in 2020 Celebrate New Year’s Day in Tokyo & Hawaii 12/26/19-1/1/20

5nts/7days from: $2995 double/triple and $3595 single

Traveling to during New Year’s is a great opportunity to capture a rare glimpse into the modernization of traditional Japanese culture. It is a time when most Japanese people return home to partake in traditional ceremonies and festivities. On this very special Omiyage Weekender Tour, experience and be part of that tradition.

If shopping is on your list, we have it covered, with visits to Tsukiji Market, Ameyoko, Komachi dori in Kamakura and free time in Odaiba. There is also a free afternoon and evening in Ikebukuro where all the favorites are located- Don Quijote, Daiso 100-yen Store, UNIQLO and sister store GU, Tokyu Hands, the Sunshine City Mall and Seibu Department Store.

We have also included a visit to Ueno Zoo to see the pandas and on New Year’s Day time at Tokyo largest Daiso. We guarantee your first words will be, “Oh my gosh, this store is HUGE!”

For sightseeing enjoy overnight stay in Kamakura after seeing the Great Buddha so that we can visit the award-winning winter illumination, The Enoshima Sea Candle Illumination. There is also a visit to the , Odawara Castle, Itchiku Kubota Art Musuem and views of Mt. Fuji from Oshino Hakkai.

New Year’s Eve day includes a visit to Meiji Jinju Shrine and Shibuya Crossing Street just hours before the crowds arrive for the evening’s welcoming of the new year.

On New Years’ Day it’s all about tradition beginning with hatsumode, the years’ first visit to a shrine. We will be visiting Nezu Shrine for the traditional prayer at the main hall and purchase lucky charms for a fortunate new year.

After celebrating New Years’ Day in Tokyo, board your flight home and you get to do it all again, Hawaiian style with friends and family. It doesn’t get much better than this. Join us, won’t you.

Itinerary/Details

Day 1 – December 26th, 2019- Thursday – Departure from Honolulu Please meet your Panda Travel representative at the Delta Air Lines check-in counters located in Terminal 2, a minimum of 3 hours prior to the departure time.

Delta Air Lines #181 Departs Honolulu 11:04 am – Arrives Narita 3:30 pm + 1

Day 2 – December 27th, 2019 -Friday – Narita-Tokyo

After clearing customs, our local English-speaking guide will meet us for the drive to our hotel for the next 2 nights, the recently renovated, Sunshine City Prince Hotel, ideally situated in the Ikebukuro section of Tokyo. The hotel is less than a 10-minute walk from the Ikebukuro JR Station.

The lobby of the hotel connects to a huge shopping and entertainment mecca with four towers, including a 240-meter-high skyscraper with an observation deck on the top. Sunshine City is typically open from 10 am to 10 pm seven days a week.

There is a 24-hour Family Mart located right off the lobby in case you would like beverages, some hot and cold food items or just a late snack.

With our afternoon arrival, plenty of time to get out and explore the Ikebukuro area, just behind the hotel. Please join your Panda Travel representative as we go out for a stroll.

Newly remodeled Sunshine City Prince Hotel & lobby Family Mart in hotel lobby

Accommodations: Sunshine City Prince Hotel Free

Day 3 – December 28th, 2019 -Saturday – Tokyo (B/L)

After breakfast at our hotel we will head out for a full day of touring. Please meet your guide in the lobby by 8:30am.

If you've ever dreamed about melt-in-your-mouth, out-of-this-world sushi, then you might have heard of Tsukiji, the largest fish market in the world. Most of Tokyo, and even high-end sushi restaurants in Hong Kong and San Francisco, gets their fish from this cultural landmark near the center of Japan's capital city.

Tsukiji sits on some of the most valuable real estate in Tokyo and while the inner auction market has moved to reclaimed land on Tokyo Bay, the popular outer market will alive and well. Expect it to be busy as many locals will be out gathering up items to celebrate the New Year with their families. Opened in 1935, Tsukiji sprang to life after the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed most of Tokyo in 1923. It has since become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city. Every morning sightseers would start lining up at 3 a.m. to watch the frozen tuna auction. The more expensive fresh tuna auctions – where a single Bluefin once sold for nearly $1.8 million- are privately conducted.

