FAQ

A regular agency offers the same general itineraries to everyone.

We design an itinerary for you based on answers to an in-depth Mystery Trip Questionnaire. Tell us how you like to travel and what you love, and we pick a destination, build the route to take in the area’s highlights, and book everything for you.

What’s also different is that every place we book is somewhere a member of our team has personally visited, dined at or stayed, not places that incentivize tour companies to include them.

It hasn’t happened, and that’s by design. Your Mystery Trip Questionnaire tells us what you love and, just as importantly, what to avoid: places you’ve already seen, things that aren’t your style, destinations you’d rather skip. We only send you somewhere we’d happily go ourselves, matched to what you told us. If there’s a hard no, list it, and we’ll plan around it.

A Japan Ikigai Trip offers one-off personal adventures to unique destinations that tourists don’t know exist. Mystery and intrigue are part of the deal. You’ll get to see real Japanese culture and customs and enjoy spontaneous moments with locals who are happy to share their stories with you.

We’re a small company with a big heart. Owned by a Japanese female founder who has visited every prefecture in Japan, so she can design your dream trip with real local knowledge.

If you need any help, you won’t have to wait listening to telephone hold music — you’ll reach a real person on our team who knows your trip.

By using Japan Ikigai Trip, you’ll also be helping deal with the overtourism problem by visiting some of the best locations Japan has to offer that aren’t on the tourist routes. It’s a win-win for everyone.

We start by reviewing the 50+ answers you gave in the Mystery Trip Questionnaire. The questionnaire covers everything we need to know, from whether you like slow starts in the morning to the types of activities and interests you have. We also get your budget information, preferred travel dates, past travel experiences, and any specific preferences or constraints you may have. Bad knees, so you can’t walk long distances? Let us know, and we’ll factor it in. Huge baseball fan and want to catch a game? No problem.

Based on your answers as well as the time of year, we pick the perfect destination and route that ticks all your boxes. The more you tell us, the better we can plan, so be as detailed as you can. Start our Mystery Trip Questionnaire.

Three days before your departure, you’ll receive an electronic itinerary (e-itinerary) that includes all essential details for your trip: a destination guide, logistics, accommodation details, as well as any pre-booked activities and meal reservations. We recommend you access the file before you travel to ensure you have all the necessary information once you land. You’ll also receive your Travel Bible — a printed, day-by-day trip guidebook — waiting for you at your accommodation on your first night.

We pick the accommodation and restaurants based on personal experience. Our founder Yuriko has visited all 47 prefectures and dined at over 5000 restaurants (and counting). So at least one of our team has stayed at or eaten at each place and recommends it. Then we check their online reviews and make a call to check the customer service levels before we include them in your itinerary.

Activities are mostly first-hand too. Where one isn’t, we vet it carefully before it earns a place, speaking directly with the owners or hosts and checking how they welcome international guests.

Of course. The Mystery Trip Questionnaire has a space to list anywhere you’d rather skip — tell us, and we’ll plan around it.

Yes. While the point of Japan Ikigai Trip is to show you places you couldn’t find on your own, we understand there may be one place you can’t bear to leave Japan without seeing. Mark it in the Mystery Trip Questionnaire, and we’ll build it in, booking it for you if needed.

Yes. Japan is consistently ranked among the safest countries in the world (12th on the 2025 Global Peace Index), including for solo female travelers.

Honestly: almost any time. Japan changes character with every season, and we design your trip around the dates you give us, choosing places that suit that season. If your dates are flexible, tell us in the Mystery Trip Questionnaire, and we’ll factor the season into the itinerary we design for you.

You can pick a departure date from 2 to 12 months ahead. However, ideally you should look to book your mystery trip at least three months before your desired departure date, as some of the unique experiences, accommodation, and activities can become fully booked.

A month before your departure, you’ll receive a pre-departure update via email, which includes a recommended packing list. We’ll flag anything specific you’ll need to bring, so you can pack with confidence.

International flights between your home country and Japan are not included, and you’ll need to book them yourself. This allows you to select departure times based on where you live and your budget.

You can book your flights before or after you confirm your mystery trip. Once they’re set, just send us your flight details, and we’ll align your itinerary with them.

One thing to note: once you confirm your mystery trip, we ask that you book your international flights within a week and share the details with us. If your flights end up different from the dates or arrival/departure places in your Mystery Trip Questionnaire, we may need to adjust a few activities or stays to keep everything within your budget, and in some cases, a small supplement may apply. We’ll always walk you through any changes before they happen.

