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This fall edition of our Japan Photo Tour, from November the 13th to the 27th, 2023, is one of our top photo tours for this year. Japan is among the most desired destinations by photographers from all around the world, bringing us unique and unbeatable landscape, architecture and cultural photography opportunities. An incredibly complete trip, that will introduce us in the Japanese millenary culture, while we are able to capture extraordinary fall images.
There are not a lot of destinations that offer so many possibilities like Japan does. Even preparing this trip has been really difficult, because you could always do something more. But that will require a longer tour, so we have tried to select really the best locations for photography, making sure that you’ll enjoy the trip at its best.
This way, we can guarantee you the best possible experience, enjoying the trip from the very beginning until the last second. At the same time, this Japan Photo Tour is organized by our own official travel company for photography lovers, with five years of experience and more than 40 photo tours organized. You’ll be also guided by professional photographers with previous experience in the locations, and with dozens of photo tours guided.
During this fantastic, 15 day long Japan Photo Tour, we will photograph iconic places such as Mount Fuji, or the Nagano pond, with its famous snow monkeys. We will also visit wonderful cities, like Tokyo and Kyoto, or incredible locations like the Arashiyama bamboo forest.
Besides this, this Japan Photo Tour also has a strong social photography component. In each of the places we will be visiting, we will be able to photograph the locals while they are doing their daily routines. From the incredibly busy life in Tokyo, to the quieter one in the ancient towns, like Shirakawa-go or Koyasan, where we’ll visit some Buddhist monks who live in the area, we’ll have many different opportunities to enjoy social and portrait photography.
Given all this possibilities, we have prepared a very complete itinerary and an intense program, something that will make possible to enjoy the at its best, from the first moment, to the final day.
As we normally do, we will pay very close attention to the best moments of light, sunrises and sunsets. Therefore, we have choose to visit the most beautiful locations at those moments. This way, we’ll be visiting the most spectacular landscapes, temples and palaces at sunrise or at sunset, trying to photograph them under the best light. But, of course, we will keep taking pictures during the rest of the day too! Every single day, we have programmed a lot of different places to visit, with countless photo opportunities to enjoy.
We have choose these dates for our Japan Photo Tour in order to enjoy the best fall colors. During this season, Japan get extraordinary beautiful autumn colors. Imagine the incredible red, yellow and orangish colors around those already stunning locations… these conditions will make getting wonderful pictures easier than ever.
Apart from this, during the autumn months is common to get those ideal conditions that bring us colorful skies. Therefore, we’ll be ready to capture those special moments of light every single sunrise and sunset during the trip.
This Japan Photo Tour is suitable for all physical conditions, ages and photography levels. First of all, this can be considered an easy trip, with no complicated hikes or requirements. Most of the photography locations will be very close to the parking lots, and there won’t be very long or hard hikes.
Equally, there is not an age limit, anyone can join the trip as long as he or she is reasonably well.
Finally, there is not a minimal photography level required to participate. No matter if you are a beginner or a professional, our photographers will bring you personalized attention, adjusted to your needs, in order to help you capturing the best images of Japan.
Given all those details, what we offer is a fabulous opportunity to visit and photograph Japan. A country full of contrasts, plenty of possibilities for photography lovers, in one of the best times of the year, under the extraordinary fall colors. Do not miss this great chance to join us on one of our top photo tours, and be one of the 12 fortunate photo lovers who will capture the magical Japan.
On the first day of this Japan Photo Tour, we’ll meet up at Narita International Airport, in Tokyo. From here, we’ll move to our hotel to leave the luggage, and we might give some free time to rest after our flights. After that, we will go out to capture our first images of the trip.
For this session, we will explore the Shibuya District, in which we’ll find the famous Scramble Kousaten, an area similar to New York’s Times Square. We will stay here for sunset, as well as for blue hour, combining the last lights of the day with the buildings illumination. After this, once the nights has come, we’ll left the area to go back to our hotel.
Today, we’ll head to Sensō–ji Temple for sunrise. We’ll be able to photograph the spectacular Tokyo Tower from here, so we’ll wait for the first rays of sunlight, illuminating this beautiful area. After the session, we’ll walk around Asakusa, one of the traditional neighborhoods in town. We’ll find here the typical Tokyo little streets, full of restaurants. At the same time, we’ll have the chance to photograph the gorgeous Tokyo Skytree, one of the highest skyscrapers in the city. From this tower, we’ll enjoy the incredible panoramic views of the surroundings.