It is our first stop on tour and we will be here for 1.5 hours so that you have ample time to walk around and enjoy the outer market, visit knife-making artisan shops, tasting candies, nuts, and spices, and learning more about seasonal produce

If you’re a foodie, love markets, enjoy photography – or simply like visiting unique places – then you’ll probably love Tsukiji.

After a good stroll around the market, there’s nothing like a sushi breakfast to complete the experience. There are plenty of sushi shops – make sure to choose one where you see locals dining. If you don’t feel like sushi, there are other options including ramen, donburi and more.

If you finish early we encourage you to visit Tsukiji Hongan-ji Temple, less than one block away. With an Indian-style exterior, was built in 1617 near Asakusa, but was burnt down in a huge fire that swept through Edo (Tokyo) in 1657. The Temple was then rebuilt on the present site but destroyed again by the Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923. The current main building was built in 1934.The main building possesses a distinctive ambience not found in other Japanese temples, due to its variety of architectural styles.

Tsukiji Fish Market

From here we are off to Ameyoko Shopping Street, famous throughout Japan for its wide variety of products.

The name "Ameyoko" is a short form for "Ameya Yokocho" (candy store alley), as candies were traditionally sold there. Alternatively, "Ame" also stands for "America", because a lot of American products used to be available there when the street was the site of a black market in the years following WWII.

You can get just about EVERYTHING here, clothes, bags, cosmetics, fresh fish, dried squid and spices are sold along Ameyoko. It is quite the scene to just walk around through the very crowded and narrow streets. An awesome place to sightsee, shop and eat! We will remain here for 1.5 hr., so you can shop at leisure.

Ameyoko- best spot to find omiyage items Its noontime and time for lunch at a local restaurant.

After lunch, are off to the Ueno Zoological Gardens, established in 1882 and the oldest zoo in Japan. It is home to over 3,000 animals from 400 different species. Our visit here today is to see the zoo’s very popular giant panda cub, Xiang Xiang. It is the zoo’s first baby panda since 1988.

Xiang Xiang has taken Japan by storm. Born to mother Shin Shin and father Li Li in June 2017, Xiang Xiang is Ueno Zoo’s symbol of adorableness (or as the Japanese would say in a high pitch, “Kawaii!”).

You will have the opportunity to watch her munching on bamboo shoots and nuzzling her mother. This bright-eyed cub has been the object of major media attention, with visitors clad in panda paraphernalia flocking to see her since her first public appearance.

Now, back to our hotel, arrival by 4:00pm and the remainder of the afternoon and evening is free.

Accommodations: Sunshine City Prince Hotel Free

Day 4 – December 29th, 2019 -Sunday – Tokyo-Enoshima-Kamakura (B/D)

After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 9:00am as we journey off to Kamakura and Enoshima. The drive time is approximately 1.5hr and we will make a road stop along the way.

Kamakura became the political center of Japan, when Minamoto Yoritomo chose the city as the seat for his new military government in 1192. The Kamakura government continued to rule Japan for over a century. It remained the center of Eastern Japan for some time before losing its position to other cities.

Today, Kamakura is a very popular tourist destination. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Eastern Japan, Kamakura offers numerous temples, shrines, and other historical monuments.

Once here we will be visiting the Great Buddha of Kamakura, a bronze statue of Amida Buddha, which stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple. With a height of 13.35 meters, it is the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan.

The statue was cast in 1252 and originally located inside a large temple hall. However, the temple buildings were destroyed multiple times by typhoons and a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th centuries. So, since 1495, the Buddha has been standing in the open air.

The Great Buddha rises serenely from its base, with gorgeously draped garments that you can hardly believe are forged from bronze. The serene expression is so evident; you feel the peace the artists intended to convey. The Great Buddha of Kotoku-in is an iconic image that represents Japanese culture. It is not just big, but beautiful.

This Great Buddha or Daibutsu as is commonly called is a National Treasure and one of the centerpieces of the city's cultural heritages. For a small donation, you are permitted enter the Buddha and see from the inside how it was cast. Take a few moments to enjoy this unique experience.

Great Buddha of Kamakura

From here, also close-by is Komachi dori Shopping Street where you will have free time to walk around, shop for souvenirs and enjoy some delicious snacks and foods. This is a good spot for lunch!

One must stop here is at Kamakura’s famous cookie store for a sample. These dove-shaped butter cookies make for a great Kamakura souvenir and omiyage gift.

