STEM Trip to Japan – Technology in Tokyo

Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport and remain with your group throughout your STEM tour in Tokyo. For the next eight nights, you’ll enjoy the convenience of your centrally located Tokyo hotel, where breakfast will be included.

Just over 400 years ago, when the Shogun Tokugawa Leyasu decided to move the government here, what is now Tokyo began developing into Japan's largest city and, in the 18th century, the largest city in the world. Its name was changed from Edo to Tokyo, which means Eastern Capital. Now home to nearly 16 million people, this huge, wealthy, and fascinating metropolis offers high-tech visions of the future side-by-side with glimpses of old Japan.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

"We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience." - John Dewey On every evening of the program, we’ll set time aside to update your Reflection Journal and share thoughts and impressions that have come up during the day.

Your group will have an orientation meeting to receive relevant information about and useful tools for your host country and the program ahead.

Learn about Tokyo's history and culture at the Edo Tokyo Museum, which serves as a project of the city for living in the future. The whole construction area covers about 30,000 square meters—2.4 times bigger than the field area inside the Tokyo Dome Stadium.

Asakusa is the center of Tokyo's shitamachi (literally "low city"), or districts, where an atmosphere of previous decades survives. The main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple. Built in the 7th century, the temple is approached via the Nakamise, a shopping street that has been providing temple visitors with a variety of traditional, local snacks and souvenirs for centuries.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

traditional tea ceremony performed in the floating teahouse.

Akihabara is a buzzing electronics hub where lovers of video games, anime, manga, and collector’s items go for the latest and most unique goods.  

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Tokyo is known for being a leader in technological development, including robotics. After dinner, attend a local robot show, where developers can showcase their latest creations.  

Experience the advanced technology of the future at the TEPIA Gallery. You’ll explore how artificial intelligence(AI) and the internet of things will affect various societal issues, from the aging population to increases in inequality. There are also areas featuring robot exhibitions, hands-on computer programming experiences, and virtual reality.    

View the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji was the first emperor of modern Japan, born in 1852 and ascending to the throne in 1868, at the peak of the Meiji Restoration when power was switched from the feudal Tokugawa government to the emperor.

Enjoy a walking tour from Shibuya to Harajuku, starting at the famous crossing known as the Shibuya Scramble—rumored to be the busiest intersection in the world. Before crossing the road, you’ll say hello to Hachiko, the dog statue, and learn about his story.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Continue on your journey from Tokyo to Kamakura, a charming, small city about an hour south of Tokyo. In medieval times, it was the center city of Japan but is popular with tourists now due to its many historic temples. Kamakura also features a sandy beach and is known for its surfing.

Visit the "Great Buddha," a monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amida Buddha, which is one of Japan’s most famous icons. It’s the country’s second-tallest bronze Buddha statue, measuring over 37 feet high.

Hasedera is a temple of the Jodo sect, famous for its eleven-headed statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. The 30-foot-tall gilded wooden statue is one of the largest wooden sculptures in Japan and can be viewed in the temple's main building, the Kannon-do Hall.

Stop to appreciate Kamakura's most important shrine, the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. The shrine is dedicated to Hachiman, the patron god of the Minamoto family and the samurai in general.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Explore the futuristic and surreal Odaiba District, with space-age buildings, electric cars, and fantasy shopping malls. Built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, a monorail links Odaiba to the mainland.    

Visit the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, known as Maraikan. Miraikan captures science and technology from the broad perspectives of human beings, space, innovation, and information society.        

Visit teamLab Borderless, a group of artworks that form one borderless world. Pieces move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with no boundaries. It’s a completely fascinating cross between emerging technology and art!  

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

The tour will take you to the "KIBO" Flight Control Room and the Astronaut Training Facility. Your group can see real-time operations of "KIBO," the Japanese Experiment Module on the International Space Station, and learn about astronauts' selection, training, and healthcare.        

Pop by the AIST Science Square, a showroom of industrial technology. Topics you’ll learn about include green technology, life technology, and manufacturing technology.        

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

This shrine is one of Japan's oldest, situated in a park-like setting with carp ponds and elegant wooden structures. Many of the structures date from the early 18th century and are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

Take a walking tour through the Yanaka area of Tokyo. Yanaka, along with nearby Nezu and Sendagi neighborhoods in the Bunkyō ward, is one of the few neighborhoods in which the old Shitamachi atmosphere can still be felt.

Here, you’ll find museums, a zoo, and plenty of food stalls and shops.

Haggle at the open-air market of Ameyoko. The shopping district has black-market origins from after World War II when American goods and candies were sold there. The name "Ameyoko" plays on the words "America, candy, and alley."

This evening, you’ll enjoy a special group dinner at a local restaurant.

This evening, you’ll make the final entries in your Reflection Journal and share some of the most significant observations and perspectives that have taken shape in the course of your STEM trip in Japan. We’ll also discuss how these experiences may be most relevant for us all as we return home.

Your rewarding and enjoyable Technology in Tokyo comes to an end as your Tour Director accompanies your group to the airport on your final day.