Japan offers visa exemption arrangements for citizens of over 70 countries/regions. To determine if you need a visa for your intended length of stay, please refer to the Exemption of Visa List (Short-Term Stay). For the application steps, see the Visa Application Procedures. Please be sure to confirm your visa requirements in advance. If you need to cancel because a required visa was not obtained, our standard cancellation policy applies.

To safeguard against unexpected situations such as changes, cancellations, or COVID-related complications, we strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance.

For a smooth trip, we recommend having a mobile plan or E-SIM that works in Japan. You’ll receive up-to-date information on SIM and mobile options before your departure to help you decide what’s best for you.

You can choose one of two payment options when booking your trip:

Option 1: Full Payment — Pay the full amount upfront within 10 days of receiving your proposal.

Option 2: Deposit — Pay a $10 USD non-refundable deposit to reserve your spot.

• Extend your proposal’s expiration by another 10 days from the original expiration date, giving you extra time to make a decision or secure flights.
• If you complete the purchase within this extended period, you will need to pay the trip price in full. Once we confirm your payment, the $10 USD deposit will be refunded to you separately.
• The $10 USD deposit is separate from your trip payment. It is non-refundable if you decide not to proceed with the booking. The cancellation policy applies only after you have paid for your trip in full.

Payment methods accepted: Credit card and Apple Pay.

Cancellation: Once you’ve paid for your trip in full, our cancellation policy applies — see a following FAQ “What occurs if I need to cancel the trip?” below for the full schedule, the 48-hour grace period, how to cancel, and refund timing.

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Trips start at a 5 nights / 6 days minimum, from $3,000 USD per person. As a guide: $4,000 USD for 7 nights / 8 days, $5,800 USD for 10 nights / 11 days, and $12,200 USD for 21 nights / 22 days (per person, with two people sharing a room; solo travelers add $70 USD a night). International flights are not included. You can enter your budget in the Mystery Trip Questionnaire, and we’ll design within it. You can also set a higher budget if you’d like to upgrade.

Your trip includes:

• Long-Distance Transport: Bullet trains, domestic flights, or ferries if needed. These will be booked and reserved in advance, with clear instructions in your Travel Bible.
• Accommodation: Hand-picked stays for every night of the mystery trip.
• Booked Experiences: At least one pre-booked experience per week, chosen around your interests. How many depends on the scale of each one.
• Taste-Local Experiences: At least two pre-booked meals a week to savor the local cuisine, plus three hand-picked recommended restaurants for every other meal.
• Your Travel Bible: Your personal guide in print: the day-by-day plan, logistics, local information, restaurant picks, etiquette, and emergency info.
• Customer Support: 24/7 support in English during your trip via WhatsApp and phone support for emergencies.

Additional expenses (not included):

• International Flights: Flights between your home country and Japan, booked by you.
• Personal Expenses: Snacks, meals outside of the “Taste-Local Experiences,” and souvenirs. Local transportation (such as trains and buses) is also excluded, though these costs rarely exceed $70 USD per week in Japan.
• Other Fees & Optional Extras: Entrance tickets or optional experiences that cannot be pre-booked. Private transfers and airport transfers to/from your home are also excluded.
• Travel Insurance: Not included. We strongly recommend arranging your own travel insurance, including cover for your flights.

Yes. We can send separate invoices to each traveler. Just give us an email address for each.

Note: If one traveler cancels, our cancellation policy applies to that person’s share of the trip cost, and the remaining travelers’ costs may be recalculated (room and transport arrangements can change with group size). If the whole group cancels, the policy applies to the full trip cost.

We don’t break our pricing down into individual line items. Each trip is priced and arranged as one complete package, so we quote a single all-inclusive price rather than itemized costs. We’re glad to confirm which services and experiences that price covers, but the individual costs that make up the total aren’t something we share.

We understand that unexpected things can happen, so we aim to be as fair and transparent as possible.

If you change your mind within 48 hours of paying for your trip in full, we’ll refund you in full, minus any payment-processing fees. After that, 30% of your trip price becomes non-refundable, and the cancellation fee depends on when we receive your cancellation:

• More than 90 days before departure: 30% charged (70% refunded)
• 61–90 days before departure: 50% charged (50% refunded)
• 31–60 days before departure: 70% charged (30% refunded)
• 15–30 days before departure: 90% charged (10% refunded)
• Within 14 days of departure: 100% charged (no refund)

To cancel your trip, please send a written cancellation request by email to contact [at] japanikigaitrip.com (replace “ [at] ” with the @ symbol). Your cancellation takes effect on the date we receive your email, based on Japan Standard Time (JST), and that date determines which tier above applies. Requests received outside our business hours — including weekends and Japanese public holidays — are treated as received on the next business day.

