Family Gathering -Japan

Kyoto and the Ishikawa countryside

A two-week Family Gathering

16 to 28 of June

We’ve all grown up with Japan as a mythic place, a land of incomprehensible scripts, sacred customs, ninja and samurai, monsters and noodles. Japanese culture seems to carry unparalleled respect for the past while living in a future the rest of us haven’t begun to imagine. And we’re not just talking about the cool toilets. After much travel we’re used to parking our preconceptions on arrival, reshuffling our expectations to accommodate surprise. But Japan… Japan is exactly as we imagine, and more than we dreamed.

Glued to the window on that first train ride from Narita Airport into the dizzying blur of Tokyo you are transported into a futuristic world, grown in neon by a nation that seems to need nothing more than what it can invent or recall. We’ve been coming to Japan since 2019 and it is always one of our favourite returns.

Our trips are lightly scheduled. Plenty of freedom for you to explore, making your own way through these remarkable places and returning to the warmth of dinner and good wine with friends. Together, like family.

THE TRIP

We’ll begin on the western edge of Ishikawa, settling on a farm in a tiny village at the end of a green valley. The property is owned by one of Japan’s most enigmatic collectors, like a Japanese Karl Lagerfeld, sunglasses at night, his fingers in many interesting pies. We’ll stay three nights together in this unique property, visit local hot springs, explore the bamboo forests and hiking trails. Working together with the team we’ve developed a beautiful collection of learning experiences for the whole family, focusing on the relationship between Japanese food and the nature around us. Some highlights may include a 30-foot long bamboo noodle slide with the neighbors, foraging and chopstick-making workshops, a day of hands-on learning at a local ceramics studio, a wood-fired pizza evening with ingredients from the farm, a visit to the local shrine and nearby onsen.

A short train ride north brings us to Kanazawa, one foot planted firmly in the past, and one striding towards the future. History is easy to find in this former seat of samurai culture, in the maginficent castle, the well-preserved old city and the continued practice of craft and art unique to the area. We’ll also look forward, joining a crew of inspired locals at an innovative maker space, and learning from the director of a design studio working specifically on the tension between tradition and future in Japanese functional art. We’ll spend three nights in Kanazawa before heading south.

From Ishikawa we’ll travel two hours by train along the shores of Lake Biwa to Japan’s ancient capital, Kyoto. We’ll spend some days exploring the balance between Kyoto’s deep history and its energetic present, driven by the newly arrived and the recently returned. History runs deep in Kyoto, but it’s the way new ideas can grow from tradition that really make this city remarkable. We’ll spend some time with a dear friend, a photographer and 16th generation owner of a local restaurant that’s been selling soba noodles for over 500 years. We’ll spend a secret evening with a team of performers, members of what they call “The Resistance”, bringing new ideas and forms into the ancient art of Noh theatre. We’ll crisscross the river on bicycles on a hunt for the best ramen (spoiler alert, the man behind the city’s most memorable bowl has dreads and loves reggae). We’ll browse for treasures at the flea market in the shadow of a temple. We’ll join an artist working in indigo whose dye vat has a human spirit and another artist working in the mysterious craft of kintsuji.

We would love to share this experience with you.

DATES

16 to 28 of June, 2025

WHERE

Ishikawa and Kyoto

COST

€3350 for each adult

€2600 for each child (kids four years old and under are free but may incur small costs payable directly to partners)

LODGING COST

Takigahara

Our first three nights will be spent at Takigahara Farm. Lodging here is hosted by Quartier Collective and included in your fee. We will share space in this unique property, which has a large communal bunk room, two private rooms that sleep four each and the Stone House, a lovingly restored former granary that can sleep up to four people. Selecting the Stone House or one of the two private rooms is subject to availability and has an additional cost.

Stone House €300 additional for three nights. Sleeps four.

Director’s Suite €200 additional for three nights. One double bed and two bunk beds.

Band Room €150 additional for three nights. Sleeps four in bunk beds.

Kanazawa

Our second three nights will be spent in Kanazawa. Lodging here is hosted by Quartier Collective and is included in your fee. We have secured space in a local guesthouse, with options for private rooms and shared rooms.

Private rooms are an additional €250 for three nights.

Kyoto

Guests will be responsible for booking and paying for their own lodging for our six nights in Kyoto.

We have partnered with the Ace Hotel to provide a special rate for our guests who choose to stay there.

For those looking for other options, we are happy to help guide you to the best neighbourhoods and stays.

WHAT IS INCLUDED?

Six nights lodging for the whole family.

Welcome Dinner.

Six breakfast and four dinners, in Takigahara and Kanazawa. In Takigahara lunch is available at the beautiful cafe, also owned by the farm. Kanazawa has an incredible food scene; we’ll never bee too far from something delicious.

Two days of workshops and excursions in Takigahara, which may include foraging and chopstick-making workshops, visits to local onsen and a local shrine, mountain climbing and forest bathing.

Two days of visits and excursions in Kanazawa, which may include design workshop and maker space visit, studio tour and visit, tour of Japan’s most important gold leaf factory, visit to Kanazawa Castle, visit to the Kenroku-en garden.

Six days of excursions and visits in Kyoto, which may include bicycle tour, dye workshop with an indigo master, private performance of Noh Theatre, visit to the Tenjin-san flea market in the shadow of Tenmangu Shrine, afternoon and dinner with a family running a celebrated urban farm project, tea ceremony, kintsuji artist workshop.

Train fare from Kagaonsen to Kanazawa.

Train fare from Kanazawa to Kyoto.

Train station transfers and all transport in Takigahara and Kanazawa.

Welcome dinner in Kyoto.

Kyoto bicycle tour/temple grounds visit.

Dye workshop with an indigo master.

Private performance of Noh Theatre.

Visit to the Tenjin-san flea market in the shadow of the Tenmangu Shrine.

Afternoon and dinner with the family running a celebrated urban farm and restaurant.

Tea ceremony.

Noh theatre experience.

Kintsuji artist workshop in Kyoto.