The tour leader’s job begins before the first temple visit, before the first Shinkansen, before the first ryokan check-in. For many Japan tour groups, it begins in the arrivals hall of Narita or Kansai International, where twenty-something travelers fresh off a long-haul flight are trying to get their phones online while the tour leader simultaneously
Something has shifted quietly but decisively in the Japan tour operations world over the past few years. The pocket WiFi device — once the standard connectivity solution for group Japan tours, handed out at airport counters and collected on the last day with varying degrees of success — is being replaced. Not dramatically, not with