1st time to Japan - how does this sound?

Hello. New to this forum. Have planned a pretty epic trip to Japan with my friend to Japan in the second week of May 2012. (Avoiding Golden week altogether) Would like to ask the experienced country travellers how our schedule sounds :) And any additional must see/do things in the below areas would be appreciated!

And before anyone comments on how expensive this potentially looks; I am a working professional as is she, so this is affordable!

Day 1 - Fly to Narita
Day 2 - Play in Tokyo
Day 3 - Play in Tokyo
Day 4 - Activate JR pass (21 day), train 9 hours to Sapporo
Day 5 - Play in Sapporo
Day 6 - Train 2 hours to Hakodate, play in Hakodate
Day 7 - Play in Hakodate
Day 8 - Train 9 hours to Kyoto, evening in Kyoto
Day 9 - Play in Kyoto
Day 10 - Day trip Nara from Kyoto, evening in Kyoto
Day 11 - Train 5 hours to Nagasaki, play in Nagasaki
Day 12 - Huis Ten Bosch
Day 13 - Train 3-4 hours to Kagoshima
Day 14 - Play in Kagoshima + Sakurajima
Day 15 - Play in Kagoshima
Day 16 - Train 4 hours to Okayama, play in Okayama
Day 17 - Day trip to Osaka from Okayama (Just to see the Aquarium)
Day 18 - Day trip to Hiroshima/Miyajima/Kurashiki from Okayama
Day 19 - Day trip to Kochi from Okayama
Day 20 - Train 3 hours to Matsuyama, hot springs + overnight stay at Dogo Onsen
Day 21 - Play in Matsuyama
Day 22 - Day trip to Imabari, biking across Shimanami sea route.
Day 23 - Train 7 hours to Tokyo, evening in Tokyo (Tokyo Tower)
Day 24 - Day trip to Nikko from Tokyo
Day 25-29 - Play in Tokyo: Disney Sea, Ghibli Museum, Fish Market, Various districts, shopping, Imperial Palace, etc. (Any other suggestions?)
Day 30 - Fly home

What a great plan...
Day 23 - Train 7 hours to Tokyo, evening in Tokyo (Tokyo Tower)
Remember Tokyo Sky-Tree!
I think it's still the world tallest tower.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD9B3nmpeVs

This sounds really exciting and ambitious! If it were me, I would try to schedule one day of rest with little or no activities every 7 days or so. My wife and I recently spent 11 days in Tokyo and on day 5 we didn't do anything but eat and watch movies in our hotel room. Without that day, we would have been too exhausted to fully enjoy the things we did later in the week.

Just remember, you're going to be dealing with jet-lag, hauling your suitcase from trains to hotels and back, lots of walking around, and dealing with a foreign culture. So make sure to give yourselves time to rest occasionally. Even if it means canceling some plans or missing a few sights, it will help make the rest of your trip more enjoyable.

I can't really comment on the actual trip itself as I haven't been to a lot of the places you are heading. But I will say that it looks quite fast paced! =)

I recently went for 3 weeks and we did a fair amount in that time. We didn't include rest days and had a ball. Was quite tired at the end of the trip but was worth it. While resting was something my hubby wanted to do I told him I wasn't going all the way to Japan to sit on my hotel bed! =P Hehe. But an onsen visit is a great way to wind down for a day or two, that helped us immensely!

Good luck with your trip!

Sounds good. you'll be busy, but you'll see a lot. Myself I always build some "flex" time in my schedule. Incase you might hear about something or learn about something you didn't know about until you got there. You can have time to go there. I'm sure you know what kind of travel pace you like to have, your plan is very doable, but you'll be busy. enjoy!

Thanks everyone for your comments! A few rest days inserted into the schedule. Makes sense to us :)

Personally I would plan for some more time in Kyoto, although it is hard to decide where to cut in your itinerary.

Have you thought about flying open jaw ?

If you do this and change up the first days of your itinerary a little, you would have more time in Sapporo and Kyoto and save yourself a 9 hour trainride.

Day 1 - Fly to Sapporo
Day 2 - Play in Sapporo
Day 3 - Play in Sapporo
Day 4 - Activate JR pass (21 day), train 2 hours to Hakodate
Day 5 - Play in Hakodate
Day 6 - Train 6 hours to Tokyo, play in Tokyo
Day 7 - Play in Tokyo
Day 8 - Train 3 hours to Kyoto, play in Kyoto
Day 9 - Day 30 unchanged

Looks a great trip but personally I was a little disappointed with Hakodate and preferred places like Hiraizumi, Lake Tazawa, Hirosaki and Kakunodate. But I wouldn't dispute that call.

I dont think however that you will be able to cover Kurashiki, Hiroshima and Miyajima in a day. Kurashiki can be done in an hour or two but Miyajima is an hour or two outside Hiroshima and well worth extra time. Its generally one of the big highlights of a trip so I think you will need a night down in Hiroshima or on Miyajima Island.

On the other hand, Sakurajima is pleasant with some nice hot springs but not really a two day stop. How about also thinking about going to Dogo Onsen in Shikoku via ferry from Beppu? That way you can do a tour of lovely Shikoku without going back the same way. I think the ferry from Beppu is a nice way to go and may well be run by JR so ok on a pass.

Kochi is ok but Takamatsu has the famous and very beautiful Ritsurin Koen. Okayama has a nice garden but I think Ritsurin is even nicer.

Other must do places include Kamakura - the old capital an hour or so from Tokyo. Well worth visiting. And it would be a shame not to see something of the Japanese Alps eg Takayama or Magome/ Tsumago.

