30 August – 3 September 2017

The Green & Gold Army is heading back to Japan – one of our all-time favourite destinations – to support the Socceroos in the final stage of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Here’s your invite to join the fun!

Having operated multiple tours to Tokyo for Socceroos matches, we have all the knowledge to make your trip unique and unforgettable. As always, we have designed our tour with a focus on supporting the Socceroos, with cultural experiences and nightlife intertwined.

Tokyo may be forever reaching into the future but you can still see traces of the shogun’s capital on the kabuki stage, at a sumo tournament or under the cherry blossoms. It’s a modern city built on old patterns, and in the shadows of skyscrapers you can find anachronistic wooden shanty bars and quiet alleys, raucous traditional festivals and lantern-lit yakitori (grilled chicken) stands. In older neighbourhoods you can shop for handicrafts made just as they have been for centuries, or wander down cobblestone lanes where geisha once tread.

Regular visitors to Tokyo are continuously surprised – sometimes on a daily basis – by something new. Such is the joy of living in a city that prides itself on constant renewal and reinvention; it seriously never gets old. Tokyo has everything you can ask of a city, and has it in spades: a rich, cosmopolitan dining scene, more cafes and bars than you could visit in a lifetime, fantastic public transportation and grassy parks – plus it’s clean and safe. Really, what’s not to love?

• Return economy flights from SYD, MEL or BNE (including airport/hotel transfers)

• 4 nights’ accommodation at the centrally located Shinjuku precinct in either 5* Keio Plaza Hotel or 3* Shinjuku Washington Hotel

• Daily breakfast

• Welcome Party inclusive of food & drinks/alcohol

• Japan Football Association museum tour

• Access to Socceroos training session (subject to confirmation from FFA)

• Pre-match party inclusive of food and drinks/alcohol

• Guided match day transfers by train (hotel – pregame function – stadium – hotel)

• Match ticket

• Optional cultural and sightseeing tours (Tokyo Highlights, Sumo Wrestling, Modern Tokyo, Mt Fuji)

• Services of Green & Gold Army tour hosts

• Iconic Green & Gold Army scarf

Occupancy	Price
3* Twin Share (no flights)	SOLD OUT
3* Twin Share including flights	SOLD OUT
3* Single Share (no flights)	SOLD OUT
3* Single Share including flights	SOLD OUT
5* Twin/Double Share (no flights)	SOLD OUT
5* Twin/Double Share including flights	SOLD OUT
5* Single Share (no flights)	SOLD OUT
5* Single Share including flights	SOLD OUT

Day 1: Wednesday 30th August 2017

Arrive at Narita Airport and transfer to the our 5* and 3* Hotels. Note: all packages with flights include a complimentary hotel transfer.

Evening – Our welcome party, which is inclusive of food and alcoholic beverages. This is a great opportunity to meet and get to know your fellow Socceroos supporters. As we are located in the central Shinjuku precinct nightlife is everywhere. Have fun!

Day 2: Thursday 31st August 2017

It’s match day, the best day of the tour and it is all action. You can choose to rest up with a late breakfast, visit the Imperial Palace with GGArmy Guide Kevin Pollard or a fitness work out with GGArmy Guide Matt Dundas.

08:30 OPTIONAL MORNING TOUR: Imperial Palace & Tsukiji Fish Market. Additional Fee AUD$50.00.

After breakfast (at the hotel) travel to the Imperial Palace, the official residence of the Japanese imperial family since 1868 and walk the grounds of the Imperial Palace East Garden. Reputedly, the most expensive square kilometre in the world, which during the height of Japan’s bubble in the 1980’s, was estimated to be worth slightly more than California.

We then visit the historic Asakusa area. This is one of the older and more traditional parts of Tokyo and is often called the temple district. Here you will stop by Senso-ji Temple, the city’s oldest Buddhist temple, founded 1,400 years ago. Asakusa has a small geisha district and if we are lucky enough we will spot one on the streets.

