Shiki Japan
Bespoke Journeys · Est. 2009
The People Behind the Itineraries
Twenty-two travelers, scholars, and former concierges — based in Shibuya since 2009 — each paired one-on-one with the guests whose trips they build from the first call to the last tea ceremony.
Design My Japan TripFounded in Shibuya · 2009
Shiki Japan began as a conversation between two colleagues who shared a frustration: the most memorable Japan trips were built slowly, by people who lived here, by hand. Aiko Tanaka had spent seven years as a concierge at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, fielding requests from guests who wanted to see a country her colleagues could not reach. Kenji Mori had spent a decade guiding travelers through temple precincts and mountain villages, watching the difference between an itinerary copied from a brochure and one assembled from a relationship.
They opened the studio in Shibuya in 2009 with two desks and a stack of handwritten cards from ryokan owners. Fifteen years later, the team is twenty-two — eleven full-time trip designers and six regional specialists based in Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Okinawa — but the working rhythm is unchanged. Every itinerary is drafted in pencil, in conversation with a single named designer, then checked by a colleague who knows the region better. The average client spends fourteen nights across three regions with us. Sixty-eight percent return for a second or third Japan trip within five years.
Aiko Tanaka & Kenji Mori
Co-founders, Shiki Japan K.K.
The Designers
From the moment you send your first inquiry, one specialist is named in your file. They answer your emails, draft your days, and hand you over to our 24/7 in-country concierge when you land. Below, four of the eleven designers who lead our most-requested journeys.
Co-founder · Lead Designer
Kyoto, Naoshima · Tea Ceremony · Ryokan Craft
Seven years as a Park Hyatt Tokyo concierge before opening Shiki. Aiko designs most of our Kyoto-centred cultural journeys and personally places guests at the family-owned ryokans that reject eighty percent of inbound requests.
JapaneseEnglishConversational French
Co-founder · Senior Guide-Designer
Tohoku, Kii Peninsula · Mountain Temples · Pilgrimage Routes
A trained mountain guide and ten-year veteran of temple pilgrimages, Kenji leads our longer walking-led itineraries and is the studio's quiet authority on the regions outside the usual routes — Tohoku in winter, the Kumano Kodó in autumn.
JapaneseEnglish
Regional Specialist · Okinawa
Okinawa, Yaeyama Islands · Diving · Ryukyu Culture
Born in Naha, PADI-divemaster certified, and a fluent speaker of Okinawan shima-nu-fā (island dialect). Mio builds our island add-ons and works with a private boat charter for guests who want to spend three quiet days between Yaeyama reefs after Kyoto.
JapaneseOkinawanEnglish
Senior Designer · Hokkaido
Niseko, Furano, Daisetsuzan · Winter Ski · Onsen Retreats
Former ski patroller at Niseko's Hanazono area and the studio's lead designer for January–March departures. Daichi pairs private guides with the onsen ryokans we hold through deepest powder season, when most properties sell out eight months ahead.
JapaneseEnglish
Regional Depth
A well-designed Japan trip is rarely one city. Most of our guests cross three regions in fourteen nights — and the quality of the journey depends on the people who know each one best.
01 · Kansai
Garden-by-garden routing through Kyoto's thirty-one temple precincts; private tea ceremony at a 14th-generation Urasenke house; dawn access to Kinkaku-ji before the gates open; a slow day on Naoshima with our Tadao Andó guide.
02 · Okinawa
Three- to five-night island add-ons built around private boat charters; diving with PADI lead Mio Higa; evenings at Shuri-area ryokan dining rooms closed to outside guests; quiet afternoons with a sanshin musician in Taketomi.
03 · Hokkaidō
January–March powder with private Hanazono guides and onsen ryokans held through the busiest weeks; shoulder-season food journeys through Furano and Yoichi whisky country; late-autumn crane viewing at Akan.
04 · Tōhoku
The regions we keep for clients who have already seen Kyoto twice: Ginzan Onsen in winter, the cedar temples of Yamadera, kayak mornings on Lake Tazawa, an evening with a sixth-generation Hagiyamadera potter.
A Note from the Studio
“A good Japan trip is not an itinerary. It is one designer, paying attention, from the first email to the moment you hand your keys back at Haneda. The cities can be seen in any brochure; the Japan you actually want is the one built by the person who has spent the last ten years learning how to read a ryokan's handwritten reply.”
Aiko Tanaka · Co-founder, Shiki Japan
Begin a Conversation
Send a short note about when you are thinking of travelling, who you are travelling with, and what you would like to see. A named designer will reply within a few hours — never a call centre — and the first conversation carries no obligation.
Design My Japan TripOr speak with us directly · +81 3-6452-8820 · [email protected]
