We just returned from our small group Japan Discovered adventure, and we had a fabulous time! Madoka (Maddy) was our tour leader, and she was amazing – very organized, very clear about what we were doing for the day or the next day, and very specific on when and where we needed to gather in order to move to the next activity. We travelled with 5 other couples who we did not know before the trip. Although we all had different backgrounds, we were all of similar age and got along marvelously, which added to our trip enjoyment. Our trip required some adjustments as a result of the G7 summit occurring in Hiroshima, but we still hit most of the activities described in the brochure. We really enjoyed the “Discovered” part of the tour. It seems our visits to Kanazawa, Gokayama, Takayama, Yudanaka, and Hakone were somewhat off the beaten path and gave us exposure to sites that most people don’t get to see. We really appreciated those experiences. The entire trip was quite well organized and thought out, including the communication we received from the office before the trip. All of the hotels and group-meal restaurants we went to were great and met or exceeded our expectations. The meals that were part of the tour package were top notch and exposed us to diverse Japanese cuisine. However, some of the hotels were a little out of the action. We would have preferred to have hotels located in areas or neighborhoods with a lot of restaurants or bars close by so we had a few more options for the free evenings. Generally that happened, but our hotels in Kyoto, the final days in Tokyo, and Takayama were not ideal in this regard. My understanding is that hotels in each city can vary depending on availability. Although Maddy our tour leader was fantastic, some of our local guides were less so. I’d say generally, their knowledge was fine, but their lack of English language skills among some made it difficult to understand or to get them to understand questions we were asking. I think many members of our group were a little frustrated by this. Again, my understanding is that local guides could be different depending on their availability. One heads up for anyone going on this tour (or any tour for that matter). We had one free day in Kyoto and one free day in Tokyo. We really weren’t thinking about this until the day before, and as a result, we were scrambling to come up with a plan for our free day (especially in Kyoto which was our first free day). I suggest you have a plan or make tour arrangements for your free day well in advance. That way you won’t be scrambling at the last minute like we were! We would definitely recommend this trip for anyone with similar interests.