The dove motif was inspired by the plaque above the main prayer hall at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, where the character for "Hachi" is shaped to look like a dove.

Now, off to Enoshima, a small island at the mouth of the Sakai River that flows into Sagami Bay. It is approximately four kilometers and linked with the opposite shore of Katase by the 600-meter-long Enoshima-ohashi Bridge.

Once we have crossed the bridge, you will see marine product shops, souvenir shops, inns, and traditional restaurants on the approach to Enoshima-jinja Shrine. Enoshima-jinja Shrine was originally a tutelary shrine where the three goddesses of land, sea transport, and fisheries were enshrined in 552. Hadaka-Benten, or the naked goddess of entertainment in the shrine, is one of the three most famous goddesses in Japan. During the Edo Period, the shrine was crowded with worshippers, as Enoshima had many believers at that time. Still today, of course, many celebrities visit the shrine to wish for success.

Enjoy time here to do some shopping.

Enoshima-jinja Shrine, approach lined with shops and a must eat try

Also, while here we will be visiting Samuel Cocking Garden to enjoy the Enosshima Sea Candle Illumination. From December through the middle of February this award-winning large-scale illumination takes place every night. Enjoy free time to walk around and take in the beautiful displays. The garden is also quite beautiful with over 20,000 tulips which are lit up and gives a sense of springtime during the winter.

At the main venue thousands of brilliant lights are colored and illuminate the entire botanical garden. There are also many tall tropical trees decorated with colorful lights which create the appearance of huge monsters standing in the dusk.

The illuminations continue deep into the woods and the forest turns into a sea of lights.

The "Enoshima Sea Candle" is the tower / observation deck / lighthouse that has become perhaps the landmark symbol for the area itself. The nearly 60-meter tower sits atop the highest point on the island, offering full, 360-degree panoramic views of the surrounding areas. In clear weather you can enjoy some of the best, most beautiful views of Mt. Fuji.

We now make our way to our beautiful beachfront hotel for the evening, Kamakura Prince Hotel. Our arrival will be by 7:00pm followed by a Japanese dinner at 7:30pm. After dinner the remainder of the evening is free.

Our hotel is located right off the shore of Shichirigahama Beach, a part of famous Shonan area of Sagami Bay. All the rooms face the ocean and offer views of Mt..Fuji and Enoshima Island.

Accommodations: Kamakura Prince Hotel Free

Day 5 – December 30th, 2019 -Monday – Tokyo-Lake Kawaguchi-Tokyo (B/L/D)

After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 8:30am as we are off on a full day of touring that ends back in Tokyo later this afternoon.

The morning begins with a short drive to Odawara City to visit Odawara Castle, the symbol of the city and a humble reminder of a great history.

Odawara Castle was as an impregnable castle owned by the fifth daimyo of the Hojo clan, the samurai family that governed Kanto area for about a century from the end of 15th century. From the Edo period, the castle became a reserve for Hakone and Tokaido and functioned as a cornerstone of defense in the Kanto region. The current castle tower was rebuilt in 1960, and reopened in May 2016 after the completion of a seismic retrofit and renewal of the exhibition etc. This three-layered, four-story castle tower has a tsuke-yagura (connecting tower) and watari-yagura (hall turrets) on the top. A full view of Sagami Bay can be observed from the top floor.

Next, off to lunch at a local restaurant at Oshino Hakkai, a set of eight ponds in Oshino, a small village in the Fiju Five Lake region. This village is on the site of a former lake that dried out several hundred years ago. The eight ponds are fed by snow melt from the slopes of nearby Mt. Fuji that filters down the mountain through porous layers of lava for over 80 years, resulting in very clear spring water that is revered by the locals.

Next to one pond, you can enjoy drinking the cool water straight from the source. The ponds are quite deep and have interesting freshwater plant life and large fish that make a visit to the ponds almost like visiting an aquarium.

Oshino Hakkai

From here we are off to visit the Kubota Icchiku Kimono Museum, located near Lake Kawaguchi with majestic views of Mt. Fuji.

The museum is an artist’s paradise, built by the artist Kubota Itchiku and highlighting his priceless creations. He was a textile artist who dedicated his whole life to reviving and mastering the lost art of Tsujigahana silk dyeing, a traditional dye technique, used to decorate elaborate kimonos during the Muromachi period (1333- 1573).

