Graduation trip. 18-year daughter wants to travel to Japan alone for 3 to 4 weeks this summer. Anxious mom trying to find a way to plan part of the trip. I am looking for a tour or an excursion/class she can do for a week or two until she gets settled. Any suggestions? Also, any suggestions on good, safe, clean, cheap accommodations?

Checkout GAdventures. They have small group tours for the younger age groups.

Charline I strongly second this! I have done several G trips as a solo female traveller and they’ve been amazing

I did a G Adventures trip with my brother when we were both in our 20s. Great way to explore the culture and get acclimatized. Japan is safe but also not the easiest place to get around solo if you haven’t travelled.

Anna we have had great experience with G Adventures as a family, but have had single female travellers paired with us along the way. Many of them have done 5, 6, 7 tours with G!

Japan is probably the one Asian country you should angst the least about! Nothing says 'safety' like being in a crowded train in peak hour surrounded by people who have fallen asleep with the contents of their bags open to the world, but it's rare anyone would steal anything... It is truly one of the safer countries to travel in and better than many European countries. It is also the only Asian country where I didn't always feel like there is one price for locals and another for Asian tourists and another for everyone else. Not cheap for sure... But at least you don't feel like you are being gauged all the time just because you aren't a local.
Ive done a couple of 'Walk Japan' tours - the Nakasendo Way is their most popular tour. A good introduction to Japan and its history in the most stunning scenery (and have the excuse of catching a Shinkansen to get to Kyoto to start the tour...in my next life, I want to come back a Shinkansen driver!)

Get her to join the group “girls love travel”! Might be able to find someone the same age who’s also going to Japan at the same time. If not, lots of great tips there for younger girls travelling alone

Set up a supplementary card holder tied to your own credit card. She can have it for emergency or utilize the card (You are responsible for it in the end. Discuss a budget. Set an amount she is required to pay you back for).
Japan is very easy to navigate. There is English all over the train stations and clearly marked. Look up wifi options for her for the trip so she can always have internet access.
Personally, I always set a curfew for myself when I travel. It's typically 9pm and I'm back at the hotel.

I did a solo trip to Japan in my twenties and honestly, it feels safer than a lot of North American cities. When travelling solo, I usually prefer hostels BUT the three hostels I stayed in were all very quiet and weren’t great places to meet fellow travellers. I’ve heard other travellers say the same thing about hostels in Japan. If she wants to stay in hostels to make friends, this might not be her best route. For reference, I stayed at Friends Kyo in Kyoto and Wise Owl Shibuya. Both were clean and the Kyoto hostel in particular was a great location.
I highly recommend she rents a pocket wifi at the airport for the trip - it makes navigation so much easier.

Kelsey excellent idea

Safest country I have ever been to. As mentioned in other posts Japan is easy to navigate especially Tokyo where all signs are in English. Tokyo is a good place to start and then she can decide where she wants to go. If she is comfortable with capsule hotels I like the 9 hours brand. Men and women accomodations are on different floors. Otherwise Super Hotels and APA Hotels are nice budget hotels all around Tokyo as well

Alexande great video. thank you for the information

Alexande I second APA hotels. Their owner is a nut job, but when I head to tokyo (I live up north) I tend to use them. For a hotel room they're pretty cheap. Even popular downtown areas of tokyo can be 60 for a night in a private room.
I also like first cabin for capsule hotels. Sadly a bunch shuttered from corona, and they're a bit more expensive than regular capsule hotels, but you get a full proper room from floor to ceiling rather than bunking, and they have private showers but also a large regular bath. Lots more locked luggage storage as well and bigger beds.

just came back from Japan last month, and as a retired police officer I can honestly say it was the safest country I’ve ever been to.

Anna This is really accurate and hopefully makes you less anxious about your daughter's trip. In Japan kids are much more independent because of this model. https://www.tiktok.com/@parkie_bkb/video/7215728499515018539
TIKTOK.COM
Parkie_BB on TikTok

Too bad she didnt want to do sweden norway and denmark my daughter doing that alone.

Sherry She has a love for Japanese art. Starting Uni in the fall (Emily Carr) and wanting to experience the art/culture for herself

Anna nice but scary for us parents

Lots of art in praque and all other countries

this canadian company is really great: https://www.gadventures.com/destinations/asia/japan/
GADVENTURES.COM
Japan Tours & Travel - G Adventures

She'll be fine. It is so safe Japan is so easy for young people to navigate on google phones. Pocket wifi is the way to go.

Jason millward

I did a 3 mo largely solo trip to Europe at 21. Loved it and learned a lot about myself and other people generally. Went to Japan in 2018 and it's extremely safe. Agree with the above commenter than hostels were a lot more reserved/quieter than hostels I've been to elsewhere so may not be as easy to meet friends at hostels. Please wish her well!

So safe mom!

She made a great choice. Japan is amazing. She is going to love it.

Check out Gap Adventures out of the UK

We just returned from a trip to Japan. And as a testament to the honesty and kindness of the people of Japan, we lost a wallet while in Kyoto with $500 cash, and cards in it and it was returned to us a couple of days later.

