Holland America Line: Noordam

Yokohama is located on the southern part of Honshu Island, on the western shore of Tokyo Bay, and is our gateway to Tokyo. It has excellent harbour facilities and is one of the leading ports industrial centres of Japan. There are numerous shrines, temples, and Christian churches and a number of beautiful parks. A small fishing village in 1854, Yokohama was almost totally destroyed in 1923 by an earthquake. Gradually reconstructed the city is now among the most modern in Japan. It was heavily bombed in 1945, during World War II.

No information currently available.

A city for all seasons, Aomori attracts visitors from afar for its beauty and events. In the spring, Hirosaki Castle Park is one of Japan’s most famous sites for viewing the cherry blossoms. The Nebuta Festival is held in the summer time and is one of the largest and most colorful summer events in Japan. Lake Towada is famous for the changing of her leaves in the autumn, and the winter months bring glorious snow for skiing, skating and snowboarding. Aomori is also home to the largest outdoor Buddha’s in Japan – weighing over 220 tons.

Otaru is located on Ishikari Bay of the Sea of Japan on Hokkaido Island. With a name meaning "sandy beach", Otaru developed as a modern town in the late 19th century. Provided with a good natural harbour, it is the port for the city of Sapporo, the largest city and capital of Hokkaido Island and site of the 1972 Winter Olympics. Visit the Asarigawa Spa, Otamoi Park, and the Otaru Aquarium, one of the largest in Japan. Sapporo, laid out in 1871, features wide, tree-lined boulevards and some beautiful Botanical Gardens incorporating the Ainu Museum and Sapporo Art Park. The Sapporo Beer Garden and Museum and the Historical Village of Hokkaido are also well worth visiting.

The fan shaped city Hakodate was once an island but now straddles a sandbar linking it to the mainland. Sites worth visiting include Mount Hakodate (cable car), the Old Public Hall, the Russian Orthodox Church and Goryokaku Fort. Nearby is the Onuma Quasi-National Park and Mount Komagatake.

Akita is a prefecture in the north of Japan's main island known for it's natural beauty and old world charm.

From November to March it's a winter wonderland with deep drifts, icicle sheets hanging off every roof and superb skiing and snowboarding. Winter festivals celebrate ancient traditions like the building of snow shrines, or kamakura, complete with offerings of sake and fruit.

No information currently available.

No information currently available.

Sakaiminato is a city in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Sakaiminato is well-known for being one of the biggest fishing towns in Japan, it specializes in fresh sea food and tourists love to try out their famous and delicious king crab. The city has a multitude of tourist attractions which include visiting museums, a famous wooden lighthouse, or you can simply enjoying an ocean view picnic at the beautiful Sakai Dabai Park

Fukuoka is the second largest city on Japan's Kyushu Island. Fukuoka is historically know for it's castles and visitors can visit castle ruins, and beautiful wooden temples. In central Fukuoka there are many food stalls and restaurants, and visitors can go from stall to stall tasting a variety of Japanese dishes. Moreover Fukuoka offers excellent shopping, and has a every unique  shopping and entertainment complex called, Canal City.

No information currently available.

Kagoshima, a seaport on Kyushu Island, Japan, is sheltered within Kagoshima Bay and is the commercial and cultural center of southern Kyushu. Products manufactured here include a famous type of earthenware known as Satsumaware. Sights of interest include the Iso Garden and the local Theatre.

Kochi has beautiful lagoons and lakes and offers travelers an extraordinary setting for a stay of a few nights.

Suggested Private Excursions

Kochi, Shore Excursion - 8 hours

Kochi, Shore Excursion - 4 hours

HALF DAY EXPLORING OLD KOCHI

HALF DAY HERITAGE TRAIL - A WALK THROUGH KOCHI

This large, bustling port is the starting point for tours to the ancient cities of Kyoto and Nara, the cultural fountainheads of classical Japan. Kyoto's Old Imperial Palace and the shogunal Nijo Castle remain glorious symbols of the power the city held for over 1,000 years. Until 1868, Kyoto was the capital of Japan, filled with elegant timber buildings and, perhaps more than any other Japanese city, imbued with Kami, the divine spirit. You'll sense it everywhere, for there are hundreds of Shinto shrines and over a thousand Buddhist temples, as well as sacred treasure-houses of religious sculpture, painting and exquisite gardens. Nara, City of the Seven Great Temples, lies in an idyllic setting.

Shimizu is located on the northwest coast of Suruga Bay on the island of Honshu. Protected by a sandspit, it is a major commercial port and fishing centre. Places of scenic and historic interest include the Pine Groves of Miho, the Ryuge Temple, containing a fern palm believed to be more than 1,000 years old, and the nearby Nippon-Daira plateau.

Huge department stores brim with shoppers, neon flashes from dusk to dawn, and the entire world pays heed to the slightest fluctuation on the Nikkei Index. From the Imperial Palace and Meiji Shrine to the fabled Ginza district, 20th-century Tokyo is an intriguing composite of East and West. Yuppies sporting Walkmen bow formally in greeting. Women in kimonos and Dior suits stroll side-by-side. Geishas play samisens while disc jockeys play the Top Forty. Japanese houses of wood and paper stand in the shadow of towering steel and mortar. Not far away, one of the world's most impressive sights soars 12,388 feet to its snow-clad peak: Mount Fuji, the majestic symbol of Japan.