Itchiku Kubota was 20 years old when he first encountered tsujigahana. After suffering through a hard prison life in WWII he came back and began to study tsujigahana. He devoted the remainder of his life to this. 29 years later, in 1977, he had his first exhibition “Itchiku Tsujigahana" at the age of 60.

Its beauty and high-quality technique gained reputation and the exhibition was also held abroad. It went around cities like Paris, New York, and London. He also has received various awards. In 1994, Itchiku Kubota Art Museum was opened.

His works are exhibited in the main building of the museum. This building has a complicated wooden structure using Hiba trees (cypress family) more than 1000 years old. Both traditional artisanal techniques and modern log cabin methods are used to construct the building. The building has an open ceiling and the wooden structure is visible.

There also are a Japanese tea house and a cafe where you can enjoy the view of a waterfall as well as tea and sweets, and a gallery with a collection of glass beads.

Enjoy the beautiful traditional artworks as well as a walk in the garden and path to take full advantage of the beautiful natural environment of the museum.

Kubota Icchiku Kimono Museum We now make our way back into Tokyo and our hotel for the remaining two nights, Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba.

Odaiba is a popular shopping and entertainment district on a manmade island in Tokyo Bay. It originated as a set of small manmade fort islands (daiba literally means "fort"), which were built towards the end of the Edo Period.

The center of Odaiba is Aquacity Odaiba. It includes a shopping mall with a 300-meter-long boutique street, a multi-flex cinema that employs the latest acoustic and screen technologies, and a gourmet zone that stretches over 15,000 square meters, which is obviously the largest such zone in Japan.

Attractions here include the Odaiba Seaside Park that overlooks Rainbow Bridge, Fuji TV headquarters and studios where visitors can see the sets of popular TV programs, and Palette Town, a "theme park for women" with an interior modeled after a European city in the 18th century, and which accommodates over 150 shops.

Arrival at out hotel will be approximately 6:30pm.

Please meet your guide in the lobby by 7:00pm as we are off to dinner at a local restaurant.

Accommodations: Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba Hotel Free

Day 6 – December 31st, 2019 -Tuesday – Tokyo (B/L/D)

After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by 9:00am as we are off on a very special local touring day, visiting two special areas that later this evening become almost impossible to get to.

The morning begins with a visit to Meiji Shrine, located right in the middle of one of Tokyo`s most popular areas is an amazing urban oasis, Meiji Jingu. It is a shrine that is dedicated to the souls of and his wife, Empress Shoken. After the Emperor’s death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration and the construction of a shrine where his soul would be enshrined was undertaken. The area around an iris garden in Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken had been known to visit was chosen as the building’s location. With the passing of the resolution, construction began in 1915, formally dedicated in 1920 and finished in 1926.

When you enter the grounds of the shrine, probably the first thing that will get your attention is the, “” (the traditional gate to a ) you pass under. It is enormous and majestic, completely impossible to miss. There are three torii in total between the Harajuku entrance and the main building. But once you pass under the first one, you enter the forest which blocks out the sights and sounds of the city.

While walking along the path to the shrine you will pass huge barrels of sake. These barrels are donated every year by Meiji Jingu Nationwide Sake Brewers Association to the enshrined deities at the shrine, and they make for a great photo opportunity for the visitor.

About five minutes past the sake barrels you`ll come to the entrance of the main shrine area, from where you can see the Mode Gakuen building far behind in the distance. The two buildings really contrast each other. Mode Gakuen, an icon of the modern age – and Meiji Jingu an icon of ages past, but still relevant in the modern era as it one of the main places for News Years prayers and is still very culturally important.

Hatsumode is the first shrine visit of the year to pray for good fortune and health for the year to come. Close to ten million visit Meiji Shrine each year, with three million visitors alone between New Year’s Eve and the 3rd of January. Let’s enjoy a walk-through Meiji and see what preparations are in place for this evening.

From here, very close by is Shibuya Crossing Street, considered to be the busiest intersection in the world where at peak times it is said that over 1,000 people cross at one time, coming from all directions and yet manage to dodge each other.

Come, join in and experience what it feels like. Later this evening the streets around here will be closed to traffic as Tokyoites will be out welcoming the new year at the Shibuya crossing countdown event.

