The Ultimate Gift Guide

25 spectacular and exclusive objects, trips and experiences for this holiday season and beyond.

- Abigail Montanez, Justin Fenner, Mark Ellwood, Michael Verdon, Naomi Rougeau, Nick Scott and Viju Mathew

1 A Japanese Ski and City Getaway

Think of this seven-night experience in Japan as the ultimate luxury tasting of a destination that has seen a surge of interest among international visitors over the past 5 years, especially in its extraordinary winter sports. You won't be idling with the crowds, though, but rather experiencing the country through a rarefied insider's lens courtesy of specialist agency, Black Tomato.

Nagano prefecture, on Honshu's northwestern coast, is one of the prime ski locations and a former Olympics host. You'll start there, near the rural town of Togari. After-hours, when the pistes are cleared and the chairlifts halted, you'll have the mountain all to yourself, accessing it via a private snowcat. You'll be joined by a ski instructor for a torchlit ski procession before snow biking to a secluded location for a campfire barbecue.

After supper, an astronomer will be on hand with a professional-grade telescope for stargazing in the clear night skies.

Your home for three nights will be a traditional minka, a centuries-old farmhouse that has been painstakingly and luxuriously renovated. During your stay there, you can immerse yourself in the local culture, whether meeting a Yamabushi monk in his mountain shrine or sampling traditional sake made with ice-cold alpine waters. Don't miss spending time with the 150 or so Japanese macaques, or snow monkeys, that frolic in a park there.

Next, you'll head to Tokyo in a firstclass railway car. Your accommodation in the capital will be a suite at Aman Tokyo, one of the city's best hotels, and your four days there will be packed with activities: ninja instruction from a clan whose roots date to the 1580s, plus a master class in sushi-making. There will be a private kaiseki dinner cruise down the Sumida River through the heart of Tokyo on a traditional flatbottomed yakatabune boat as well as an hour-long scenic tour of Mount Fuji by helicopter.