Despite inconsistencies in guiding, I was satisfied with the tour’s value. The second half of the Golden Route tour (Kyoto–Osaka) was everything I hoped for — organized, engaging, and culturally rich. The first half (Tokyo–Hakone) needs improvement in guide quality and itinerary delivery. With more consistent leadership across all regions, Samurai Tours could easily elevate from “good” to “exceptional.”

My husband and I really enjoyed the May 5-19/24 Best of Japan Tour. Everything was as promised and the entire trip went perfectly as planned. Samurai made the booking easy and took special care to address my husbands shellfish allergy expertly and thoroughally. Not an easy task in a country like Japan. All of the guides were excellent. Charlie, KK, JJ, Masa were all kind, patient and knowledgeable. They answered a LOT of questions from our group of 11. Also, this size group was just right. A nice mixture of people from around the world. This tour showed us a good variety of city and countryside and made amazing use of the transportation system. We really enjoyed using all the different kinds of trains. It felt less touristy to do it this way and more authentic. I would highly recommend Samurai Tours to anybody looking for an escorted tour of Japan.

My husband and I had never been to Japan, but now we have a Japanese daughter-in-law and wanted to visit. We also wanted a short tour of some historic sites to see cultural interests. I could not have been happier with our experience! We had a custom tour of sorts, with one free day in Tokyo and 5 days with a daily guide. The Onsen hotels were perfect to introduce us to Japanese culture. I also want to commend Samurai Tours on our guides. Yukio, Ken, JJ, and Mr. Fuji were all so delightful, and especially thoughtful of our senior ages. We absolutely loved the time we had with each of them in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Lake Ashi. All these places were chosen by Samurai to give us a memorable experience and prepare us for a day to ourselves to connect with our son's Japanese family. I highly recommend this tour company. We want to return to Japan to see other parts of the country, and Samurai will definitely be our choice! I would give them 10 stars!

I traveled the Best of Japan tour with my daughter and granddaughter. It was fantastic! Samurai Tours really had everything so perfectly lined up. We were able to experience the true culture of Japan, all of their types of transportation and most importantly, the local people. Everyone was so kind and gracious! I would definitely use Samurai Tours again. They did an incredible job!!

Disappointed in their lack of response to our inquiry about a self-guided tour to Japan. We sent in a contact form after seeing an article on another publication with their link. They opened our email (email tracking shows when they did it) and we never received a response. About 10 days later, we called and there was no answer. We left a message saying that we wanted to buy some of their tour packages for 5 people, and no one ever returned our call. This morning, I saw that someone reopened my email, but no still no response. I understand that it must be getting busy again now that the worst is behind us for covid. But, to not have the presence of mind to use an auto-responder or change your voicemail to say that you're not taking any new requests is just irresponsible. While we think that some of the services they offered would have been useful, it's now a situation where restrictions on travel to Japan have eased and all that ended up happening is that Samurai missed out on several thousands of dollars in business.