Questions creators ask about being hosted in Japan

No. Explera never provides flights, international or domestic, and does not provide rail passes either. You book and pay for your own travel to Japan and between cities unless that transport is part of an included activity. From Rising upwards, we provide a return airport transfer by private licensed vehicle from Haneda, Narita or Kansai, as your itinerary requires.

Hosted tiers start at 150,000 followers on your primary channel — Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or an equivalent blog audience. We look at one channel, not a total across platforms. Under 150k, we still reply and consider a single activity or tour case by case, without hotel or transfers. Above five million, we build the Japan trip with you.

Travel creators aged 18 or over with a primary channel they built themselves, their own blog or website, and a track record of travel content. We verify reach, engagement quality and audience geography, and look at niche fit and past work. Bought followers, engagement pods or undisclosed past sponsorships end the application, whatever the numbers.

Yes. Every applicant needs a blog or website of their own, including creators applying for Spotlight. A social profile or link-in-bio page does not count. We check that the site is live and yours. Your blog carries the pre-trip announcement and the post-trip article with a do-follow link, so the collaboration cannot work without it.

The hotel, return airport transfers and the activities in your agreement are complimentary, at the level your tier sets. You pay for flights, train travel outside included activities, visas, travel insurance and personal extras such as additional drinks, meals outside the plan, spa add-ons, souvenirs and upgrades we have not agreed. There are no cash fees.

From Rising upwards, yes: from one night on Rising to five nights on Authority, with breakfast, at a class that rises with the tier. In Japan the classes are described as "or equivalent", because Japanese hotels and ryokan are not graded on the same star scale as other markets. Spotlight does not include a hotel; Bespoke is built individually.

Every hosted post must be clearly disclosed under the rules of each audience you publish to. For viewers in Japan, the stealth-marketing rules in force since October 2023 mean marking the content as advertising, with 「PR」 or 「広告」 shown clearly at the start. Other audiences have their own rules. The exact wording for your trip is written into your agreement.

After approval and before your first travel day, you publish two announcements: a social post saying you are travelling to Japan with Explera, tagging @expleradmc, and a blog post on your own site linking to the agreed Explera page. You upload the URL and a screenshot of each in the portal, and we verify both before travel.

No. The collaboration is non-exclusive. You can work with other brands, hotels or tourism boards before and after your Japan trip, and you keep ownership of your content. Explera receives the usage rights set out in your agreement, typically to repost your content with credit. Just keep the disclosure for each collaboration accurate.

No. We never script or pre-approve your editorial content. We check only the points in your agreement: the @expleradmc tags, the links, and the disclosure. If you state something factually wrong — a price, an opening arrangement, a safety detail — we may ask you to correct it. Your opinion of the experience is yours to give.

At least three weeks before you want to travel, and allow at least a week between signing the agreement and your first travel day. For cherry-blossom season, Golden Week, Kyoto's autumn-leaf peak or New Year, apply well before that: hotels in Kyoto and Tokyo fill early, and flexible dates make it far easier to say yes.

One companion is usually allowed on day tours if agreed in advance and named in your itinerary. Hotel rooms are normally for two, but check room types, as some Japanese city hotel rooms are compact. Your companion pays for their own flights, insurance and extras. Some activities, such as small tea houses, have limited space.

Rarely, in the places people most want to film. Japan's national rules require registration for most drones and government permission for flights over built-up areas, at night or close to people and buildings, which covers central Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Many parks, temples and shrines ban drones outright. Rules must be checked for the specific site and date.

They differ site by site. Many temples ban photography inside halls, and some restrict tripods in gardens. At shrines, keep to the side of the main path and do not film people praying close up. In Gion, private lanes are closed to visitors, and maiko and geiko should never be followed or filmed without consent. Your guide will brief you.

Typhoons in late summer and autumn, heavy rain and rail disruption can cancel activities. We tell you as soon as we know and try to move the activity or offer an alternative from the catalogue, though we cannot guarantee one. Costs for your own flights and changes fall to you and your travel insurance, which is why insurance is mandatory.

We use your application data to assess the collaboration and, if approved, to run it. With your separate consent, it may be shared between Explera entities in Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and India. We ask for identity documents only after approval, store them privately, and delete them in line with our retention policy. Marketing emails are optional.

Yes. You can apply for Japan here and for Thailand, South Korea or Indonesia on their own sites; all applications are tracked in one creator portal. Trips that combine two or more countries are offered from Signature upwards and are applied for through the group programme site. Each destination is assessed on its own capacity and dates.

You submit the URL and screenshots for each post in the portal, and we verify them against the agreement. Once everything is verified, the collaboration is complete. Creators who deliver on time, disclose properly and produce strong work are the first we invite back, for Japan or another destination, often with a stronger offer.