Sakura Hotel Jimbocho is a great little hostel in a quiet, but easy-to-get-to-anywhere location. Clean, safe, lots of good food around, and great prices.

K’s house in Kyoto and Hiroshima are both good, also

G-Adventure tours.

Sakura Hostel is Asakusa is in a great location. My family lives in Tokyo and I’ve got 17-yr old. Feel free to pm me

Japan is awesome. We went there on our honeymoon. It was really safe and people were super friendly. We stayed at Anson Ryokan and Kimi Ryokan. They were both really nice.
https://www.andon.co.jp/
https://www.kimi-ryokan.jp/en
ANDON.CO.JP
行燈旅館｜東京・台東区三ノ輪にあるバックパッカーにも人気のゲストハウス・アンティーク旅館

G Adventures ?

Japan is amazing and safe country. People are polite and will go out of their way to help foreigners. Lots of great travel sites and blogs to follow. Spend some time researching key necessities like how to withdraw cash, how to get around on trains, etc… SIM cards and pocket Wi-Fi’s are cheap. You can also register her with the Canadian Embassy so they know she is there in case of any emergencies.

Shane excellent idea-canadian embassy

The safest place I've been, people are so honest too, if you lost something, you will still see it

Very hot in summer.

Kate I was going to say this. Get ready for the heat and humidity!

You could check out the homestay network. Families host guests from around the world for affordable prices.

Japan is a wonderful country and very safe. I lived and worked there in my early 20s and did tonnes of independent travel. She might consider checking out WWOOFing in Japan - it's a homestay program where you get room and board on organic farms in exchange for doing some farm work each day. I had incredible experiences doing this and really got to know the locals and learn about Japanese culture.

I lived there for ten years as a young woman. She will be fine. It’s really safe and people are incredibly kind and helpful. DM me if you want some phone numbers of my friends in Japan she can call if she needs help.

Honestly if she can figure out tokyo trains she will have zero issues with anything else across the whole country. It's pretty damn safe to be here as a woma, though I am a male.
That being said there are a few regular scams here, though most target men. The basics of dont go anywhere with someone you dont know, especially a tout at night, should be pretty well worn in to your daughter.
I think budget and type of girl your daughter is will dictate what she will like to do, but crepes and shopping in Harajuku is pretty sweet if you're younger, team lab shouldn't be skipped.
Outside of tokyo theres literally anything. Does she like roller coasters? FujiQ has some of the most insane rollercoaster on the planet. Into history? Kyoto is amazing, but so are places like Ise, himeji, and Bitchu are pretty cool, among others. Then theres hot spring towns that can be modern or classic. Kinosaki and kusatsu are pretty old town hot springs while places like noboribetsu in hokkaido, or gero in gifu are more.... "modern" I guess. Outdoor activities? As someone mentioned nakasendo, but theres also a hiking path through wakayama over Mt Koya, which has a huge graveyard on top and a large temple complex. Oda nobunaga is buried there. For hiking fuji is classic, but I really enjoyed hakkoda. Lastly for cycling the shimanami kaido is insanely beautiful.
She could always just stick to the classics too as most of japan has at least one really cool thing to do.
She could get to most of these things very easily with a JR Pass. The JR pass is set to rise in price pretty soon so if you get one sooner is better than later. After the price rise it wont be worth it nearly as much. There are also regional passes if shed rather spend time in each area before moving on.
As for things I'd bring - itll be melt the terminator hot, so cool clothes that will breathe in humidity, and good solid walking shoes. I have a car and commute by car but still typically wall around 3 or 4km on a regular day excluding dog walks.
I'm a long shot from your daughters age, but if you have any questions do me. I do live here albeit pretty far north.

We went to Japan with a 5 and 9 year old a couple of years ago. It’s is genuinely one of the safest places you could ever visit- WAY safer than downtown Vancouver. We did air bnbs (all super reasonable) and every one of them was absolutely spotless, and usually had a gift basket waiting for us. Our first host even came out in the middle of the night and found and escorted us to the place when we were having a hard time finding it after a long flight. And a sweet old lady gave my kids bags of snacks from her grocery bag while we wandering lost that night. Seriously if she stands around looking confused someone will help her within minutes. Another gentleman escorted us to our bus in Hiroshima when I couldn’t figure out which one as down there they don’t have English on the bus displays. We did Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto and Hiroshima. If she’s into art I HIGHLY recommend the Hakone Open Air Art Museum- plus it’s just a breathtaking area. Myiajima Island off Hiroshima has some insane temples and shrines she will love (take the gondola and do the hike at the top to the everlasting flame shrine!!) Kyoto has some fantastic museums too. I also highly recommend ordering the Japan rail pass- order it a few months ahead as it’s more expensive when you’re there, the bullet trains are amazing and get you anywhere in a flash. Oh and if she’s into Anime at all the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo is an especially magical experience.

Any of the Sakura Hotels/hostels we always stay at the one in Ikebukuro. They're starting to recover from Covid so are starting to have events like they used to so, you could meet other guests while learning something. They're all located in convenient locations, clean and inexpensive.