The fish hits the grill at 6 a.m. and Tsukiji Outer Market is already loud. That is your first morning in Tokyo. Haneda is seven and a half hours from Delhi or Mumbai. Check into Aman Tokyo — floor-to-ceiling views, complimentary breakfast, and a stillness the city below cannot touch. Spend the afternoon at TeamLab Planets, where you walk through water and projected light shifts under your feet. Close the day with a private guide in Asakusa. Senso-ji at dusk, lanterns lit, crowds thinning.
The Romancecar to Hakone takes two hours. Hakone Gora Byakudan gives you a room that frames the mountains and a private onsen bath that does the rest. Spend a morning at the Hakone Open-Air Museum — Rodin and Picasso in open air, no velvet ropes. Then board the Lake Ashi ferry. Mt. Fuji holds the horizon on a clear day.
Shinkansen Hikari reaches Kyoto in under three hours. Aman Kyoto or Ace Hotel Kyoto — both earn their keep. Book the private tea ceremony in Gion; your host walks you through every step. Walk the vermilion gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha early, before the crowds arrive. At Arashiyama, the bamboo grove is quieter than you expect.
Osaka is fifteen minutes on the Nozomi Shinkansen. Conrad Osaka sits above the skyline; dining credits come with the room. Eat your way down Dotonbori — takoyaki, kushikatsu, ramen in one street. Osaka Castle is worth the climb for the view alone.
Nozomi Shinkansen reaches Hiroshima in under two hours. Sheraton Grand Hiroshima is your base. Spend a full morning at Peace Memorial Park; the museum asks more of you than a quick pass. Ferry to Miyajima Island in the afternoon. The torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine stands in the water at high tide — stone, salt air, silence.
Twelve days. Alp Travel Co. handles every transfer and hotel perk — breakfast, dining credits, room upgrades where available. You show up. Japan does the rest.