In the afternoon, we will head to Odaiba, from where we’ll photograph the spectacular Tokyo skyline. We’ll stay in the area for sunset, waiting for the golden light as the sun falls. Before getting back to our hotel, we’ll take some blue hour and early night images.
For sunrise, we’ll move to Shiba Park, next to the Zojoji Temple and the Tokyo Tower, a perfect location to capture the first lights of the day hitting these marvelous buildings. We’ll keep photographing the area during the rest of the morning, before heading to Roppongi.
In the afternoon, we’ll visit the Meiji Sanctuary, where we’ll stay for our sunset photo session, being able to get extraordinary pictures. After that, we’ll have dinner and move to our next location, by Motosuko Lake, near Mount Fuji. Once in the area, we’ll get to our accommodation to sleep.
Today, we’ll wake up early to photograph sunrise by one of the most mythical and spectacular locations of the trip, the Mount Fuji. We’ll spend plenty of time in the area, searching for the best compositions. Undoubtedly, such an emblematic location will bring us extraordinary photo opportunities.
During the time we’ll stay here, we’ll capture the surroundings of this impressive volcano, such as the incredible views we’ll get in the Five Lakes area. We will be searching for reflections of the mount on the lakes, with the incomparable frame of the fall colors.
In the afternoon, we’ll move to another top location, the Chureito Pagoda, with amazing views of Mount Fuji. We’ll be searching for many different compositions in the area, with the volcano in the background. One more time, the fall colors will bring us a magical ambient to our images. We’ll be capturing the sunset from this location, before driving to our next accommodation, in Yudanaka.
After a well deserved rest, we’ll move to our next destination, at Jigokudani Park, where we’ll be looking for the famous ‘snow monkeys.’ Certainly, this will be other of the highlights of this Japan Photo Tour. Everybody has seen images or videos of these wonderful monkeys lots of times, and now we’ll have the opportunity to photograph them, while they have a relaxing bath. There are about 200 monkeys in the area, so we’ll try to spend plenty of time searching for the best images of them.
Afterwards, we’ll continue our route South, stopping by the incredible Shirakawa-go village, by the spectacular Japanese Alps. Both the village itself, as well as the outstanding peaks in the surroundings, will make an ideal setting for our photographs. We’ll stay the rest of the day in the village, capturing the amazing old buildings, as well as the fantastic view of the mountains.
After sunset, we will head to our next destination, Kanazawa.
Today, we’ll wake up early to photograph the beautiful town at sunrise. We will visit some of its traditional houses, with the autumn colors and the fallen leaves adding beauty to this magical location.
We’ll leave the area by midday, when we will drive to our following destination, Hikone. Once there, we’ll head to its spectacular castle for sunset. Such a beautiful spot will bring us countless photo opportunities, so we’ll look for the best possible images of the castle and the beautiful gardens around it.
After a fantastic session in Hikone, we’ll continue our trip, driving to Kyoto, where we’ll spend the next two nights.
We’ll begin the day at Nijo Castle, our sunrise location. This is certainly one of the most spectacular buildings in Kyoto, so we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the area. Again, we’ll try to enjoy the incredible fall colors from the trees and the leaves, an incredible frame for our shoots. We’ll also photograph the Ninomaru Japanese gardens, before walking to the Nishiki market, a great spot for social photography.
After lunch, we’ll visit one of the most awaited areas of the trip, Gion, Kyoto’s most famous geisha district. We’ll try to photograph some of the geishas, dressed with their typical traditional clothes. At the same time, we’ll be exploring and photographing the beautiful neighborhood, as well as its precious wooden houses and traditional stores.
Besides that, we will be photographing Hokanji Temple, together with the Kiyomizu-dera Pagoda. This will be our sunset location for today, so we’ll look for the best lights at this enchanting spot.
Finally, we will go back to our hotel to sleep, after a long day of photography!
For todays’ sunrise session, we’ll have to wake up earlier, in order to get to Fushimi Inari well before dawn. This way, we’ll be able to place at the best possible spots, in order to get the best possible pictures as the sun rises. This will give us better photo opportunities, since this is a very touristic and crowded location.
We will be able to enjoy its more than 10,000 “torii”, or ‘sacred gates’, traditional Japanese arches which will be an amazing setting to get incredible images. Given the possibilities of the place, we’ll stay for several hours in the area, maximizing our chances of getting extraordinary pictures.
