2 week visit to Japan (first time)

Hi all,

We have planned to travel to Japan for 2 weeks. Our flight will depart from London with
BA on Saturday, 24.9 and arrive in Tokyo on Sunday, 25.9 at 06.00 am. We
have then planned to stay in Tokyo for the next couple for days before we make
our way to Nara to attend a conference. Our return flight will be on Sunday,
9.10 at midnight. So the plan looks roughly as follows:

25.9 - Tokyo
26.9 - Tokyo
27.9 - Train from Tokyo to Nara
28.9 - Daytrip to Osaka
29.9 - Conference & sightseeing in Nara
30.9 - Conference & sightseeing in Nara
1.10 - Conference & sightseeing in Nara
2.10 - Kyoto
3.10 - Kyoto
4.10 - Hiroshima
5.10 - Itsukushima Shrine
6.10 - ?
7.10 - ?
8.10 - Travel back to Tokyo
9.10 - Tokyo and return flight at midnight

Apparantely, Kyoto should be the nicest place in Japan, are two days enough to spend
there. How about Hiroshima, can all sightseeing stuff be done in one day?

Would be thankful if someone could come up with good ideas to fill the question
marks. We will have a two weeks rail pass, apparently that should be the
easiest way around.

Thanks for your help!!
Bateman!

[1]
Tokyo - Hiroshima - osaka - Kyoto - Nara - (Nagoya) - Takayama - Matsumoto - Tokyo

[2]
Tokyo - Izumo - Hiroshima - osaka - Kyoto - Nara - (Nagoya) - Tokyo

[3]
Tokyo - Hiroshima - osaka - Nara - Kyoto -Kanazawa - Tokyo

[4]
Tokyo - Hiroshima - (Shimanami kaido) - Matuyama - osaka - Nara - Kyoto -Kanazawa - Tokyo
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3478.html

Kyoto has tons of sites to see as does Nara. If you do a lot of temple and shrine sightseeing in Nara first, you can spend less time in Kyoto by only going to Kyoto's more unique sights like Kinkakuji, Kyomizudera and Fushimi-inari. Both Kyoto and Nara don't have an extensive rail system like Tokyo has so taking buses around Kyoto is more convenient. An all day bus pass in Kyoto costs 500 yen.

What are you planing to see in Hiroshima? it IS possible to see the a-bomb dome, peace park and Itsukushima Shrine in one day via Hiroshima's street car system, but Miyajima has other sites than Itsukushima Shrine on the island and you may want more time to see it's other sites.

As for your 2 "?" days it really depends on what you want to do. do you want to see any castles? do you want to go back to a major city for shopping? If you like hot springs I recommend visiting Hakone. I went to the Yunessun hot spring and it was wonderful. They have both a traditional bath house side, and a modern bath/water park side. one bath has sake in it, another has red wine, one has coffee, and another has green tea in it.

I recommend Nikko, Matsumoto or Mt Koya.

Nikko
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html

Matsumoto
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6050.html

Mt Koya
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4900.html

other sites
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html

Looking at your list there, I would say you should travel from Nara direct to Hiroshima/MIyajima. You should stay on Miyajima for the 2 nights if possible and visit Hiroshima as a day trip from the island - About 30 mins or so.
You should travel back via Kyoto and stop there to cut up the journey. Then you could visit Hakone for a couple of nights before Tokyo.
Alternatively, there is Kurashiki as a nice little stop from Hiroshima.
Have a good time

Thanks guys for all your input, that was really helpful. I have now made some additions to our travel arrangements, would be great if you let us know if this is doable or too stressful or if I even might have forgotten something important!

25.9 - Tokyo
26.9 - Tokyo - Daytrip Kamakura
27.9 - Tokyo - Evening Train from Tokyo to Nara
28.9 - Daytrip to Osaka
29.9 - Conference & sightseeing in Nara
30.9 - Conference & sightseeing in Nara
1.10 - Conference & sightseeing in Nara
2.10 - Kyoto
3.10 - Kyoto
4.10 - Hiroshima
5.10 - Miyajima (Itsukushima Shrine) Evening train to Takayama
6.10 - Takayama
7.10 - Hakone (Hotsprings) - Evening Train to Tokyo
8.10 - Tokyo - Daytrip Nikko
9.10 - Tokyo and return flight at midnight

I think that includes most of important things to get a first impression and overview of Japan. Any suggestions are welcomed! Thanks