Send me the plan you've spent six weekends on. I go through it day by day, tell you exactly which days will fall apart and why, and hand back a fixed version — with a video walking you through every change.
And you can't find it by searching, because you don't know it's there.
Everything on your spreadsheet looks reasonable. Every hotel has good reviews. Every train connection exists on Google Maps. What you can't see from where you're sitting is that the ryokan you booked in Hakone quietly doesn't take children under six, that the 14:10 connection is on the far side of a station with no lift, and that day nine has four hours of travel wedged between two early starts.
None of that shows up until you're standing there.
This is a second opinion from someone who is in Japan and does this professionally — not a chat about where to go, but a technical review of a plan you've already made.
Every day gets a verdict: fine as it is, tight, or will break. Where something will break, you get the reason in one sentence — not "consider adjusting", but "the 07:40 is the only train that makes this work and you have a 09:00 check-out two stations away."
Not notes telling you to fix it. The fixed version, with times, stations and walking distances, ready to drop into your own plan.
My screen, your itinerary, me talking through every change and why. No live call, no 6 a.m. start for you. Watch it when it suits you, rewatch the bit you missed, and send it to whoever else is coming.
By email, within two weeks. You will think of something after you watch the video. Everybody does.
This is the list, in the order I work through it. Most plans I see have three or four of these.
Pay, then send your itinerary in any form you have it — a spreadsheet, a doc, a booking confirmation folder, a list in your notes app. I've worked from worse.
Email me to bookTell me your dates and I'll send a payment link the same day. Three business days from the moment your itinerary arrives, not from payment. If I look at your plan and think you don't need me, I'll say so and refund you in full.
The review is deliberately the smallest thing I sell. If afterwards you'd rather hand the whole thing over, there are two ways up:
A complete day-by-day itinerary built from scratch: routes, walking distances, a rain plan for every day, restaurant and experience shortlists with links and Japanese phone scripts. You do the booking. Three rounds of revisions.
Everything above, plus my company arranges it here in Japan — inns, trains, transfers, guides, private experiences. One point of contact, all communication in Japanese, and problems solved from this end rather than from a train platform.
If you upgrade within 30 days, the $250 comes off the price.
Whatever you already have. Spreadsheet, Google Doc, a folder of confirmation emails, a list in your phone. Don't tidy it up for me — the mess is informative.
No, and that's deliberate. I'm in Tokyo; a live call means one of us is up at six. You get a video instead, which you can pause, rewatch, and forward to your partner.
Then I'll tell you that, point out the two or three small things, and you'll have spent $250 to stop worrying. That is a legitimate outcome. If it's genuinely fine and you feel the review wasn't worth it, ask and I'll refund you.
Not on this service — you get the plan and you book it. If you want the booking done, that's the Fully Arranged option.
I run a licensed travel arrangement company (旅行サービス手配業) based in Tokyo, with a partner office in Kumamoto. Day to day I arrange trips for families visiting Japan.
Reply to the payment receipt, or email it to mai@maiinjapan.com. The three days start when it lands.
I'm based in Tokyo and run a licensed travel arrangement company here, with a partner office in Kumamoto. I'm not a blogger with opinions about Japan — I'm the person who telephones the inn, in Japanese, and gets told the real answer. That's the whole reason a second opinion from me is worth more than a second opinion from a forum.