After having lunch, we’ll visit the To-ji Temple, a Buddhist sanctuary with the highest five-floor pagoda in Japan. Again, fall colors will bring additional beauty to an already wonderful spot. We’ll photograph the pagoda for sunset, before getting back to sleep at our hotel
We’ll wake up very early again today, to get to the Arashiyama bamboo forest for sunrise. Same as the previous day, we’ll try to get to the location before the crowds arrive, in order to get the best spots for photography. Therefore, well try to be ready when the first rays of daylight appear into the woods. This will be surely one of our favorite locations of the trip.
After this session, we’ll photograph the nearby Okochi Denjiro gardens, as well as the Tenryuji and Nonomiya Temples. All of these marvelous locations will be in the same area, so we will spend the whole morning exploring and photographing it.
Then we will have lunch, before heading to another traditional Kyoto’s district, to photograph its typical houses and shops. After this, we’ll photograph the famous Golden Temple, another fantastic location for photography. We’ll keep in the area for sunset, photographing this amazing building with the last rays of daylight.
Finally, we might try a night photography session by Yasaka Jinja Temple, an area which remains open during the night. After this, we will drive to Osaka, our next destination.
Today, we’ll visit the Sumiyoshi Taisha Sanctuary for sunrise, with its more than 700 wooden lamps, and the extraordinary temple from the 3rd Century. Again, we’ll have plenty of time to photograph the area, searching for the best possible images.
After lunch, we will visit other of the top locations of this Japan Photo Tour, the Osaka Castle. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most spectacular castles around Japan. Again, fall colors will increase the beauty of this area, bringing us incredible photography opportunities. We’ll be exploring the area and keep there until sunset, making sure we make the most from our visit.
Finally, we’ll photograph the Dōtonbori neon lights at night, before getting back to our accommodation.
We’ll have a longer rest this morning, after the incredibly busy previous days. After breakfast, we’ll head to Himeji, where we’ll photograph the precious Koko-en Garden, as well as the nearby Himeji Castle. This impressive castle and its surroundings will bring us, one more time, extraordinary photography possibilities.
After spending the rest of the day in the area, capturing the sunset by the castle, we’ll drive back to our accommodation in Osaka to sleep.
Today, we’ll wake up early to visit Nara, a beautiful traditional Japanese town, famous for the deer around its streets. Apart from its traditional architecture, we’ll photograph the Kofukuji and Horyuji Temples there.
Kofukuji Temple was moved here from Kyoto, more than 1,000 years ago, while Horyuji is the oldest wooden temple on Earth. Therefore, with such beautiful subjects, it will be really easy getting fabulous pictures in the area.
After lunch, we will visit the Yoshino Mount area, from which we will capture some of the most amazing views from the trip. From here, we’ll have a wonderful perspective of the fall colors of the trees, with the snowy Nara peaks in the background. We’ll stay here for sunset, hoping to get a beautifully colored sky.
After our session, we’ll drive to Koyasan area, where we will spend the next night. Initially, we were planning to stay in a shukubo, a Buddhist temple, together with the monks. This would be, for sure, a pretty amazing experience, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we feel it would be safer to stay at a hotel, and then visiting the monks in the morning.
We’ll wake up early to photograph sunrise from Koyasan. In case it was possible, we would also visit the monks to photograph them while they are praying.
During most part of the day, we’ll stay in the area around Mount Koya, photographing several of the monuments and temples located here. Between them, some of the most spectacular ones are Danjo Garan, Kondo, Miedo, Fudodo, and Konpon Daito and Toto Pagodas.
Afterwards, we’ll begin our drive North, stopping to sleep at Nagoya.
Today, we’ll wake up early to visit the fabulous Kiso Valley for sunrise. Here, we’ll visit the beautiful Magome village, from where we’ll be able to hike a short part of the old Nakasendo Way, and antique route which joined Edo (Tokio) and Kioto. Magome and, specially Tsumago, the second village we will visit, were the main resting points during the route. However, due to the industrialization, the route was not used anymore. That’s the reason why we’ll be still able to enjoy the most traditional Japan here.
If we have still enough energies, we’ll hike the route between these two villages. During this way, we’ll be able to photograph lovely mountain landscapes, falls, and creeks. Besides this, we would like to highlight the great photo possibilities that we’ll find in the villages. This will be a great moment to capture the traditional Japanese architecture.
If the hike is not possible, we will drive to some of these villages, being still able to photograph its houses and buildings.
