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News & Updates Vol.1(Intro) | |
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Welcome to the 2025 Silk Study Tour to Japan Newsletter | |
Details of the upcoming 2025 Silk Study Tour to Japan are being finalized! We have an itinerary and other details for you to look over. As before, there are certain additions that will be made as we go along, and we are watching the Yen rate and travel costs closely.
Here I will lay out the itinerary, the cost and the requirements in order to join this wonderful tour of silk, textiles and Japanese culture. I like to say that you get to see Japan through the eyes of a silkworm- if they only had eyes!
Who goes on the Silk Study Tour to Japan?
Artists, makers, educators, life-long learners, writers, textilians, historians, Japanophiles, and those wanting to learn more deeply about silk and Japanese culture. Are you such a person?
Make lifelong friends, enjoy Japan and all it has to offer in this fourteen day tour that has textiles at it's core yet also includes history, culture, food, and beauty.
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Dates- 5/08/25-5/23/25
We are now ready to accept deposits to confirm your reservation in the 2025 Silk Study Tour to Japan. Please use the reservation form located in the right hand sidebar to apply.
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The sericulture farm visit, a highlight of the tour, was made possible in the past through the generous help of the Tama Silk Life 21 group and the gracious hospitality of aging sericulturist Koyata san and his wife (I am thinking he is 100 plus year of age now!). The Silk Study Tour to Japan is eternally in their debt for providing us with such an intimate view into their life and sericulture history. Now, we are the guests of Nobue Higashi and her husband who carry on the traditional Japanese sericulture practices at their farm. We also thank all the artisans who share their work and offer workshops to us over the course of this tour. It is what this tour was built around- an exchange of culture and information. Though some of the visits and people have changed over time, the passion for silk and textile education has not. |
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As you may know, since 2010 I have had the pleasure of coordinating this tour and again am looking forward to doing the same for the upcoming Silk Study Tour for 2025.
Our Japan-side coordinator for the Silk Study Tour is Hirata-san. Hirata-san makes this trip a special treat as he shares his own family history and connection to Japan's silk trade. His great grandfather owned and ran their own filature mill in the mid to late 1800's and his grandfather was sent to New York at the turn of the century to be educated and from there, serve the family's thriving silk export business. Hirata-san is an invaluable coordinator and his extra attention to detail makes this trip extremely pleasurable. In addition, his daughter Shio Hirata joins us a a third coordinator once again this year. Shio is a professional translator as well as a tour director for Disney World's international guests. We were thrilled when Shio jumped in last year due to extenuating circumstances and that she is eager to return for the 2025 tour!
It was with great delight in 2010, that I accepted Maggie Backman's request to take over this tour project and provide this experience to a new group of silk aficionados every other year. Maggie (who turned 95 this year!) is still an acting advisor for the tour but no longer is able to accompany us.
In this eighth excursion of the Silk Study Tour, our desire remains to foster a continuous thread of communication and education with Japanese silk masters, educators, and artisans that will lead each of us into a new fiber future. In this way, we continue to offer future exchanges of silk information and provide teaching, travel and study opportunities for all participants.
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This time starting in Kamakura! | |
Leaving Narita Airport upon our arrival in Japan, a chartered limousine bus will take us to our Kamakura hotel for a four night stay. We will explore Kamakura- its temples, shrines, shopping and art as well as take day excursions by train to Tokyo's Ginza and the Yokohama waterfront. Yokohama has several wonderful museums covering silk (The Silk Center), the exquisite history of dolls in Japan (Yokohama Doll Museum), as well as the fascinating history of the opening of the Yokohama Port in the late 1850's (Yokohama Archives of History). This initiated the silk trade from Japan to the West and the industrialization of Japan.
Tokyo's Ginza District is a must see with much to offer- from the world famous "depato" stores with their glorious food basement offerings, craft exhibition floors, as well as Tokyo's Costume Museum and so much more.
A visit to the Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine sale is a possibility for those wanting to partake in a shrine sale during our time in Kamakura and day "on the Ginza".
From Kamakura, our private coach arrives to whisk us away to the Five Lakes region where we will spend time with indigo dyer Fumiko Sato and take a trip to the nearby Ichiku Kubota Museum. The night is spent at a beautiful spa hotel overlooking lake Kawaguchiko and Mt. Fuji. The rest of the tour has us in the capable hands of our bus tour captains as we head to Kyoto for a four night stay in central Kyoto to further explore the textile studios, the shibori museum, shrines, and a day trip to Osaka to see the World Expo there!
Our coach awaits and it's off to Suwa Lake where we will visit the Okaya Silk Museum- at the present time, the best silk museum in Japan with its own fillature (silk reeling facility) attached.
After the day in Okaya, we travel to Isobe where we will enjoy 3 nights in a wonderful spa hotel located along a river, traveling out by day to have workshops and meet with sericulturist Nobue Higashi and the artisans of Ton Cara for a workshop in silk reeling and cocoon arts.
Another day here has us spending a workshop day with master natural dyer Yamazaki san. Our last day in this area we will visit Kiyru City and the World Heritage site of the Tomioka Silk Mill, a textile museum, and a famous antique kimono shop before back driving to Narita to pack for our flight home the following day.
We have several hours after checking in at Narita Airport for our flight home to visit the nearby town of Narita and the wonderful Narita San shrine which features an extraordinary garden and beautiful temple grounds.
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The Cost
-cash/check discount tour price $6995.00 USD
-credit/debit tour price $7198.00 USD
**NOTE** as this cost is being projected out over a year in advance, and is based on a Yen to Dollar exchange that currently is at ¥140 per $1 USD.
