Ground Handling · B2B Only
Your ground team in Japan
Transfers, bullet-train bookings, luggage forwarding, a fleet from executive MPV to 45-seat coach, and 24/7 on-tour support - the logistics layer under your itinerary, guided in English, German or Spanish and executed in Japanese.
You own the itinerary. We run it.
Ground handling is the service line for agencies and operators who have already sold the trip and do not need us to design it. You send the itinerary you have built - or the one your client has built - and we execute the Japanese half of it: vehicles, drivers, guides, rail, luggage, permits, and the phone number that gets answered at 11pm when a flight goes tech.
If you want the itinerary designed as well, that is Luxury FIT for private clients or Groups & Series for anything moving together on a coach. Corporate programmes with a budget holder sit under MICE. All four are quoted net, in 24 hours, under the same published terms.
What we can put on the road
Alphard / Vellfire
Executive MPV for VIP arrivals and small private parties - the airport transfer that sets the tone for a luxury programme. Reclining captain seats and leather interior, the vehicle Japanese corporates use for their own executives.
Hiace
The workhorse for family groups and small FIT parties. Comfortable for six to seven travellers once full-size cases are loaded.
Hiace grand cabin
Small group touring and split movements where a coach cannot reach the pickup point - Kyoto machiya, small ryokan, tight residential approaches.
Coaster
The largest vehicle that still handles narrow approaches: the Kyoto eastern hills, mountain ryokan, and Shirakawa-go in winter.
Mid-size coach
Series departures and incentive sub-groups. Fits most hotel forecourts that a full-size coach cannot enter.
Full-size coach
Full group movements, airport blocks and long intercity legs, with underfloor hold for a complete set of cases.
Seat count is not capacity. Every vehicle above is quoted against passengers and cases, because a group that fits on paper but not in the hold becomes a second-vehicle cost on the morning of departure. Send the case count with the pax count and this stops being a risk you carry.
English, German and Spanish
We guide in three European languages. English is available nationwide and at short notice. German and Spanish draw on a far smaller pool of nationally licensed guides in Japan - there are simply fewer of them, and the strong ones are committed for cherry-blossom and autumn windows long before most itineraries are confirmed.
The practical consequence for a German or Spanish operator: request the guide when you request the quote, not when the group confirms. We will tell you honestly whether the dates are holdable, and where a language guide genuinely is not available we say so rather than substituting English and letting you discover it at the airport.
Pacing, meal timing and how much commentary a group actually wants differ considerably by source market. Those expectations are set out on the market pages.
The two things that catch people out
Reserved luggage space is mandatory for large cases on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu shinkansen. Without it your client faces a fee and may be reseated away from the group. We book the space with the seat and brief the client in advance - the full briefing is here.
Ryokan nights, tatami rooms and narrow stairs do not mix with full-size cases. We forward the main luggage hotel to hotel so clients travel with an overnight bag, which also removes the case problem from the coach and the shinkansen on the same day.
Platform meets and transfer assistance at Tokyo, Shin-Osaka, Kyoto and the other major interchanges, where a group has minutes and several platform levels to cross.
Narita, Haneda, Kansai and all regional gateways, including split arrivals across terminals and staggered flights consolidated into a single hotel arrival.
What we need in the brief
A ground-handling quote turns around in 24 hours and holds for four days. To price it correctly first time rather than going back and forth, send us travel dates, passenger count, case count, the routing you have already committed to, guide language, whether the party splits at any point, and any dietary or accessibility requirements that affect vehicle or venue choice.
If your dates fall across a Japanese public holiday we flag it before you confirm. Coach and guide availability tightens sharply on those dates, and it is the most common thing missed by itineraries priced from outside Japan. Settlement terms are published in full on payment & settlement.
Ground handling: FAQs
Which transfers do you operate?
Airport transfers at Narita, Haneda, Kansai and all regional gateways; private cars, coaches, and rail-station assists - plus luggage forwarding between hotels so clients travel light on ryokan nights.
Do you book bullet-train tickets?
Yes - reserved shinkansen seats, including luggage-space reservations that are mandatory for large cases on the Tokaido line, and group rail movements with platform assistance.
What languages do your guides work in?
English, German and Spanish. English is available nationwide and at short notice. German and Spanish draw on a much smaller pool of nationally licensed guides in Japan, so those dates should be requested with the quote rather than assumed available later.
How do you decide which vehicle to quote?
On passengers plus luggage, not seat count. A 9-seat Hiace does not carry nine travellers with nine large cases, and quoting it that way is one of the most common ways an itinerary priced outside Japan fails on arrival. We confirm the case count with you at quotation stage and spec the vehicle against it.
Can a full-size coach reach every hotel and site?
No, and it is the biggest single constraint in Japanese ground logistics. Central-ward restrictions in Tokyo, the narrow eastern-hills streets in Kyoto, and many ryokan and mountain approaches will not take a 45-seat coach. Where that applies we either split to Coasters or move the drop point, and we tell you at quotation rather than on the day.
What does 24/7 on-tour support mean in practice?
A named coordinator reachable by WhatsApp throughout the itinerary, handling delays, weather rerouting, medical situations and same-day changes directly with suppliers in Japanese.