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Ready to book a flight but don’t want to go alone? Connect with like-minded travelers on these small, women-led, women-focused tours, with insider itineraries covering everything from temple hopping in Kyoto to onsen bathing in the southernmost reaches of Japan.
Girls’ Guide to the World
The “Art & Artisan Japan” tour packs a bucket list’s worth of experiences into a single week. Guests tour the tranquil Zen garden at the 15th-century Ryōan-ji temple, don a traditional kimono at a Japanese tea ceremony, and dine with a maiko (geisha apprentice) at a kaiseki dinner in Kyoto. Also on tap: seeing spectacular contemporary work—including Yayoi Kusama’s giant polka-dotted pumpkins—on the art islands of Naoshima and Teshima. girlsguidetotheworld.com
Going Places
Hike the sacred Yanbaru forest, a.k.a. The Galápagos of the East, with a female shaman (yuta) and learn about the spiritual role of women in the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom on this eight-day trip to Okinawa, led by award-winning travel writer, filmmaker, and podcaster Yulia Denisyuk. You’ll venture from the urban wilds of Naha to the mountain springs of Kin, and experience a traditional tofu-making session, a Bingata textile-dyeing workshop, and a four-hour detox in a buna, a traditional steam bath and sauna infused with wild Yanbaru herbs. goingplacesmedia.com
Wild Women Expeditions
The 12-day “Sacred Japan” adventure starts and ends in Tokyo, and follows in the footsteps of monks, merchants, and samurai on the ancient Nakasendo Trail in between. Travelers will sleep in traditional ryokan, e-bike around the Oki Islands, and visit a millennium-old Shugendō temple built into the side of Mt. Mitoku. The best part, of course, is the inspiring women you’ll meet along the way including female tea farmers in Shiga and the fearless Ama-san pearl divers of Osatsu-cho. wildwomenexpeditions.com
AloJapan.com