Preparing…
Japan, planned properly
A Japan trip brief, reviewed and signed by a person.
Your one big trip to Japan should not be a research project.
Your route, places to stay, daily plan, and booking details, researched with AI and reviewed by a person. Start from scratch or hand over the draft you have. We plan it; you book it.
Full brief from $600 · Sharpen from $350
Already have a plan? Try the free teardown.
- We read your trip and reply within one business day
- Nothing to pay until you choose to start
- Every brief reviewed and signed by a person
Full brief · from $600
Two route options with tradeoffs, your daily plan, places to stay and eat, transfers, and booking windows. Includes the AI concierge for the length of your trip.
Sharpen · from $350
Your existing itinerary, checked and improved: pacing, logistics, reservations, and the decisions you are unsure about. Credited toward a full brief if you upgrade.
Tokyo Field Guide: $59 with either brief. You make the bookings. We confirm your exact fee and scope before work begins. Meet your planner.
How it unfolds
- Step 1.
Hand it over
Paste the plan you have or answer a few questions. Rough notes are fine. Five minutes, not an evening.
- Step 2.
AI goes wide
Every route, season, transfer, and reservation window around your trip, researched wider than any person could go by hand. The work that eats weekends, done in hours.
- Step 3.
John knows Japan
He reads every brief, keeps what earns its place, and signs what ships. His judgment is what you are paying for.
- Step 4.
You book it
Two complete options with their tradeoffs, or your plan back, sharpened. You stop researching and start booking.
Try the read first
Your Japan plan. Three ways to make it better. Free.
The same read we do on every paid plan, cut to the three fixes that change the trip most. Specific to your days, in about a minute, no account. It is the honest way to find out whether we are worth $350 before you spend it.
Review my itineraryThe Nov 23 flight will not happen
Kyoto to Tokyo by shinkansen is two and a half hours before the transfer to Haneda, and an 11am departure means leaving Kyoto before the first useful train gets you there with margin. Fly out of Kansai instead, or move the Tokyo leg a day earlier.
From a real teardown, September 2026. Two more fixes followed.
The field guide
And a guide that lives on your phone while you're there.
The brief plans the trip; the field guide carries it. Every vetted Tokyo pick sits pinned on a live map, and behind each pin is the why, what to order, and when to go. It joins your brief for $59, sold with a brief, not on its own.
See what's inside→
The concierge
Part of Shiori stays awake while you travel.
The Shiori concierge comes with every full brief, awake for the length of your trip. When the day shifts, ask it about the route, the reservations, the backups we vetted, etiquette, and the logistics in between. It answers from your brief and our vetted picks, not the open internet.
Shiori
Your trip · Kyoto, day 6
It's raining in Kyoto, what's plan B for this afternoon?
Your afternoon was the Philosopher's Path, which is no fun in a downpour. Swap it for the Raku Museum, fifteen minutes from your Gion base and already on your brief's backup list; it usually closes at 4:30, so check today's hours at the door. Your 7:00 dinner in Gion is indoors and stays as planned.
And if the rain stops by 5?
Then walk the Path north to Hōnen-in before dusk; the stones are at their best just after rain. Dinner stays as planned.
Included with every full brief.
And the flights
We get you there in business class, on the points you already have.
The seat to Tokyo that can top five figures in cash, reachable with the points already in your accounts. We work out which program actually gets you there and map every transfer before you move a point. The award plan comes inside your brief.