TOUR DATES: November 30-December 6, 2025

GROUP SIZE: Minimum 8/Maximum 12

TOUR COST: $3,900 USD

TOUR INCLUDES:

• Tour start in Kanazawa and end in Toyama. Chartered van, train, bus and taxi during the tour will be included (transportation to Kanazawa and after Toyama are not covered).
• 6 nights hotel, ryokan
• Meals included: 5 Dinners, 4 Lunches, 6 Breakfasts and sake!
• Fees for all scheduled sightseeing and cultural activities (optional excursions excluded).
• 5 Sake Brewery visits

Participants must be at least 21 years of age at commencement of tour. Send us an email in the Contact Section to be the first to get complete details about this tour.

Itinerary subject to change based on availability.

Kanazawa

The tour started in the city of Kanazawa. Check in to the Mitsui Garden Hotel in Kanazawa after 3:00pm.

• We will meet in the lobby for a quick Meet & Greet and Q&A. Afterward, we proceed to our first dinner, a private dining experience at Noboruya, a specialty kaiseki meal paired with IWA5 sake.

• On Day 2, we board a private van to our first sake brewery visit at Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute. A remarkable visit to the brewery founded by a legend in the sake industry, known as the "God of Sake."
• After a kamameishi lunch (a traditional Japanese kettle rice dish cooked in a pot), we will visit the Kaga Traditional Crafts Village Yunokunino Mori where you will have a chance to see various Kaga crafts and participate in two workshops.
• Dinner will be at Hatchoya Ekinokura, a popular izakaya in Kanazawa with a good selection of local sake.

• Day 3 was a casual day where we visited Higashi Chaya and join a gold leaf workshop at Gold Leaf Sakuda.
• Then on to Omicho Market where we browsed and enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch (lunch on your own).
• In the afternoon, we visited Yachiya Shuzo, a brewery with a 480 year history and still making sake in small handmade batches.
• The evening was free for you to explore Kanazawa, but participants joined our optional izakaya tour with the tour leaders. We visited two local sake bars/izakayas that are very popular in Kanazawa (pay on your own).

• Day 4 - Board our charter van for Gokayama, a UNESCO World Heritage Site to visit the Gassho-zukuri houses.
• We enjoyed a washi paper making workshop and enjoyed Gokayama's famous local tofu at Sakade.
• After lunch we visited Sanshoraku Shuzo nestled in the heart of the mountains where they brew some special sake with traditional techniques.
• Dinner was a group dinner at the ryokan. The ryokan has very nice onsens for you to relax for the evening.

• Day 5 - Our charter van took us to Fumigiku Shuzo, makers of the Haneya brand.
• Lunch at Nouka Restaurant Okado before we visited the Nousaku Factory, makers of fine tin, brass and copperware known around the world. Guests had a chance to cast their own tin piece at the workshop.
• For a change of pace for dinner, we indulged in Italian cuisine at Montagna.

• Day 6 took us to Shiraiwa Shuzo, makers of IWA5, an exquisite experience of sake blending, or assemblage.
• Lunch of grilled river trout at Ayu no Sho before we visited the Inami Zuisenji Temple, known for its intricate wood carvings. Join a wood carving workshop to create your own masterpiece.
• Our final dinner was at Seigetsu where we indulged in a variety of Toyama & Ishikawa sake.