We then head for some shopping at the covered Nakamise Shopping arcade, which sells all sorts of Buddhist paraphernalia as well as assorted tourist kitsch.

We end the Tour with a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market where you will dodge fishmongers and wander the narrow aisles of spectacular creatures. This is best place to try some Sashimi. Expect to return to the hotels approximately 13:00

Please note that train ticket, entrance fees to Museum’s are included.

10:00 PACKAGE INCLUSION – OPTIONAL WORK OUT for guests staying at the Keio Plaza who wish to join our guide Matt Dundas in the Keio Plaza gym for a 60 minute cardio session. Matt is an experienced strength and conditioning coach who will get you ready for the big match!

14:30 PACKAGE INCLUSION GGARMY PRE-MATCH EVENT. Time to fuel the fire and enjoy another legendary pre-match build up. Fun, food, drinks and a detailed match preview with Broadcaster Francis Leach and special guests.

17:00 PACKAGE INCLUSION – GUIDED TRANSFER by train to Saitama Stadium

20:00 PACKAGE INCLUSION – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Qualifier
JAPAN vs AUSTRALIA Saitama Stadium, Tokyo.

23:00 PACKAGE INCLUSION – GUIDED TRANSFER return to Hotels by train

Day 3: Friday 1st September 2017

Two activities scheduled. An optional full day tour taking in all of Tokyo’s highlights with our English speaking Japanese Guide and the GGArmy’s own Tour Leader Kevin Pollard. The second activity is a package inclusion, an evening tour of Kabukicho with our own Tour Leader/s Kevin Pollard & Matt Dundas.

09:30 OPTIONAL DAY TOUR. Tokyo Highlights. Additional Fee AUD$85.00.
In each of the cities we visit, the GGArmy product team selects a premium optional day tour activity that captures the soul of the city we are visiting.

Travel to the Nishi Shinjuku business district to the observation deck at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (in effect, Tokyo’s City Hall) for a stunning view across the Tokyo skyline.

We visit Shinjuku Station, the world’s busiest railway station complex. Guinness World Records recognises Shinjuku Station as the busiest railway station in the world: More than 4 million passengers pass through each day. The station is a sight in itself, effectively forming a giant multi-level warren of department stores, restaurants, commercial buildings, railway facilities and underground shopping malls which radiate out for kilometres under the surrounding area.

Travel via, Isetan – the most popular department store in Shinjuku through Yoyogi Park and visit Meiji-Jingū Shrine: The Meiji-Jingū Shrine is Tokyo’s grandest Shintō shrine and is dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken.

Moving on, visit Harajuku to see teenagers dressed up as Gothic Lolita’s, French Maids and other extreme Japanese youth fashionista types and travel through Takeshita-dori: a bustling narrow street home to many trendy teenagers.

Walk along the broad, tree-lined avenue leading downhill from the southern end of the JR Harajuku station to Omote-sandō Street which leads to the upscale Aoyama district. The street is full of cafes, clothing stores, KiddyLand shops, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Prada buildings and the kitschy Tokyo institution, Oriental Bazaar. If you’re interested in more quirkiness, nearby Cat Street is just that – full of mish-mash boutiques and unique retail architecture.

Continue south to Shibuya: a major center for nightclubs, music, shopping and eating. This suburb is very popular with young Tokyoites and has more two-story televisions than any other area in the world! See the Hachiko Statue (Tokyo’s famous pooch), Myth of Tomorrow (a mural which depicts the atomic bomb exploding over Hiroshima), Shibuya Hikarie 34-storey tower, Shibuya Center-gai main entertainment drag, Dogenzaka, aka Love Hotel Hill – home to many love hotels and capsule and sauna hotels and Spain-zaka alley – an atmospheric, colourful, Mediterranean styled street. Most of the action in Shibuya is in the hectic blocks known as the Shibuya Crossing, which is a five-way “pedestrian scramble crossing” under various giant video screens. Also, Nonbei-yokochō, is a narrow alley packed with traditional yakitori (skewered meat) taverns as well as some modern and extremely small bars. There are also many cheerful izakaya (gastro pubs) scattered about Shibuya.