Thirty days before departure we will assess the exchange rates and notify you of any surcharge if the yen falls more than 10%. Last time the strong dollar allowed us to give extra honorarium to the artists and groups that facilitate such a wonderful experience for us. We were also able to include many more of the group meals outside of those outlined here (leaving more spending money for fabulous textiles!).
This Silk Study Tour is limited to 16 participants (we need a minimum of 12). The variable cost reflected above allows you to choose your most convenient form of payment. MC, VISA, and AMEX are accepted. We prefer personal or cashier checks so as to avoid any extra charges to you. Bank transfer is also possible.
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What the tour price includes: Roundtrip flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) airport,14 nights at hotels (double occupancy) with fabulous breakfasts included.
- Museum fees, all class fees and supplies.
- Private chartered bus transportation for the majority of the tour and ground transportation costs for the group to specified group trips while in Tokyo area.
- Charter bus fare to and from Tokyo Narita Airport.
- Full course Japanese traditional dinner two nights while at the traditional Japanese spa resort hotels (ryokan).
- Some supplemental fees such as garden and other entrance fees.
- What the tour price does not include:
- Flight costs to and from Los Angeles, possible hotel charge in Los Angeles (night before departure or after return).
- Meals other than those specified above.
- Insurances, passport charges, and public transportation (outside the tour if you decide to go on your own during free days
- Single supplement pricing upon request
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This next Silk Study Tour 2025 may include but not necessarily be limited to the following sites and activities.
- a visit to a traditional sericulture farm
- a visit with an indigo dyer
- entrance into the beautiful museum of Ichiku Kubota
- a night at a resort hotel overlooking Kawaguchi Lake
- tour of a Silk Museum (or two! Yokohama optional)
- several nights at a resort spa ryokan (inn) with traditional Japanese baths and a lovely traditional Japanese dinner
- four nights in Kamakura area with free time to visit museums,shop and a day side trips to Tokyo Ginza and Yokohama-(optional)
- Kyoto area visits include free time to visit the many textile related museums, shops, and points of interest
- visit to view a working silk filature mill within the Okaya Silk Museum
- a visit to an obi weaver
- a visit to Tomioka Silk Mill (new World Cultural Heritage site)
- a stop at a textile museum
- a visit to a shrine sale in the Tokyo area
- a visit to the shibori museum in Kyoto
- a visit to the Tokyo Costume Museum (optional)
- a visit to a washi studio (handmade papermaker)
- a visit with a modern sericulturist and hands on workshop learning reeling and silk processing techniques
- tea ceremony
- day trip to Osaka and the 2025 World Fair
- any other surprise visits that come up during the tour as they have before!
Please note- exact itinerary is subject to change.
Each place we go we have visited personally beforehand and selected on the basis of how we feel it fits into the purpose of the tour. Sometimes we are surprised by a spontaneous invitation and we may add it based on if we can accommodate it.
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Early registration and payment schedule:
A registration form and a $600 tour deposit is required to secure your reservation on this tour. You will be contacted upon receipt of your deposit to confirm your reservation. Up to 3 wait-listed reservations will be accepted. You will be advised immediately if you are wait-listed.
Payment in full must be submitted by January 31, 2025 and partial payments may be made up to this date. For reservations made after this date, full payment is due at time of booking.
If the remaining balance is not made by the required date, we reserve the right to cancel your reservation.
Cancellations up to December 1, 2024 will receive a $200 deposit refund (forfeit $400-no exception).
Cancellation and any changes due to natural disaster, weather, war, civil unrest,and order of government and immigration regulations applies regular rules below. In such an unlikely occurrence we will do everything possible to minimize the penalties stated below.
In the case of voluntary cancellation for any reason the following rules apply:
After Feb. 15, 2025 the following cancellation fees will apply:
-30% of the tour price 31 to 59 days before departure*.
-50% of the tour price 12 to 30 days before departure*.
*cancellation must be received in writing.
-No refunds 11 days or less before departure.
If unexpected personal situations occur during the trip,any extra cost for additional arrangements will be the individual tour participant's responsibility. Please be sure your travel insurance covers your individual needs.
12 participants are needed to guarantee the tour. In the event the tour does not receive the required number of participants (unlikely) by January 10, 2025 all monies will be refunded.
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Other Details:
Please be aware that for all tour participants from North America, this tour departs from and returns to Los Angeles, CA. Please let me know if you desire to leave from another US location and we will help coordinate that if possible.
Participants from other parts of the globe will meet with us at Tokyo Narita Airport. IACE will again be our coordinating travel agent for the tour and can see that you are booked on flights that will assure a smooth meet up with the group upon your arrival in Tokyo.
Land only for participants outside the US please deduct $950.00 USD
Travel and medical insurance, which is most necessary for the well being of the tour as a whole, will be required for all participants of this tour.
For the benefit of the tour as a whole, we reserve the right to accept or reject any person as a tour participant, and or remove from the tour any participant whose conduct is deemed incompatible with the interests of the group.
While we do have a chartered bus whisking us to our various locations, there is considerable walking to be done (Japan is very much a walking country). You will be responsible for handling your own luggage at times although for the most part our charter bus will store our bags in the luggage compartment below, but you will need to be able to handle it at the airport and in and out of the hotels. Please be aware of the physical aspects of this tour and your ability to participate accordingly.
Tour Extension:
If desired, you can make arrangements to extend your trip beyond our Silk Study Tour. Our expert tour agent specializes in travel to Japan and will be happy to work with you to facilitate your plans. They will also be happy to quote you prices for your travel insurance.
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I know this is a lot of information, so please take your time to read through it all and email me any questions!
Thank you!
Glennis Dolce
Silk Study Tour Coordinator
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