Tour Architecture and art: between modern and traditional

TOKYO

Welcome to Tokyo! Transfer to your hotel to rest, and recharge for the new adventure. We will include transportation for your arrival in Japan.

TOKYO

An incredible city, and a special tour to see the modern side of Japan. Visit renowned museums with modern architecture like the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. Then enjoy touring the Harajuku and Omotesando areas.

The latter, sometimes described as “The best open-air museum of contemporary architecture”, designed by world famous architects, including Kengo Kuma, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, Herzog & de Meuron and Tadao Ando. Explore a new culture, and be part of the most populated city in the world, with a great variety of people and an interesting lifestyle.

TOKYO

You will have the day free and at your disposal, to explore and get to know Tokyo. We recommend visiting places like Nakamise Street, next to the Sensooji Temple; the Tokyo Tower, the Meiji Shrine. Tour small art galleries or designer exhibitions. Tokyo is also a city with dozens and dozens of museums to discover, as well as interesting art galleries.

We recommend visiting Odaiba, and the new and famous museum of digital art: MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless, an interactive museum of technology and art that dazzles all who visit it, and is in constant change and movement, through projections and interactive rooms. Tickets to this and other museums can be scheduled before the trip with us.

We will let you know of the latest exhibits available.

KANAZAWA

In the morning, take the bullet train, one of the fastest trains in the world, to Kanazawa. Visit the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa. It is one of the most acclaimed contemporary museums in Japan. You will see a unique collection chosen based on three key concepts: works that present a “new sense of value”, “historical reference”, and “the creativity of artists related to Kanazawa”. You will have the afternoon free, at your disposal.

KANAZAWA

Enjoy a private guided tour of Kanazawa. Visit the most important places in Kanazawa, such as Kenrokuen, categorized as one of the best gardens in Japan: the Old Samurai Residence, in the Higashichaya District, and the Omicho Local Market. It will also be taken to the Museum of D.T. Suzuki, designed to commemorate the life and work of Suzuki Daisetsu, a world-renowned Japanese Buddhist philosopher. Zen philosophy is reflected through this contemporary architecture. Kanazawa also has art galleries and boutiques displaying Kutani Pottery, Kaga Yuzen Kimonos, and gold leaf products, with the chance to meet a local artist.

KYOTO

Transfer to Kyoto by bullet train. Upon arrival, your guide will be waiting at Kyoto station to start the tour.

Private and guided tour of Kyoto. Visit some of the World Heritage Sites, including gardens, temples, and shrines to learn about the history, religion, and traditional aesthetics of Japan. We will visit Arashiyama, the great bamboo forest, and Tenryuuji, the most important Zen temple in Kyoto.

Later, we will go to the Kinkakuji temple, better known as the Golden Pavilion, covered with sheets of this material, whose reflection in the lake that surrounds it gives the impression of a mirror, highlighting its majesty, with a pleasant walk through the beautiful garden that surrounds it.

In the evening, stay at a Ryokan hotel, and there you will be served traditional dinner.

KYOTO

After breakfast, your driver will take you to the Miho Museum, with a collection of antiques from Asia and the West. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei, an internationally acclaimed architect who also designed the Louvre’s glass pyramid.

After the museum visit, we return to Kyoto and your driver will drop you off where you want. PM free time.

KYOTO

Free day in Kyoto. Explore Gion and the Higashiyama area, entertainment districts with authentic coffee houses, craft and pottery shops. Enjoy shopping at various art galleries and antique stores. You will find vases, ceramics, pictures, utensils for tea ceremonies, among other things.

Also, you can visit the imposing Kiyomizudera Temple, from where there is a beautiful view surrounded by nature and a glimpse of the city; Or head to the imposing Fushimi Inari Shrine, famous for its appearance in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, where thousands of torii gates (sacred portals) are lined up one after another, creating various orange tunnels, next to the main temple building.

NAOSHIMA

Transfer by train and ferry to Naoshima Island. Enjoy exploring the Chichu Art Museum, Casa Benesse, and the Art House Project; three museums of modern art and architecture. Stay one night in a luxury hotel Casa Benesse, designed by world-renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

NAOSHIMA

Morning free time in Naoshima. In the afternoon you will be transferred by ferry to Takamatsu on the island of Shikoku.

TAKAMATSU

Free time. We recommend the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, which has a collection of 150 sculptures in the studio. Then, visit an art gallery displaying the works of one of the most innovative interior designers of the 20th century, George Nakashima.

TOKYO

Flight back to Tokyo, return home.