The organised gastronomic tour of Japan is among the finest culinary travel experiences available. The two-week private tour through the kaiseki restaurants of Kyoto and the sushi masters of Tokyo and the ramen specialists of Fukuoka and the sake breweries of the Nada district and the wagyu farms of Matsusaka: this is the Japanese food culture at the depth of the serious culinary traveller’s engagement with it.
The daily rate for the premium private gastronomic Japan tour: €800 to €2,500 per person including accommodation, transfers, and the restaurant bookings that the specialist operator secures at the restaurants the independent traveller cannot access.
The Pacific crossing with Richard’s galley is not the competition for the gastronomic Japan tour. They are addressing different dimensions of the culinary experience. The gastronomic Japan tour is the depth of the single cuisine culture. Richard’s galley across the Pacific is the breadth of the offshore kitchen that adapts to every port it reaches: the ceviche with the Marquesas fish, the coconut crab in the Tuamotu lagoon, the Polynesian umu feast in the Cook Islands, the roti canai from the Langkawi mamak stall, the Indonesian beef rendang from the Ambon market.
The gastronomic Japan tour goes deep into one culture. The offshore passage goes broad across forty countries.
The Comparison
| Premium gastronomic Japan tour | Naora offshore galley across Pacific | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily rate per person | €800 to €2,500 | From €900 all-inclusive |
| Culinary depth | Deep dive into Japanese cuisine | Breadth across forty countries |
| Ingredient sourcing | The finest Japanese producers | That morning’s local market and trolling line |
| Cuisine cultures covered | One | Forty countries across five years |
| Cooking expertise | The restaurant’s Michelin-level team | Richard, French-trained with Asian years |
| Context of the meal | The restaurant’s designed environment | The offshore anchorage the passage reached |
| Table composition | Tour participants | 12 selected Circle members |
The gastronomic Japan tour and the Naora offshore galley are the two ends of the culinary travel spectrum: depth into one culture or breadth across forty. The Japan tour costs more per day than the Naora rate and provides the finest possible depth of the Japanese culinary tradition.
The Naora offshore galley costs less per day and provides the breadth of the offshore kitchen that moves from the Marquesas to the Tuamotu to the Cook Islands to Langkawi to the Banda Sea. The person who has done the Japan tour and who wants the offshore breadth next is the person for whom the Naora programme was built. The person who wants the Japan tour first should do that first. The offshore galley will be waiting when they are ready for the forty-country version.
