be shuttered for the holiday.

That is the one thing to plan around: 1 January is the one day of the year when most shops, restaurants and even some train timetables scale back. Treat the afternoon and evening as intentionally quiet — a relaxed few hours at the hotel, or a slow walk with no fixed agenda.

For dinner, many independent restaurants are closed, so the hotel restaurant or a nearby convenience store are the most dependable options.

teamLab and Shibuya

Transfer

Tokyo Metro Ginza Line runs directly between Ginza and Shibuya, about 15–20 minutes with no changes.

Tickets

teamLab tickets tentatively held for 10:00.

The morning is teamLab, the city's immersive digital art experience — rooms of floor-to-ceiling projected light, water, flowers and sound that respond to visitors moving through them. Genuinely striking for both kids and adults, and unlike anything most first-time visitors will have seen.

In the afternoon, Shibuya delivers the flip side of Tokyo — dense, neon and endlessly energetic. Shibuya Crossing, the famous scramble where several hundred pedestrians cross from every direction at once, is best appreciated first from street level. The Hachiko statue nearby (Japan's famously loyal dog, who waited at the station for his owner for years) is a popular meeting spot and photo stop, and the surrounding streets — Center Gai, Shibuya 109 — are worth a wander for shopping and people-watching.

It is still the New Year holiday period, so a note for dinner near the hotel tonight. Ginza Mitsukoshi, the department store a few minutes from the hotel, reopens on 2 January at 10:00 (its depachika opens slightly earlier, at 9:30), so by this evening its food hall is a good option for high-quality bento, sushi and other prepared dishes to take back to the hotel.

Otherwise, the hotel's own restaurant and the many 24-hour convenience stores within a few minutes' walk are reliable fallbacks. Holiday hours can shift year to year.

Asakusa and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa

Meeting point

The Gate Hotel Tokyo by Hulic lobby, 09:00.

Transfer

Public transport, arranged and led by the guide — roughly 20–25 minutes by subway from Ginza to Asakusa (the Ginza Line runs directly between the two).

Service

Half-day guided tour, English-speaking guide, public transport and entrance fees included.

The guide meets the family in the hotel lobby and leads them by subway to Asakusa, Tokyo's historic old town and home to Senso-ji, the city's oldest Buddhist temple. The tour includes Kaminarimon — the "Thunder Gate" — the massive vermilion gate with its enormous red lantern, one of the most photographed spots in Tokyo, marking the entrance to Nakamise-dori, a traditional shopping street leading up to the temple, lined with stalls selling snacks and souvenirs.

From there, the group heads to Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, a quieter, more local neighbourhood across the river known for two very different things: Kiyosumi Garden, a classic Japanese strolling garden built around a large pond with stepping-stone paths and carefully placed rocks, and — in the surrounding streets — one of Tokyo's best concentrations of specialty coffee roasters and small artisan studios. A welcome contrast to Asakusa's busier energy.

The tour wraps up around 13:00 near the Imperial Palace (Otemon Gate), where the guide gives a brief orientation. The family can continue independently into the East Gardens (free to enter), or ask the guide to accompany them back to the hotel.

Kamakura day trip

Meeting point

The Gate Hotel Tokyo by Hulic lobby, 09:00.

Transfer

Train, taxi and walking throughout the day, all arranged by the guide. Tokyo Station is an easy 10–15 minute walk (or one stop) from the hotel.

Service

Full-day guided tour, English-speaking guide, public transport, entrance fees and some taxi fares included. Runs roughly 09:00 to 17:30.

Eight hundred years ago, Kamakura was the seat of Japan's first shogunate. Today it's a relaxed seaside town of temples, shrines and hillside trails, an easy train ride from Tokyo and a world away from it.

The day begins quietly at Jochiji, a Zen temple reached up moss-lined stone steps, with a small cave shrine tucked into the hillside. From there, a tunnel carved through rock leads to Zeniarai Benten, the "money-washing" shrine, where visitors rinse coins in spring water flowing through a cave in the hope of seeing them multiply. Next comes Sasuke Inari, approached through a tunnel of small red torii gates, with all the drama of Kyoto's famous version and a fraction of the crowds.

Then the highlight: the Great Buddha at Kotoku-in, a 13-metre bronze cast in 1252, sitting in the open air since a tsunami swept away the hall that once housed it. After lunch at your leisure nearby (not included; your guide will point you to good options), Hasedera Temple offers sweeping views over Sagami Bay and a gilded eleven-headed Kannon, one of the largest wooden Buddhist statues in Japan.

The afternoon slows down with time on Yuigahama Beach, a ride on the charming old Enoden train, and a browse along Komachi-dori, Kamakura's main shopping street, before the train back to Tokyo.

Evening food tour of Tokyo

Meeting point

The Gate Hotel Tokyo by Hulic lobby, 17:30.

Transfer

Public transport, led by the guide, to the first restaurant, then on foot between stops.

Service

Evening guided food tour, English-speaking guide, all food and drinks included. Runs roughly 17:30 to 21:00.

Much of Tokyo's best food is effectively invisible to visitors on their own: the counter-only izakaya, the ramen shop with a ticket machine and no English on the wall, the seven-seat restaurant that only takes reservations by phone. A guide opens those doors. They secure the table, translate the menu and explain what each dish actually is, handle the ordering etiquette, and add the context that turns a meal into something more: why a dish is seasonal, what makes a regional specialty special, how to eat what arrives with no obvious instructions. Dietary needs are sorted in advance, not discovered mid-meal.

