Our first trip to Japan was with Unique Japan in Nov/Dec 2018. We did the Japan Discovered tour which we enjoyed immensely. It was a really great "reconnaisance" trip which gave us an amazing flavour of Japan and an opportunity to visit the "must see" cities and towns. ​ While it would have been preferable to have had more time in Takayama and Kanazawa which we particularly enjoyed, the time we did spend there was sufficient to convince us that we need to revisit. Similarly, we were not able to do justice to Hiroshima, Kyoto or Tokyo and those cities also necessitate subsequent visits. Our highlights were many but included Takayama (a beautiful town with its shrine, morning market by the river and float museum), the Snow Monkey Park at Yudanaka and the Kenrokeun Garden in Kanazawa. We loved the ryokans especially the one at Yudanaka which was absolutely stunning - a great choice! ​ The autumn colours were spectacular and we were really impressed by the Japanese people, their culture and way of life. Their refinement, politeness, courtesy and efficiency is something we could all learn from. The food is amazing and the Shinkansens - wow!! ​ There were only 5 of us on the tour so we didn't have a tour leader but Carmel, who was a trainee with your company at that time and also on her first trip to Japan did a wonderful job managing us "oldies" and was a resourceful, gracious and engaging companion. All the local guides on our tour were great, especially "Sue" (Tsugo) who guided us in Tokyo and then in Hakone and was extremely knowledgeable, insightful and spoke excellent English.​ We would not hesitate to use Unique Japan Tours for any future trips to Japan. Val Swaine and Mike Harrington