We take the metro to Tokyo Station; something of a sight in itself as it reflects the station’s original World War I-era architecture and explore the mammoth Daimaru department store. Continue down to Ginza – variously known as the fashion centre, the skyscraper district and home to yet more quirky youth pop culture. View the San-ai Building: a glass building with its huge neon sign, the original Sony Building and the prestigious Wako and Mitsukoshi department stores. Cross the famous Ginza-Yonchome Crossing with the Ricoh sign atop of one of the main buildings.

Travel to Akihabara Electric Town for cutting edge electronics. The area houses thousands of shops selling every technological gadget you can imagine, from computers to gaming consoles and vacuums to DVD’s. This area is also known as the ‘Gamer’s Mecca’ and is strongly identified with anime (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese comics) subculture, with the legions of otaku geeks filling the area. The huge towers of Sega, Taito, and others can’t be missed, but places like ‘Hey Arcade’ on Chūō-dōri have entire floors dedicated to shooting games (think Galaga) and fighting games (think Tekken) and ‘Super Potato Retro-kan’ on Soto-kanda have 80’s retro games.

Estimated return to hotels is 18:00.
Kevin Pollard and an English speaking Japanese Guide lead this tour. Please note that subway ticket and lunch are not included. Please make sure you have Japanese YEN with you to accommodate these small expenses.

21:00 PACKAGE INCLUSION – EVENING KABUKICHO TOUR.
Hit the Town with Kevin Pollard & Matt Dundas. Our English Speaking Japanese Guide will walk us through Shinjuku to Kabukicho, Tokyo’s largest night club district. We will find many clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and you will soon work out why it is called the “Sleepless Town”. Walk along the Kabukichō Ichiban-Gai Street and look out for giant robots at the wacky Robot Restaurant and the two Godzilla’s keeping guard at Shinjuku Toho Building next to Hotel Gracery. Travel via Golden Gai, famous both as an area of architectural interest and for its nightlife. It is composed of a network of six narrow alleys, connected by even narrower passageways, which are just about wide enough for a single person to pass through. Over 200 tiny shanty-style bars, clubs and eateries are squeezed into this area including Albatross G and the Australian run Araku. Visit Zoetrope, an intimate dimly lit uber-cool underground whisky bar with over 300 varieties on offer. Continue onto Shinjuku’s Omoide Yokocho Memory Lane, also known by its more colourful name of Shomben Yokochō (Piss Alley). This crowded alley of busy restaurants and bar stalls started in the 1940s and quickly gained infamy as a black-market drinking quarter. Today, it is still one of the best spots to try some of Tokyo’s famed ‘fast food’ dishes and a cold beer.

Day 4: Saturday 2nd September 2017

08:00 OPTIONAL DAY TOUR. Spectacular Mount Fuji. Additional Fee AUD$195.00.
Discover the World Heritage listed Mt Fuji, Japan’s highest and majestic mountain with Francis Leach. You will visit Kawaguchi-ko Lake and Oshino Hakkai. You will also meet Ninja at Oshino Ninja Village. The trip up to Mt Fuji’s 5th station is at an elevation of 2,300 meters and an attraction not to be missed. A Japanese style lunch in included. Estimated return to Hotel/s is 18:00. Evening at leisure

Day 5: Sunday 3rd September 2017

09:00 PACKAGE INCLUSION – JAPANESE FOOTBALL MUSEUM TOUR.
Japan has a proud and rich football history, and a vision for success. This morning we visit the Japanese Football Association’s museum to walk through the history of Japanese football, and to see where the Japanese hope to take it in the land of the rising sun. For football aficionados, you are sure to be impressed! Estimated return to the hotels is 14:00
Francis Leach, Matt Dundas and an English speaking Japanese Guide lead this tour. Please note that subway ticket is not included. Please make sure you have Japanese YEN with you to accommodate these small expenses.