Turn of the century Japan, 2 weeks with a well-traveled friend who planned a fabulous trip to vistas, onsens and shrines by train, buses and on foot all across Japan. It was meant to coincide with the changing colors of the foliage.  The five of us immersed our selves in beautifully prepared meals, luxurious healing baths, fed deer and saw only beautiful and breath-taking vistas, despite our misaligned timing in the otherwise lush greens of the exquisite countryside. We were rewarded at the end of our trip, with one cluster of trees that signaled the beginning of the seasonal change we were about to leave behind. What better reason to return to this paradise on the planet