"Best of Japan May 2024"

My wife and I just returned home from 2 weeks Best of Japan holiday with Emperor Tours. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Japan is a fascinating country, people are very friendly and kind. The tour was well organised, our guides were all very polite and informative. Hotels were centrally located and good, with some exceptionally good. The itinerary was quite busy, but it’s a long way to travel, so we would like to see as many places as possible. We travelled by coach for part of the trip, also experienced bullet train a couple of times. The journeys were generally easy and stress-free. We have many great memories and hundreds of photos. We would have no hesitation to recommend Emperor Tours to anyone who’s considering travelling to Japan!

"Ultimate Japan (17 Days) Tour May 2024 Review"

Ultimate Japan (17 Days) Tour Review:
Japan is a fantastic country and I highly recommend it as a destination. However I cannot recommend Emperor Tours. The tour came across as poorly organised and unprofessional. There were many things throughout the tour that we had to deal with which took away enjoyment from the tour.

After arriving at Tokyo airport from a tiring 13.5-hour direct flight, there was supposed to be someone at the arrivals lounge to greet us and take us to the hotel. We were told they would have either an emperor tours sign or our names on a board. After waiting and looking around the airport, and reading every sign the various drivers were holding up for 1 hour and 20 minutes, no such person materialised, and we had not been given a local contact number for the driver. As it was morning in Tokyo and the middle of the night in the UK, we also could not contact ET for assistance. We had no choice but to take a taxi to our hotel, where we also could not check in immediately and had to wait several hours. This was certainly not the best way to start the tour.

The day guide for Tokyo, ‘David’, was absolutely appalling. He was Chinese and could not speak Japanese and had poor English skills. He was unable to answer basic questions about Tokyo or Japan, and it was clear that not only was he not a professional tour guide, he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. He struggled to communicate with the Japanese ticket officers in the metro, got us lost on the metro, shouted hysterically at the elevator operators in the Tokyo tower, and was unable to provide any meaningful information about any of the places we went to see. He had made preparations in advance to take us to lunch a Chinese restaurant in a strange location, the restaurant was empty and the cost of the meal was completely extortionate for Japan (more than double of what it should have been_ – it was clear to us that he must have been taking some sort of commission from this and this was a scam. Overall, we were really disappointed and could not understand how and why this man – who clearly was not a real tour guide – had been selected to give us a tour of a city he knew nothing about.

For the rest of the week, we had another tour guide, a Chinese student studying in Japan, whilst he did speak Japanese, his command and understanding of English was poor. He was also not a professional or experienced tour guide and was doing this as a part-time summer job. The places we were taken to, he was also going to for the first time, and thus did not have much to say about them and looked quite bewildered and confused. After another member of the group raised her concerns to ET, he was replaced with a more competent Japanese guide, Daitaro, – who spoke brilliant English and was considerably more helpful. If professional and experienced guides had been used from the beginning of the tour throughout the tour, it would have made it much more enjoyable for us.

Quite a few times, our hotel bookings had been made incorrectly and we were booked without breakfast (which should have been included) – so we had to constantly flag this up to Ling to sort out, and we were also being charged with additional taxes at some of the hotels which we later found out should have been paid by ET and not us – luckily Daitaro helped us sort this out.

Our trip to Koyasan from Kyoto had been poorly planned, it had been arranged for us to take 5 different trains to get there which took over 5 hours and even Daitaro could not understand why it had been arranged like this. A coach ride directly there would have only taken 2.5 hours, or what we could have done is taken a coach ride to a more local station and then just one or two trains from there to Koyasan. As most of the group was quite elderly this was a very strenuous and tiring journey for them.

Overall, I would highly recommend a tour to Japan, but if you are looking for a professional and well organised tour, with a dedicated and competent tour guide to assist and guide you throughout the journey, then I would advise you to book with another travel company and not Emperor Tours.

"Amazing experience, shame about the tour company…"

Whilst we had an amazing experience visiting Japan for the first time after many years of wanting to, there were some disappointing shortcomings with the tour organisation itself.

Things started badly when we landed at Tokyo airport and were unable to locate the tour company representative who should have been there to greet us and take us to our hotel - we had been in transit for a great many hours and were not prepared to have to deal with such an issue immediately upon our arrival. We ended up having to take a taxi from the airport to our hotel at a cost of around £35, which wasn’t great and whilst we got the money refunded by the tour company, there was no real satisfactory explanation as to how such an important basic element of their service had fallen down so badly.

There was an immediate subsequent issue with the first (of three) assigned tour guide who turned up on day 2 to show us around Tokyo. Turns out he was not Japanese and didn’t seem to have very much grasp of either English or Japanese (based on his heavy reliance of a translation app on his phone when interacting with the locals).

He took us on the Tokyo underground to get us to where we needed to get to, which took a few wrong turns due to the guide’s lack of familiarity with the Metro and how to navigate it. He subsequently took us to a very dubious ‘Hot Pot’ restaurant for a late lunch - the place was empty and located in a business district - the meal was ok but definitely overpriced and we suspected some kind of ploy in taking us there.

There were other issues which I won’t detail but as I said we had a great experience in spite of the tour company’s shortcomings. We based our choice of selecting Emperor Tours largely on others’ positive reviews, so felt it important to highlight the issues we had for others seeking honest feedback.

The logistics and overall quality of guides were below our expectations and in spite of having communicated the catalogue of issues we experienced to Ling Todd as they occurred (and there were quite a few), whilst these were addressed, there was no real recognition of the detrimental impact to our enjoyment of the tour and no seeming understanding of the fundamental failings of her company.

