During this 12-night, 13-day tour we travel the length of Japan from the sub-tropical islands of Okinawa and Kyushu, through mainland Japan to Tokyo with stays en-route at Naha, Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Kyoto. The itinerary has been carefully designed to provide in-situ expert narrative and analysis to stimulate conversation and debate on the decisions, motivations, controversies, and consequences of pivotal and dramatic events. And whilst the focus of our tour is predominantly the closing months of World War Two, we will absorb plenty of Japanese culture and cuisine as we explore magnificent shrines, stroll through awe-inspiring gardens, dine at local restaurants, travel aboard Japan’s legendary Shinkansen ‘Bullet’ trains and enjoy well-positioned four-star hotels.

In the spring of 1942, Japan reached its zenith—an empire that stretched across twenty million square miles and seven time zones. But this behemoth would not survive. By 1945, the American forces, having battled across the Pacific, closed in on the Japanese homeland. In April, American troops landed on Okinawa in what would prove to be one of the most hellacious fights of the Pacific War, an 82-day slugfest that would claim the lives of as many as 150,000 civilians. To counter this threat, Japan unleashed storms of kamikazes, monsoons of metal and flesh that rained down on American warships. Nightly raids by the America’s awesome new B-29 Superfortresses meanwhile incinerated Tokyo and dozens of other cities. All of this paled, however, from the war-ending attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ushered the world into the nuclear age. The culmination of these catastrophic final months of war would ravage the Japanese homeland and lead Emperor Hirohito to announce his nation’s surrender at noon on August 15, 1945.

Day 0: Departures
Overnight flight from London to Tokyo Haneda airport or make your own arrangements to join the tour at our Haneda airport hotel on Day 1.

Day 1: Arrival at Tokyo Haneda
Arrive Tokyo and transfer to our Haneda Airport hotel. If you are making your own way to Tokyo, rooms will be available from 14:00. The tour commences at 18:00 with an introductory talk over drinks followed by dinner. (D)

Day 2: Okinawa Landing Beaches
Morning flight to Okinawa. Visit the Hagushi beaches where four American divisions came ashore unopposed on 1 April 1945. At the Chibichiri and Simuku Gama Caves we discuss how Japanese civilians reacted to their government’s propaganda: at the former committing suicide whilst those at the latter survived. Check-in to our hotel in Naha for two nights. (B,L,D)

Day 3: The Shuri Defence Line
We explore the remains of the Japanese entrenched fortifications that stemmed the momentum of the American southward advance: from atop Kazuku Ridge and its observation tower we gain stunning views over the approach and examine its pillboxes and caves; on the Maeda escarpment, or Hacksaw Ridge as GIs named it, we trace the exploits of Medal of Honor winning Desmond Doss and discuss the fight from the ruins of Urasoe castle. We visit site of the Japanese HQ at rebuilt Shuri Castle and explore the underground complex and museum in the former Japanese Naval headquarters. (B,L,D)

Day 4: Final Moves
From the memorial to Tenth Army commander, Lt Gen Simon Bolivar Buckner, we discuss the final June 1945 operations that secured victory on Okinawa. We remember all those killed during the bloody fight at the peace memorial and museum and at the Himeyuri Museum we learn of the Japanese nurses, who fearful of rape, took their own lives in a nearby cave. We take an early evening flight to Kagoshima where we spend the night. (B,L,D)

Day 5: Kamikaze!
At the former airfield at Chiran, on the tip of Kyushu and from where the last kamikaze pilots of the war took off, we find extant period airplanes (including a Zero) and a fascinating collection of pilot’s letters, photos and artifacts that serve to dismiss the tradition of honour by suicide. Continue by train to Nagasaki where we spend the night. (B,L,D)

Day 6: Nagasaki
We visit the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, its exhibits emotionally recalling the impact of the second more-powerful ‘Fat Man’ atomic (plutonium) bomb dropped on 9 August 1945. Across the road we find ‘Ground Zero’ and bomb-damaged statues and artefacts from the original Urakami Cathedral. Thence by train to Hiroshima where we spend the next two nights. (B,L,D)

Day 7: Hiroshima
This morning we visit the Peace Memorial Park including the incredibly powerful Peace Memorial Museum and the iconic Atomic Bomb Dome which recount the devastation wreaked by the first atomic (uranium) bomb, ‘Little Boy’, dropped on 6 August 1945. This afternoon we step away from WW2 and take the short ferry ride to beautiful Miyajima Island to discover the magical Itsukushima Shrine with its ‘floating’ Torii Gate. (B,L,D)

Day 8: Kure
A short drive from Hiroshima is the former naval arsenal of Kure with its ‘Self Defence Force’ and ‘Maritime’ museums, the latter containing an 80-foot, 1/10 scale model of the Yamato battleship. Returning to Hiroshima we catch the Bullet train to Kyoto, our base for the next two nights, and where we enjoy a late afternoon walking tour of its historic centre. (B,L,D)

Day 9: Kyoto
A morning stroll amidst the Rokuon-ji temple complex reveals the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kinkaku-ji, the lavishly gold-leaf clad Buddhist ‘Temple of the Golden Pavilion’ and close by we find the Kyoto Museum for World Peace with its unusually accurate portrayal of Japan during WW2. This afternoon we visit Nijo Castle, the former stronghold of the famous shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu: passing through its exquisitely wood carved Karamon or gate we discover the Shoguns’ official residence of Ninomaru Palace, the moated Honmaru and delightful gardens. Dinner is at you own expense this evening.(B,L)

Day 10: Firebombing
Following our Bullet train journey, we enjoy lunch in Tokyo. This afternoon we visit ‘The Centre of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage’ which portrays the devastating firebombing of 10 March 1945. Check-in to our Tokyo hotel for the last three nights of our tour. (B,L,D)

Day 11: Japan at War
In contrast to what we will have seen in Kyoto, the Yushukan War Memorial delivers a revisionist interpretation of WW2 from the nationalist perspective whilst the close by Yasukini Shrine pays homage to Hideki Tojo and other Class A war criminals, and the Showa Museum looks at the civilian war-time struggle. This afternoon we visit the Yokosuka suburb to explore the pre-dreadnought battleship Mikasa, the Japanese flagship during the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. (B,L,D)

Day 12: Tokyo
During our final day in Tokyo we visit the Great Kanto Earthquake Museum, The Imperial Palace Gardens, NHK broadcast museum with its original recording of Hirohito’s surrender speech and General MacArthur’s preserved post war office. (B,L,D)

Day 13: Departures
Return flights home or perhaps extend your stay in Tokyo. (B)