Difficult choices but also going at a very good time. Enjoy.

I'm not sure why you're doing a day trip from Okayama to Kochi, then going to Matsuyama the following day. Doesn't make sense to go to Shikoku, leave, and return the following day. Why don't you leave Okayama and stay overnight somewhere such as Kochi, Iya Valley or Takamatsu? I'm also not sure why you're doing a day trip to Hiroshima and one to Osaka. You'll be wasting a lot of time travelling back an forth.

Day 16 - Train to Hiroshima. Visit Miyajima. Stay at either place, depending on budget (Miyajima if you can).
Day 17 - train to Okayama (this plan of mine works on the assumption that you want to catch trains due to having a rail pass, and therefore not paying for ferries between Honshu and Shikoku), visit Kurashiki. Overnight Okayama.
Day 18 - early train to Kochi, then to Iya Valley, explore area and stay overnight.
Day 19 - leave for Takamatsu, visit Ritsurin-Koen and any other sites you may enjoy. Stay overnight.
Day 20 - go to Matsuyama, hot springs + overnight stay at Dogo Onsen
Day 21 - Play in Matsuyama
Day 22 - Day trip to Imabari, biking across Shimanami sea route. (Presumably you're not trying to go the whole way and are staying at Matsuyama that night?)
Day 23 - Train 7 hours to Tokyo, evening in Tokyo (Tokyo Tower) - stop at Shinosaka station and put your luggage in a coin locker, visit the aquarium, then collect your luggage and continue on your merry way.

Tokyo suggestions - Odaiba, Shibuya, Harajuku (on a Sunday in particular), Akihabara, Shinjuku (omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai), etc. Hope you're planning to go to Kamakura on a day trip too.

I have two comments.

First, you might consider the reverse order of the itinerary: Stay Tokyo first then move south to Kagoshima and then go north to Hokkaido. The weather in Hokkaido in early May is somewhat cold while that of Tokyo in early June might somewhat rainy.

Second, in my opinion, Japan can be divided in three parts according to the weather, flora and fauna. These are Okinawa (including the southern part of the islands which belong to Kagoshima prefecture), Hokkaido and the rest of Japan. What I would like to say is, in your itinerary, Hokkaido is very unique region and June is the best season for visiting Hokkaido, therefore you might consider longer stay in Hokkaido. I myself is a kind of a train freak and prefer long-time train ride so I would go to the northern-most JR station Wakkanai and take a ferry to Rebun island.

P.S. As a resident of Kagoshima, I am very happy to read that you are planning to trip to Kagoshima city. The Kyushu Shinkansen is worth riding.

Anyway, grand tour! Have a nice trip. Thank you for coming to Japan!

I had no intention going to Miyajima while in Hiroshima as I was convinced it was too touristy.
I love streetcars so we took a streetcar near the Peace park and went to the end of the line, near the ferry to the island.

A ferry was waiting so we took it (we had the JR pass) thinking that we would only take a quick look at the floating torii and the shrine then comeback to the mainland . One hour at most.

On the way back to the ferry we took a side street and a small deer appeared from nowhere and started walking ahead of us, stopping and looking back at us every so often.
He took us to residential areas where no tourists go, to streets with old houses...etc. then disappeared.

We found our way back to the main pedestrian street and had a nice inexpensive meal...then went back the round about way to see the torii from a totally different angle...

All in all we spent the whole afternoon and early evening there..it was magical!
We stayed 3 nights in a small town near Hiroshima by the way.

I have been to Japan 8 times in about 15 years, and will go back soon, but have no intention of ever covering the whole country. Most Japanese never do either..
I have never seen all of my birth country and never will either...

I had rather stay in one major town for at least 5 days and do short day trips from there, getting to know the area well, going to the same coffee shop near the hotel everyday and being recognized by the staff...to me this is a better way to find out the soul of country ...

As opposed to trips when nearly each day is in a different town....I have done that too and I could barely remember what this town or that town looked like...I couldn't even remember where I took this or that photo.

Your trip looks MUCH more interesting than most people's.

I'm so glad to see that you will spend time in Okayama. It's one of my favorite cities in Japan and HIGHLY underrated. Korakuen is gorgeous and there are many other gardens that nobody talks about along with the Kibi Plains, which is such a great trip!

Also not sure why some dislike Kochi. Kochi city is unique and has an attractive charm that I think is difficult to describe but I've spoken to some people about it and they seemed to feel it too. The sites there are interesting, so I wouldn't cut it. Takamatsu is another great Shikoku city but the feeling in Kochi is completely different. I love both cities. Of course if you can add it, seeing both is great but there is no reason to cut Kochi for Takamatsu. For me, I'd cut Tokyo days before I would cut anything from your time in Kyushu, Chugoku, or Shikoku regions.

Out of curiosity though, you say that you've inserted break days... Does that mean that the trip is longer or have you cut some cities from your list? Posting a modified itinerary or an update post would be useful.

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for the additional replies. Will give consideration to all your advice.

To reply to the answer why we would not fly and start from Sapporo, is because the airfare is considerably less expensive flying to Narita where we are from. (Western Canada)

My friend also feels we would be able to catch a wave of cherry blossoms up in Hokkaido (since they're the last to go)

We are also fast paced kind of people, so lounging in one city for too long would not be ideal. Like a college course, it's like Japan 101. Any in depth or focused travel will have to wait until the next trip. Most possibly Okinawa and Kyushu!