Travel Japan with Jared Diamond – Japan Through the Ages: Exploring Nature, History, Culture & Society

Through the Japan Society of Boston's partnership with Thalassa Journeys, the JSB community has a unique opportunity to join an incredible journey to discover northern Hokkaido, western Japan and the southern Nansei Islands in September 2026.

Throughout the voyage, you will be accompanied by special guest lecturer Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of some of the most influential books of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In a series of lectures and discussions, Professor Diamond will bring his experience and expertise to bear, providing insight into the significance of the history and culture you encounter.

This voyage highlights a range of distinctive sites across Japan. In Hokkaido—Massachusetts’ sister state—explore landscapes and cultural institutions that illuminate the region’s unique history, including the Historic Village of Hokkaido and the Hakodate Museum of Northern Peoples. Further south, the itinerary includes historic and cultural landmarks such as Kumamoto Castle, the elegant grounds of Suizenji Jojuen Garden, and the continued artistry of Oshima Tsumugi silk production. The program also features modern landmarks, from Moerenuma Park to the Tanegashima Space Center.

As a nation of sprawling islands, Japan is best explored by sea. Aboard the Mitsui Ocean Fuji, guests enjoy an immersive cruise experience rooted in Japanese heritage and traditions, including omotenashi, the art of heartfelt and meticulous hospitality. During the voyage, guests may participate in authentic Japanese cultural activities from tea ceremonies and calligraphy workshops to performances by Japanese artists, enriching the overall travel experience. With a long company history of sailing Japanese waters, Mitsui has unparalleled expertise in navigating Japanese routes, and its dedicated English-speaking Japanese officers and international hotel crew possess deep knowledge of Japan’s known and hidden treasures. Mitsui’s staff are known for their warm hospitality, ensuring a comfortable and memorable experience throughout the voyage.

Rates start at $12,890/person and include cruise, hotel stays, meals, domestic flights, activities and excursions, and more.

A portion of the proceeds from each booking will benefit the Japan Society of Boston.

Please see the PDF below for complete tour details.

For reservations and more information, please contact Thalassa Journeys.

Phone: 866-633-3611

Email: reservations@thalassajourneys.com

Jared Diamond is a Pulitzer-prize winning author of six best-selling books, translated into 38 languages, about human societies and human evolution: Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; Why is Sex Fun?; The Third Chimpanzee; The World Until Yesterday, and Upheaval. As a professor of geography at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), he is known for his breadth of interests, which involves conducting research and teaching in three other fields: the biology of New Guinea birds, digestive physiology, and conservation biology. His prizes and honors include the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Science, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is a director of World Wildlife Fund/U.S. and of Conservation International. As a biological explorer, his most widely publicized finding was his rediscovery, at the top of New Guinea's remote Foja Mountains, of the long-lost Golden-fronted Bowerbird, previously known only from four specimens in a Paris feather shop in 1895.

About Thalassa Journeys

Thalassa Journeys is a tour company founded by the men and women who, working as Travel Dynamics International, pioneered educational and cultural travel in the 1970s in partnership with the leading educational, research, cultural and performing arts institutions in the United States. For more than 45 years our mission was to provide robust, intellectually stimulating experiences to lifelong learners who see travel as an opportunity to expand their understanding of the world and their place in it. This same mission guides us today. We believe that the most rewarding travel experiences happen when small groups of like-minded individuals share an enthusiasm for engaging with the richly varied environments of the world, and with the history, culture, ideas and ideals of the people who inhabit them.