Your guide collects you from the hotel and takes you by public transport to a reserved, chef-led restaurant for seven courses with drinks, the kind of table that is hard to book or navigate without a Japanese speaker. From there it's a short walk to a local ramen shop for a final, casual bowl, before your guide returns you to the hotel around 21:00.

Departure: The Gate Hotel to Narita Airport

Meeting point

The Gate Hotel Tokyo by Hulic lobby, recommended pickup 06:30–07:00.

Transfer

Private vehicle direct to Narita Airport, Terminal 3 — roughly 75–90 minutes depending on traffic.

Service

Private transfer, Toyota Hiace, English-speaking driver.

A mirror of the arrival transfer: the driver collects the family from the hotel lobby and drives straight to the departure terminal. Flight confirmed as GK107 (Jetstar Japan) to Sapporo New Chitose, departing Narita Terminal 3 at 09:30.

Check-in for domestic flights closes 30 minutes before departure, but with five passengers and luggage it is worth building in a real buffer — arriving by around 08:00 is a sensible target, which points to a hotel pickup between 06:30 and 07:00.

Arrival: Itami Airport to Kyoto

Meeting point

Itami Airport (Osaka) arrivals hall, off ANA flight NH984 from Sapporo New Chitose, landing 15:45.

Transfer

Private vehicle, roughly 60–75 minutes from Itami to Capella Kyoto in Higashiyama/Gion, depending on traffic.

Service

Private transfer, Toyota Hiace, English-speaking driver.

Same format as the Tokyo transfers: the driver waits in the arrivals hall at Itami after the 15:45 landing and takes the family directly to Capella Kyoto, with no local trains or taxis to manage after a flight. Capella Kyoto sits in Miyagawacho, right beside Kennin-ji Temple in the heart of Gion and Higashiyama.

Arashiyama

Meeting point

Capella Kyoto lobby, 09:00.

Transfer

Local transit to a convenient station (around 15–20 minutes), then the JR Sagano Line to Arashiyama, roughly 20–25 minutes each way.

Service

Half-day guided tour, English-speaking guide, public transport and entrance fees included. Runs roughly 09:00 to 13:30, leaving the afternoon free.

Arashiyama, on Kyoto's western edge, packs an unusual amount of scenery into a small area. The Bamboo Grove is the headline — a path through towering bamboo so dense it filters the light green, tall enough to sway and creak overhead in the wind. It is genuinely atmospheric, though busy by mid-morning, so an early visit helps. From there, Togetsukyo Bridge ("Moon Crossing Bridge") spans the Katsura River with the forested hills of Arashiyama behind — one of Kyoto's most photographed views, especially from the riverbank.

At the south end of the bridge is Iwatayama Monkey Park, home to around 120 wild Japanese macaques roaming freely over a hillside. It is a short, fairly steep 20-minute walk to the summit, rewarded with sweeping views over Kyoto and up-close (but safely managed — feeding is only allowed from inside a covered hut) encounters along the way.

The tour returns by JR train, arriving back at Capella Kyoto around 13:30, with the rest of the afternoon free.

Fushimi Inari and Gion

Meeting point

Capella Kyoto lobby, 09:00.

Transfer

Public transport, arranged and led by the guide throughout the day.

Service

Full-day guided tour, English-speaking guide, public transport and entrance fees included. Runs roughly 09:00 to 17:00.

The day opens with Fushimi Inari Shrine, probably Kyoto's most photographed site: thousands of vermilion torii gates form a tunnel climbing Mount Inari, donated over centuries by individuals and businesses as offerings to Inari, the Shinto deity of rice, sake and prosperity. Foxes, Inari's messengers, appear as statues throughout the grounds. The full loop to the summit and back takes two to three hours, but even a shorter walk through the first sections delivers the iconic view, so the guide can tailor how far the family goes.

From there the tour moves to Nishiki Market, a narrow covered street known as "Kyoto's Kitchen" — five blocks of stalls selling pickles, fresh seafood, wagashi (traditional sweets), knives, tea and countless things to sample along the way. A good way to graze through lunch.

The afternoon covers Gion, Kyoto's geisha (geiko and maiko) district: Hanamikoji Street and the Shirakawa canal area are lined with beautifully preserved wooden machiya townhouses and traditional teahouses, and offer the best (though never guaranteed) chance of glimpsing a geiko or maiko on her way to an appointment. The tour also takes in Kennin-ji, Kyoto's oldest Zen temple, known for its dry rock garden and dramatic ceiling painting of twin dragons, and finishes at Yasaka Shrine and neighbouring Maruyama Park — Yasaka is the guardian shrine of Gion, brightly painted and lively year-round, while Maruyama, Kyoto's oldest public park, is a quieter place to wind down.

Capella Kyoto sits right beside Kennin-ji, so much of today finishes on the hotel's doorstep. By the end of the day the neighbourhood will feel familiar, which makes it easy to return on your own.

Departure: Kansai Airport

Meeting point

Capella Kyoto lobby, pickup time to be confirmed against the outbound flight.

Transfer

Private vehicle direct to Kansai International Airport, roughly 80–100 minutes depending on traffic.

Service

Private transfer, Toyota Hiace, English-speaking driver.