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August sees Mac, Founder and Lead Guide of Maction Planet, galavanting around Spain and the UK! Featured image: A visit to the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on 21 August yielded an unexpected find in the gift shop: a postcard by Ezen Designs featuring a remix of Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa, […]

Twenty years ago today, I stepped off a plane at Narita Airport and began a chapter of my life that I assumed would last two or three years. I was wrong, in the most amazing way possible. The humidity hit me the moment we landed. I travelled into central Tokyo, collected my keys from the […]

July was all about my time interning at the Rishiri Distillery. One of the most incredible months of my life. ‘Nuff said. Featured image: When my month was over, as if by destiny, the island saw me off with this absolutely spectacular view from the plane. After a few days of milling, it was time […]

June opened with me guiding at Tokyo DisneySea and closed with me making whisky on Rishiri Island, with plenty packed in between: Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Izu, and a steady run of guiding days for returning and first-time guests alike. Highlights included the Nintendo Museum and Katsuo-ji’s daruma in Kansai, a deer reunion in Nara, the […]

May 2026 was a month of serendipity and the accumulation of moments that remind you why Japan never gets old. Guests old and new, returning families and first-timers, day tours and multi-week adventures: the full spectrum of what Maction Planet does, compressed into a single month. On the Kanpai Planet side, the biggest Ben Nevis […]

April 2026 was a month that barely stopped for breath. Guiding took me across Tokyo and Kyoto with some truly brilliant guests, while the city’s cultural calendar kept pace: the 91st Hachiko Memorial Ceremony, the 36th Narita Taiko Festival, and the Bunkyo Azalea Festival in full riot at Nezu Shrine. Sumo stables old and new […]

March 2026 was relentless in the best possible way. It began in Tokyo, crossed to Singapore and Sydney, then returned to the build-up to the cherry blossoms. Whisky festivals, art fairs, mascot encounters, and a rain-soaked NPB opener at Meiji Jingu. In between: architectural revelations in Karuizawa, food time travel with an izakaya historian, Rome […]

February 2026 was the kind of month that reminds you why you do this. It began before dawn at the Toyosu tuna auction and barely slowed down from there — eight days guiding Effie and Joseph across Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto; a VIP Disney experience; the Chichibu Whisky Matsuri; a gala dinner at the Mori […]

Maction Planet, the top-rated boutique tour operator specialising in bespoke travel in Japan, is proud to celebrate the ninth anniversary of its website, www.mactionplanet.com. To mark this special occasion, here’s a message from Mac, Founder and Lead Guide of Maction Planet. Today, we celebrate nine years since the launch of mactionplanet.com! Looking back, I am […]