We would wholeheartedly recommended Japan as a destination but would hesitate to recommend ET as the company to book through.

"A Great Holiday in a Wonderful Country"

We’ve just returned from the ‘Ultimate Japan’ Tour (7-23 May) arranged by Emporer Tours. Japan is an amazing country and its people are wonderfully kind, friendly and respectful! This tour is a ‘full-on’ mostly-guided itinerary (with some free time along the way). It takes in so many fantastic places*, travelling by mini-bus, shinkansen (bullet train), local trains and buses and there were a number of fabulous walks too! *Tokyo-Mount Fuji-Hakone-Nagano-Yudanaka-Matsumoto-Takayama-Kanawaza-Kyoto-Nara-Mount Koya-Hiroshima-Osaka. (Contact them for full details now!)

The hotels were, without exception, excellent and all were centrally located, close to restaurants, shops and other local amenities. A highlight was an overnight stay in temple lodgings at Mount Koya – a mountain resort reached by scenic railway and funicular tram. From the moment we enquired about the tour, Ling Todd, our contact, was so very helpful; she came back to us immediately with answers to any questions we had, and was a huge support, when there were queries from our group when we were on tour. We would highly recommend Emperor Tours and, no doubt, we will be travelling with them again in the future! Finally, a big thank you to you, Ling!

"Tour of India and Goa"

We had a memorable amazing time on our holiday to India. The Guides and Drivers were brilliant they made everything so easy for us. They organized all sightseeing trips and collected us at agreed times and could not do enough for us. Our car was always spotless and had plenty of water for us to drink on our travels. Guides were informative and even took photos for us

"Ultimate Japan during cherry blossom season."

Our second holiday with Emperor and probably not our last, as we appreciate a small group tour and the efficient planning of Ms Ling Todd.
11 of us plus Mi our delightful guide explored Tokyo to Hiroshima via underground, minibus, bullet train and tram. A full itinerary of shrines, temples, castles, palace gardens and great shopping. We upgraded to mostly good 4 star hotels, a wise decision by all accounts, particularly The Sheraton, Hiroshima.
My personal highlights were the Snow monkey park and Kanazawa for its garden, museum and art.
A small blip was promptly sorted out by Ling Todd back at HQ. Otherwise a brilliant trip through a fascinating country and it’s welcoming people.

"Explore Japan - we certainly did"

We booked the 9 day 'Explore Japan' tour. Hats off to Ling for organising everything as it all panned out as set out in the itinerary. The Grand Sheraton Hotel in Hiroshima was perfectly placed, a super hotel with lovely staff. The Ryokan was a novel but enjoyable experience. As two older travellers, it was our first time in Japan but Ling was excellent throughout, always replying promptly, answering all our queries. We can thoroughly recommend Emperor Tours.

"Great experience of Japan"

My retirement treat, visiting Japan with my daughters. The Emperor Tours Explore Japan seemed to be the best to meet our needs.
The tour involves everything being arranged rather than a formal tour with guide, which suited us better. We enjoyed finding our way around, getting the bullet train etc. which gave us confidence that we could manage independently.
All parts went smoothly, the organisation of the tour and the tour itinerary book were excellent.
When our flight was delayed, meaning that we missed our connection to Hiroshima, Ling Todd was able to sort out our airport transport.
The high point of the experience was our guided tour of Hiroshima with Akie Onishi - she was brilliant.
We also enjoyed the coach tours of Kyoto, Tokyo and Mount Fuji.
The hotel choices were very good, especially the Grand Sheraton in Hiroshima but we also enjoyed the experience of staying in a traditional Japanese Inn in Kyoto.

"Amazing holiday organised perfectly"

Our tour organiser, Ling, was absolutely fantastic. They suggested the tour, then managed to get everything organised, despite the many changes we had to make!
We did the "Best of Japan" tour which covered the main cities and their great attractions. We were on trains, trolley busses, tour bus and bullet train. Everything was amazing! What a great country to visit. So different from the UK. Polite, clean, always on time, very welcoming to tourists, phenomenal food and lovely people.
Our hotels were beautiful, and situated where you could easily explore the nearby areas.
Please request any changes to the itinerary before leaving the UK, rather than spring changes on the tour guide at the last minute, which makes their life very difficult.
This tour involves a lot of walking, due to many of the attractions being inaccessible for vehicles, so if you have mobility issues, then let the organiser know so that extra time can be scheduled in.
We had an amazing time, and tried all kinds of food, favouring small local places rather than chains. Not huge amounts of meat served, but plenty of noodles, rice, salad and veg. Portions come in various sizes, so we chose the smaller ones, only so we could try more different things.
Emperor Tours are amazing!

"The Ultimate tour of Japan"

We were a group of four on this fantastic whirlwind tour of Japan, which covered Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima amongst other sites of interest. Originally we planned to organise the trip ourselves until we discovered Emperor Tours’ seventeen-day Ultimate tour of Japan, which included all the places we wanted to visit and more. We became part of a small diverse group of twelve, which was the perfect size for bonding with each other and with our delightful Japanese guide Danni. There was just the right balance of meals included (some exceeding our expectations) as well as free days to explore the local culture and landscape at our leisure. Ling at Emperor Tours was super efficient throughout and even arranged with Cathay Pacific for us to stop over in Hong Kong for an extra 5 days on the same air tickets. There were a few blips, nothing Ling or Danni couldn’t sort out quickly, but they didn’t spoil the overall experience of this awe inspiring trip. We would highly recommend Emperor Tours and Ling.
So Lin, Lily, Maria and Steve, Hertfordshire.