Or contact Brian Maitland at Custom Tours brian@customtours.org for more information. We will ask for a deposit once the costs have been determined, and there will most likely be a short waiting list.
DAY 0 Depart for Japan
DAY 1
Arrive Narita and take the shuttle bus to our hotel. If you have checked in a day early, we will meet at the hotel lobby in the evening for an initial dinner to get acquainted.
DAY 2
We will meet for a Japanese breakfast at the hotel. I will explain about Japanese food and ingredients. After a leisurely breakfast, we will depart for the Tomo museum and be met by the curator. From there we will visit the ceramic studio of my friend Higashida Shigemasa. He has a wonderful studio designed by him utilizing old wood, stone and glass. We will end the day at a beautiful restaurant outside of Tokyo with Higashida san as our guest
DAY 3
On this day we will begin with breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants( Japanese or western) before departing for the Nezu Museum, a wonderful museum that was closed for renovation the past 3 years and has just recently been reopened. The afternoon will be free for you to wander or shop. We will meet for dinner at a special restaurant nestled amongst a bamboo forest with baskets of fire lighting the path between small thatched roof houses where we will dine.
DAY 4
Bags will be portaged ahead.
After breakfast, we begin using the rail pass and shinkansen express. We will go to Nagoya to visit workshops of Suzuki Goro and Toyoba Sieya in the vicinity of Seto. We will also visit the museum and kiln remains of Arakawa Toyozo. This evening we will stay at a lovely country hot springs inn and have dinner together there after a leisurely bath( rooms come with private baths as well)
DAY 5
DAY 6
Following breakfast, we will take local trains to the pottery town
of Bizen. This is my old stomping ground. This is where I found a strong connection with the work produced as well as the process of wood firing. Bizen or Imbe is a small town that boasts over 500 wood firing kins!! We will begin the walking tour by visiting Isezaki Jun Living National Treasure and a mentor of mine. We will also visit with Jun’s son Koichiro who apprenticed for 2 years at my studio in NY. Time permitting, we will have a local lunch together of okonomiyaki. We will then continue on to visit the workshop of Kakurezaki Ryuichi as well as 1 or 2 other workshops before returning to the hotel. The evening is free to explore.
DAY 7
On this day, baggage will be portaged to Kyoto. After breakfast we will leave by private bus to the island of Shikoku, first visiting Shikoku Mura, a reconstructed village of old Japanese architecture and then we will continue on to the nearby studio/museum of Isamu Noguchi. This is a wonderful opportunity to see work both complete and unfinished of Isamu Noguchi that can not be seen outside of this compound. We will meet with Izumi san who is an excellent sculptor and if he is there we will visit his stone home that is a work of art in itself. Following our visit to the Noguchi Studio, we will take the speed ferry to the island of Naoshima where we will be met by the hotel bus that will take us to the hotel. This has been a real highlight in past years. Through the auspices of a scholastic publishing family, structures on the island have been given to international artists to create installations within the structures. The hotel, built by Tadao Ando is within the contemporary art museum! If you wake in the middle of the night, feel free to wander the museum. We will arrive this day in late afternoon. Just enough time to walk through the museum , rest and meet for a complimentary drink on the veranda watching the sun set. The restaurant is alongside the Inland Sea and dinner is prepared with great care.
DAY 8
We have a leisurely breakfast in the museum and then continue on to the recently completed museum building that is a 5 minute bus ride from the original. It is also built by Tadao Ando and only houses 3 artist’s work: James Turell, Monet and Walter de Maria. There is an optional hot tub bath in the afternoon. We finish the day with another great dinner at the restaurant by the Inland Sea.
Day 9
After an early breakfast, we take the speed ferry to the mainland and catch the local train to the Bullet Express that will take us to Kyoto. We will check in to a lovely hotel on the east side of Kyoto. Once we have had a chance to rest, we will take taxis to the walking street of Terramachi where you will experience a busy open air market street as well as shops for art supplies, paper and tea, We will stop for lunch along the route. Late afternoon we will visit an indigo dying studio for material and clothes.
DAY 10
Another highlight day, we will depart after breakfast by private bus to the Miho Museum, a magnificent architectural artwork designed by I.M.Pei. We will meet with a curator and then have a simple lunch at the museum before continuing on to the pottery town of Shigaraki. We will visit 1 or 2 studios in Shigaraki to be announced. We will return to the hotel by 7:00
DAY 11
Following breakfast we will depart for either a studio in Nara or the studio of a master ceramicist/sculptor and his wife who is a ceramicist as well. This day will be a day of surprises
DAY 12
The last full day of the trip. You will have the day to do as you please. The day is open with suggestions for visiting important sites or shopping. We will meet at a fine French restaurant for a farewell dinner.
DAY 13
This is the final day and following breakfast, you will receive vouchers to the Kansai airports for your return flights.
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