While here in Shibuya we will stop and meet Tokyo's most famous pooch, Hachikō. This Akita dog came to Shibuya Station every day to meet his master, a professor, returning from work. The professor died in 1925, but Hachikō kept coming to the station until his own death 10 years later. The story became legend and a small statue was erected in the dog’s memory in front of Shibuya Station.

From here we are off to lunch at a local restaurant in the Shibuya area. After lunch we make our way back to Odaiba and our hotel so that you can enjoy free afternoon of leisure and shopping.

Please meet your guide at 6:30pm as we are off to enjoy a New Years Eve buffet dinner at a local restaurant.

After dinner, enjoy the area around our hotel as folks will be out and about ready to welcome in the new year.

Accommodations: Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba Hotel Free

Day 7 – January 1st, 2020 -Wednesday – Tokyo-Narita (B)

Shinnen Akemashite Omedetou Goziamasu!

After breakfast at our hotel, please meet your guide by 9:30am as we are off on a very special New Year’s Day in Japan.

The day begins with joining the crowds in the traditional celebration of doing hatsumode, the year’s first visit to a temple or shrine. At the shrine, there is the opportunity to pick up one’s official fortune and burn the important objects you picked up at the temple the previous year in a big bonfire.

Some of the area’s most popular temples and shrines draw many thousands of visitors and therefore we have chosen a smaller shrine to visit, Nezu Shrine. Located near Ueno Park, it is one of Japan's oldest shrines, and certainly one of its most attractive. It is set in lush greenery, with ponds of carp, pathways that are tunnels of small shrine arches, and elegant, beautifully colored, wooden structures that reflect Japanese culture in all its age and beauty.

Legend has it that what later became Nezu Shrine was first founded in Sendagi, just north of its current location in Nezu, by the fearsome Prince Osu, also known as "" who is said to have lived in the first century A.D.

Nezu Shrine was relocated to the Nezu area in the mid-17th century on the occasion of Shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa choosing his successor. Such is Nezu Shrine's status in history that it features not only in the doings of the Shoguns but of the Imperial family too. When the Emperor moved his seat from Kyoto to Tokyo in the late nineteenth century, he sent envoys to Nezu Shrine to have the Shrine intercede with the gods on his behalf. Nezu Shrine is noted for bringing good luck and is an excellent place to do hatsumode. It is also a shrine devoted to the granting of impossible wishes.

A particularly memorable feature of Nezu Shrine is its scores of small, vermilion torii Shinto shrine gates that cover the paths on the hillside above the main shrine, making for a tunnel effect.

The torii-lined pathways lead to and from a viewing platform that is part of the smaller Otome Inari Shrine, a shrine-within-a-shrine that overlooks the main shrine buildings, and over a sizable pond directly below.

From here we are off to visit another popular spot on this day, Tokyo Tower. Standing 333 meters high in the center of Tokyo, Tokyo Tower is the world's tallest, self-supported steel tower and 13 meters taller than its model, the Eiffel Tower. A symbol of Japan's post-war rebirth as a major economic power, Tokyo Tower was the country's tallest structure from its completion in 1958 until 2012 when it was surpassed by Tokyo Skytree.

Due to its central location, the observatory offers an interesting view of the city despite being only at a relatively moderate height. There are also some "look down windows" in the floor to stand on, a souvenir shop and a cafe where you can enjoy refreshments.

Enjoy free time to look around and have lunch on your own.

Now, off for some serious New Year’s Day shopping. Shopping on New Year’s Day has become popular in Japan with many sales and bargains to be had. Be ready for a crowded event once we arrive here but makes it more fun!

It begins at Tokyo’s largest Daiso located in Alcakit Kinshicho, one of the largest shopping malls in the region, right beside the JR Kinshicho Station. This Daiso takes up an entire floor and when you see it, you will understand why.

Besides Daiso, just about every other popular store has a branch here. There is also a supermarket and wide variety of eating spots.

Now, off to Narita Airport where you will have an opportunity to re-pack your bags before checking-in for the flight. After clearing security, still time to enjoy shopping for last-minute duty-free items.

Delta Air Lines #180 Departs Narita 8:00 pm – Arrives Honolulu 7:55 am

Don’t forget that its New Year’s Day here in Hawaii! Enjoy the day with friends & family!