2 weeks solo in Kyoto

I'm a 25y/o male looking to travel alone to Kyoto for two weeks.

Coming from NY, USA

This trip is centered around internal relaxation and discovery. I'm looking to do both traditional and modern activities during my stay.

I have not ever travelled to Kyoto, or Japan, before in my life.

I'm looking for a little information/opinion in the following areas.
1) Long-term Capsule stay?
2) Near by "tourist-y" and "non tourist-y" destinations
3)Self-transportation.
4)Cell phone usage (galaxy note 4 Verizon in the states)
5)Any stories one would like to share about their experiences!

Kyoto for two weeks

Whilst it's certainly possible to spend years in Kyōto and not see/experience everything the city has to offer, two weeks might be a little too much for the basics. If it's your first time in Japan, you might want to consider a broader regional journey that takes in more of the Kansai region, or even a cross-country trip as far north as Tōkyō (hitting various places in between).

You can explore suggested itineraries and budgets here (choose your point of entry and length of stay):

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400.html

Having said that, here's a good starting point for figuring out what to see/do in Kyōto and the surrounding area:

http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1105.html

Self-transportation

The individual city/landmark entries here on Japan-Guide are equipped with sections laying out transportation options in great detail. For example, here's the one covering Kyōto:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2363.html

Any stories one would like to share about their experiences!

Some of my best memories of Kyōto date from my first couple of visits there - which unfortunately took place before I started travel blogging. Since then I've spent most of my trips in other parts of Japan, and you can read about those here (but you'll also find a couple of posts describing visits to the Kyōto area):

https://withinstrikingdistance.wordpress.com/category/travel/japan/

Cheers.

Thank you so much for your information, Diego de Manila.

I'm currently looking through the information you've kindly provided.

In addition, as a quick question while I'm crunching numbers myself. I'm hoping to keep the trip overall under $4,500 USD. Is that feasible with a travel-intensive itinerary?

Thanks again.

I'm hoping to keep the trip overall under $4,500 USD

Seems possible to me, although a lot depends on your preferences as to accommodation, transportation, etc. - and of course your airfare. Seasonality will also play a role, in that it will be harder to find reasonably priced accommodation in key places during peak periods (like the current cherry blossom season, or the autumn leaf season in mid/late November).

On that note, when are you planning to travel?

To get a rough idea, scroll to the lower part of this sample two-week itinerary...

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400_osaka_12.html

...and you'll see sample budgets (excluding airfare) for different travel profiles. Even the highest end of the medium budget for a solo traveller (248,500 yen) works out to under 2,100 USD at current rates, so if you can get a round-trip flight for less than 2,400 USD (and I imagine they go for far less than that) then you're on target.

Bear in mind that those sample budgets are for general guidance only. I usually make my own budgets on a spreadsheet (keying in actual hotel prices, exchange rates, etc.) and those will often be closer to the mark, as well as being tailor-made to suit my own circumstances. But the samples aren't a bad place to start planning your own.

Cheers.

Diego you've been a huge help, I cannot overstate that.

My plan was for a two week trip starting on May 10-12th

The more I look, the more I see the answers are directly in front of me.

Thanks once again for all the information you've given me. I will be building a budget immediately.