Finally, we will keep our way to Tokyo. Depending on time, we could have a last photography session by Mount Fuji, before getting to our accommodation in Tokyo to sleep.
We’ll wake up early to head to Narita International Airport, where this Japan Photo Tour will come to an end.
Narita International Airport, Tokyo, Japan (Google Maps)
This Japan Photo Tour is recommended for any person, no matter the age or the physical level to join the trip. As long as you are able to walk for a short five minute hike with no difficulty, you are welcome to come with us. Most of the photo locations are located just a short walk from the places where we’ll park, meaning this will be an easy trip. We’ll just a longer hike, but it will be optional (however, it’s not mandatory).
At the same time, there isn’t age limits for the tour, as well as your health and conditions are reasonably good.
There is no need of a minimal photography level to join this Japan Photo Tour. You don’t need to be a professional photographer to come to this trip, nor even having a lot of experience with your camera. All our photo tours are open to all levels, even for beginners, or unexperienced photography users. Sometimes, we even have people just taking shots with their smartphones.
One of our highlights is providing customized attention, so we will help you to get the best possible images, regardless your previous level. We’ll be there to help you becoming a better photographer!
During this Japan Photo Tour, we can expect mid to cold temperatures during the day, that will be cooler during our sunrise, sunset and night photo sessions.
Therefore, we should be properly prepared for the trip. We recommend dressing in layers, so you can add or remove clothes depending on the conditions. You should also bring a warm jacket or down parka (a light one should be enough), and a Gore Tex jacket or similar, for the possible rain. Mountain boots or hiking shoes would be perfect for most of the time. Once you confirm your booking, you will also receive a guide withe the recommended gear list for this Japan Photo Tour.
This Japan Photo Tour, as most of our trips, doesn’t include meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner). This will give us maximum flexibility during the trip, in order to focus mainly in the most important thing: photography. Normally, we will be having breakfast in the hotel or in cafes near the area, before or after our sunrise shooting session (depending on timing). For lunch, sometimes we’ll be stopping at restaurants, but other times we’ll be buying food at supermarkets (fruit, snacks, sandwiches, etc…), and doing a picnic or even eating in the vehicle/s. Then, we will have dinner at the hotel or in town.
However, we will have the opportunity to enjoy the delicious Japanese cuisine. Its fish and meat are world famous!
Currently, the main payment option we have is the bank transfer. However, if you prefer it, we also have other payment options, such as credit or debit card, PayPal or Transferwise. Please notice that these other payment options may apply a commission fee. You can ask us about these different payment options.
If you choose to pay by credit or debit card, or by PayPal, you can process your payment online, when you finish the booking process. For bank transfer payment, you just have to proceed with the booking and then, once you finish the process with the chosen payment method, you’ll receive an email with al the instructions and bank details.
During this Iceland Photo Tour, we’ll be normally staying in 3 or 4 star hotel. Each traveller will be staying in a double twin shared room, shared with another participant of the tour. Rooms will always include a private bath. However, it’s possible that, for our night in Koyasan, we stayed at a Buddhist temple, with the monks, to bring a greater experience. In that case, accommodations would be shared between 3 o 4 participants, and no private bathroom would be available. Anyway, it will depend on the Covid-19 pandemic, and we would tell all customers in advance, before confirming this accommodation.
If you come with another person to the trip, you’ll share the room, However, if you are traveling alone, we’ll choose a roommate for you between the other participants in the trip (always same genre). Anyway, you will also have the chance to choose a single room for you, paying an extra supplement. Contact us for all details.
Anyone can join this Japan Photo Tour, no matter your country of residence. Our main travel agency is settled in Santander, Spain, but our trips are open to customers from countries all around the world. Therefore, we may have clients from different places in our photo tours.
This Japan Photo Tour will begin meting up at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Therefore, all the participants need to get there for the first day of the tour, traveling from their country of residence, with no need to travel to a particular town to fly together to Japan.
Once you have confirmed your booking for this Japan Photo Tour, we will send you the trip info with a recommended gear PDF guide. This will include suggestions not only about the photography gear, but also about the clothes and accessories you might need during this photo tour. To sum up, you won’t have to worry about anything, since our expert photo leaders and guides will inform you about everything you will need, so you can enjoy your travel as much as possible!
As a first tip, we would suggest you bringing a light color down or shell jacket (for example red, orange, yellow, light green, etc…). That jacket will protect you from the cold and the rain but, at the same time, you’ll look great when photographed in some of the most beautiful locations around Japan!