We will confirm your cancellation by email within 3 business days. If you do not receive our confirmation, please contact us to make sure your request reached us. We will issue any applicable refund within 14 calendar days of your cancellation being confirmed. Once issued, banks typically post it to your account within a further 5–10 business days.

Note: “Departure date” refers to the day you leave your home country to begin your Japan trip, based on JST. The $10 USD proposal deposit is separate from your trip payment and is non-refundable if you decide not to proceed with booking. This cancellation policy applies only after you have paid for your trip in full.

If one person cancels, their spot is charged on that person’s share of the trip cost under our standard cancellation policy. Please note that if your group size changes, room arrangements or transport may also change, which can affect the total cost for the remaining travelers.

Yes, you can change the name of a participant up to 14 days before departure, and a modification fee of 5% of the original total trip cost (not per person) applies. However, please note that certain bookings — especially transportation services such as trains, domestic flights, or buses — may not allow name changes at all. In those cases, the original ticket may become non-refundable, and an additional ticket may need to be purchased for the new participant. Within 14 days of departure, changes may not be possible due to restrictions from our accommodation, transportation, and activity partners.

Yes. The length is yours to choose. When you book, you tell us how many days you’d like (our trips start at a 5-night / 6-day minimum), and we design the whole journey around that so the pacing and experiences fit together as one cohesive trip.

After your trip is confirmed, we can still adjust its length up until 14 days before your departure:

• To add days: just ask as early as you can — we’ll extend your trip where availability allows, with the price adjusted accordingly.
• To shorten your trip: we can usually rearrange your itinerary to fit a shorter timeframe. Rather than refunding the days you remove, we put that value back into your trip — upgrading stays or experiences, or enriching the days that remain — so you keep the full value of what you’ve paid, concentrated into a shorter journey. Where we can’t put that value back into your trip (for example, if nothing suitable is available to add), we’ll refund whatever portion we can still recover from our partners. Some changes depend on availability, and where part of a removed day is already booked on a non-refundable basis, that portion may not be transferable. We’d gently encourage you to keep your original length wherever you can, since each itinerary is built around the number of days you chose.

Within 14 days of departure, your itinerary is fully arranged and finalized, so the number of days can no longer be changed. As always, the earlier you reach out, the more we can do.

You may reschedule your trip once, as long as your new travel dates fall within 6 months of your original departure date. To request a date change, please email us with your proposed new travel dates. If you don’t provide new dates within 7 days of your request, your trip will be treated as a cancellation and our standard cancellation policy will apply.

Rescheduling will involve preparing a new trip budget that reflects any price differences (for transportation, accommodations, or activities) and a modification fee equal to 10% of your original trip cost. Depending on how close your request is to your original departure date, additional costs may apply, as some of our partners in Japan treat bookings as fully non-refundable once inside a certain period. In some cases, we may also need to design a new itinerary from the beginning — for example, if your new dates fall in a different season or if our previously booked partners are unavailable.

After rescheduling, our standard cancellation policy applies based on your new departure date. (We provide the updated trip total only; we do not disclose a detailed cost breakdown of individual services or bookings.)

This is very rare, but if we ever have to cancel your trip for reasons of our own — something not caused by the Force Majeure / Acts of God circumstances described below — you’ll receive a full refund of everything you’ve paid us for the trip. If you’d prefer, we’ll also do our best to redesign your trip for new dates instead. Please note this doesn’t include your international flights, which you book yourself, so we recommend choosing flexible fares or travel insurance that allows for changes.

In the unfortunate event of cancellations or disruptions arising from Force Majeure/Acts of God, we are unable to provide compensation or full refunds, as these circumstances are unforeseeable and beyond our control. However, we will make every effort to secure refunds for as many of your bookings as possible. Airlines frequently cancel flights to affected areas in advance, allowing us to potentially refund that portion of your trip.

We strongly advise reviewing your travel insurance policy for details regarding coverage in such situations. Your travel insurance may offer protection and assistance in navigating unexpected events like these.

International flights are booked by you, so for any changes, rebookings, or claims, please contact your airline or booking provider directly.

Regarding your mystery trip in Japan: we cannot provide compensation or refunds for missed portions of your trip caused by international flight delays or cancellations. However, please contact us as soon as possible if your plans are affected. We will do our best to adjust your itinerary in Japan where possible, depending on availability and partner flexibility.