3 Weeks in Japan, need help!

Hellooo, 2 of my friends and myself around our 20s are coming to Japan from November 14th to December 5th.
We all absolutely love Japan, and are finding making a list of places to go, aswell as how to fit it into our 3 weeks, quite a challenge.

We want to fit in a bit of exploration, a bit of temples and a bit of party.

So far, our list is this.

Kansai Region:
Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Asuka
Kumano and Mount Koya.

Chubu Region:
Takayama, Shirakawa go, Yamanouchi (for the monkeys/hotsprings), Shosenkyo Gorge, Kanazawa and Eiheiji Temple.

Kanto Region: Tokyo, Kamakura, Hakone, Nikko, Minakami, Kinugawa Onsen.

And also Miyajima side-trip for a bit of a hike up the mountains and see the torii gate and all that lovely stuff :)

So yeah -_-
Big-ass list...3 weeks..

Not sure how to fit it in, nor if we should cut some out.

We were thinking of having 2 hubs, Kyoto (first week and a half) and Tokyo (last week and a half)

We plan to also only get the 14 day rail pass which will be started straight away, head to Kyoto hub at the beginning from Narita Airport.
So the last week and a half based in Tokyo will have less long distance travel, as we wont have the pass, and no need for the JR pass as much.

If anyone has any advice, from previous travels, as to whether this is far too many places, or whether there are better closer options, we would reaaaally appreciate it.

From what i can tell, most of these places you could get to one another without too much fuss, like Takayama/Shirakawago/Yamaouichi.

But yeah..having alot of trouble haha already had to cut out ALOT from the list...yet its still quite large, that and you could easily spend the whole 3 weeks just in Tokyo/Kyoto.

Hi, I think even though it is a tough task, it is doable BUT for the 14 day JR pass. In Spring 2010 we had a similar itinerary (co-inc. also 2 hubs of To & Kyo :-) ) and visited several same places, several different. So - generaly it is doable but i would pers. recommend a JR pass for the whole stay ... do not want to look like an advertisement though :-) - just a recommendation upon my personal experience. Nevertheless, enjoy your trip, plenty plenty of very nice places. regards, Jet

Wow...that is a lot of stuff...

I would suggest having two fixed hubs for only the first week and the last week. The part in Chubu is very difficult to cover having only one hub. I would also suggest that you don't set your plans in concrete. Be a bit more flexible, so that if you feel you are just tiring yourself out, you can cut some parts from your plan to ease the trip.

What I would suggest is to start in Kyoto, then make day trips to Osaka, Nara and Miyajima at the very least. You can set the other places as optional. Plan about 7 days.

One you are finished in Kansai, take a train to Fukui for Eiheiji temple. You can either stay in Fukui or take a train to Kanazawa (I would recommend the later). Stay in Kanazawa for a days or two before heading to Shirakawa-go (dunno if you plan on staying a night there) then to Takayama. Take trains/bus (I'm not familiar with this part) to the other two locations you are planning on going. This part should take you about 6 days. Alternatively you can cut out the other two locations and cut this down to 4 days, or to take an easier pace.

Finally in Kanto, make all your day trips first before finally settling down in Tokyo. I would personally suggest spending more time in Kyoto and ditching Kamakura altogether (unless you want to go for the walks).

Although it is doable, I would not recommend to visit all these places. Tokyo and Kyoto are cities that simply cannot be experienced in a day. Most other places you named can probably be seen in a day.

The best thing will be to create a hub place indeed. Go to Kyoto and stay there for a week. From here you can visit Osaka, Nara, Koyasan and Asuka. Komano will be a different story. It's location is remote and the travel will be long. To do this as a day trip from Kyoto will be tough and time wasting! After doing day trips you can enjoy Kyoto in the evening (if you have energy left).

Then you can make a hub place in Tokyo. Kamakura and Hakone can be frequented as day trips from Tokyo. My experience with Nikko and Kinugawa Onsen (practically the same place) are bad though. The train to Nikko takes approx 3 hours and there is a tricky transfer station somewhere at the end. The Tobu railway doesn't do announcements in English thus upon my first trip to Nikko I missed the transfer and ended up in Kinugawa. This ofcourse can be prevented. However. The express trains back to Tokyo from Nikko will go until about 7 in the evening. After that only a local train (which will take much longer) can take you back to Tokyo. So, in all honesty I can say that Nikko as a side trip from Tokyo is doable but hardly enjoyable.

Then for the Chubu region. I haven't done much travelling here yet (planning to do it this winter) but from what I've read this area is less easily accessible than Kansai and Kanto. Travel times will be longer, trains will go less frequent, thus you would have to make a proper plan before going.

Then finally you also want to go to Miyajima. I think from Kyoto the travel time is still about 3 hours to get there.

Conclusion: It can be done but you will be in haste every day. For me that would ruin the fun of the trip. Since you are travelling with friends there will be more hold-ups, more discussion about what to do, this will lead to more delays etc etc. If I were you I would do the following:

Week 1: Go to Tokyo. Make no concrete plans, visit Tokyo first and then see how many days you have left to do side trips.

Week 2: Travel around Chubu, slowly moving towards the Kansai region

Week 3: Kansai. Make your base in Kyoto or Osaka. Do side trips from there. Try to go Miyajima from here.

Places I would also spend a night if I were you:
- Komano
- Nikko
- Miyajima
This is because of long travel times...

Hope this could help you a little. And thank you for giving me some suggestions of where to go in the Chubu region this winter. Have you checked out Kiso Valley? I was planning to go there ;)