I never cared much for the Araya line when I was there. Some of their component choices seemed to me that they were trying to make something that looked like a style of bike, rather than speccing to be actually good at that thing (i.e. looking like a classic touring bike but not actually being well suited for touring). They also seemed over priced for what you got, with the less expensive models (around $1000) with hi-ten frames if I recall correctly. That was a couple years ago though, and they look a bit better now. The 2016 Touriste seems like it's not a terrible deal considering Japanese bike prices. The brakes are an issue for me though. I wouldn't buy a touring bike without disc brakes in Japan. Lots of mountains, lots of rain...