An unforgettable weekend adventure filled with unique culture and food! - My partner and I joined the Shimotsuki Festival tour in mid-December 2025, and had a great time. Originally we were inspired to attend the festival after doing some research online which suggested it partly inspired Spirited Away. It really is in a very remote spot of Japan, so difficult to arrange a visit even if renting a car and coming independently. Plus, the tour gives you a bit of 'insider' access to the village, where you can learn about history, nature and some context to the local beliefs and traditions. You then get thrown into the main festival in the evening. A highlight of our trip was definitely joining the locals in celebrating, as it’s a lively and exciting night of entertaining rituals. There is a lot of loud dancing, jumping and almost theatre-like performances involved - can definitely see the connection to some Ghibli movie scenes! Male guests are also invited to put on masks and get involved in dancing around the shrine, which was really exciting, and given the entire ceremony takes place in a fairly intimate, small local shrine, you’re free to get stuck in as much (or as little) as you’d like. The tour will also take you to some great scenic nature spots high in the mountains, with mountain vistas, shrines, rivers and forests all featuring on both days. We were quite lucky to have very good weather when we joined the tour (though appreciate that might not be the case for everyone). The food was also excellent and some of the very best we had on our entire vacation in Japan. Lunch isn’t provided on the first day but that’s probably for the best as you get treated to an absolute feast at the inn you stay at for the evening. The meals do involve a lot of traditional dishes made with locally hunted game and fish, though might be something bear in mind for any vegan / vegetarian travellers. All completely delicious though, with us struggling to finish both dinner and breakfast at the inn (though we very much wanted to). Eating wild boar from a cauldron and grilled fish on a stick was particularly delicious, as we’d tried (and failed) to have this kind of traditional meal earlier on in our trip when visiting Shirakawa-go village. We’re also massive fans of visiting wineries, vineyards and whiskey distilleries etc so the sake brewery was a super interesting twist on that type of experience. Great fun to tour the entire site dressed up in lab coats and hair nets! We did end up buying some bottles that we especially enjoyed which was a nice way to end the trip. Overall, the tour is a great balance between a cultural sightseeing experience and foodie trip. Definitely recommend to anyone looking to do something a bit different from the standard Japan holiday itinerary! Also a shout-out to our superb guide Mr Ohshima who was fantastic throughout. He was constantly ensuring we had a smooth and fun trip, and was always more than willing to customise the tour to our needs and interests - we could not have asked for a better guide, and would highly recommend anyone to join a Snow Monkey Resorts tour led by him! Our driver Mr Iwasaki was also great, and made the long winding roads up into the mountains a breeze. Also especially grateful to the locals of the village in Tohyamago were also extremely friendly, welcoming and delighted to share their local traditions with us. It was lovely to meet Mr Shimabata in particular, who owns the local inn - he was extremely friendly and showered us with hospitality and gifts!