How much to stay in one area

I've been asking a lot of questions but this is it. The last one. Once again, Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, 11 days this month. Will stay about 3 days in each one.

I don't want to spend too much time in one place, because I do want to make some side trips. In those 3 places, there are a lot of shrines, temples, gardens, shopping and what not but is this the kinda thing where you just take your pic of one or two and move on?

Obviously there are some with historic value thus the high tourist attractions.

So how did some of you choose where you wanted to go with a limited time frame or schedule?

With that kind of limited time, I would halve my time between Tokyo and either Osaka or Kyoto (my personal pick is Kyoto, but it depends on you and your interests), instead of breaking it up between the three. Osaka and Kyoto are so close you can do trips to the other easily, and it saves time changing hotels.

For time exploring the cities themselves, I would suggest 3 days for Tokyo, 2.5-3 for Kyoto, and 1-2 for Osaka.
Ultimately though, you'll need to look through the sights suggested here and on on other websites/guidebooks, make a list of the must sees for yourself (they may not be the must sees everyone else tells you do to!), and work out how to split up your time from there.

It can be so tough to choose! I'm working on my third trip right now, and it doesn't really get any easier when you have a 10-14 days to work with.

I've always used japan-guide extensively for suggestions. Honestly, some things might not be as awesome as you were expecting, or they might blow your mind. For example, Kiyomizudera is hugely popular. And somehow, it's even MORE amazing than I thought. Kinkaku-ji? I could take it or leave it.

I would choose a few of the big tourist sites in each city that appeal to you and head to that general area, and then leave the rest up to exploration. I liked staying in Oji (sort of near Nara) so I could make day trips to Horyu-ji (again, not as amazing as I had expected, but still good), Nara, and Osaka. Then we moved on to Kyoto and stayed only in Kyoto. Kyoto is perfectly broken up so you can explore the Gion/Higashiyama areas, or the western Arashiyama portion as day trips in themselves. Kyoto is so big and wonderful; for your first trip you should stay there for at least 3 nights like you planned. As for Tokyo, it's really a matter of what you're into. I do Tokyo for the otaku shopping in Akihabara and Nakano Broadway, and to visit Odaiba. But I like spending at least 4 days there just to absorb all that is Tokyo. Again, everything is so nicely organized and transit so perfect that you can visit your key areas in chunks. Check out the suggested itineraries here on japan-guide if you're struggling. Also, don't forget to check hyperdia if you're using trains a lot.

So my trip would look like this:
Start in Osaka, 3 nights (possible trips to Himeji Castle since it just got re-opened FINALLY, potentially Hiroshima if you have a JR Pass?)
Move on to Kyoto, 4 nights
Then forth to Tokyo, 4 nights

I feel like I'm rambling a lot haha, but seriously, try not to stress too much. Easy for me to say as I've been going crazy over my own trip.

Oh, yeah, to elaborate on whether you typically just take a picture of something and move on:

When I mentioned Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, that was a place where I felt that I just snapped a picture and moved on. It was extremely busy on the day that I visited, and I just wasn't feeling a vibe. Some places you won't get that. But a lot of times, the temples and shrines are surrounded by a beautiful garden, or preceded by a nice hike, or like Kiyomizudera, are at the end of a beautifully preserved shopping district. Little in Japan is just a tourist attraction for the sake of it. It'll help to read the history of the locations before you get there so you know the history.

Kyoto is beautiful. And it is best seen when crowds are few. I feel sad for you Heldi that you had to experience a crowded Kinkakuji. It loses the vibe as you said. Though, seen you cannot actually visit the pavilion and can only take photos, it is more of a photo opportunity of something shiny reflected by the water. Though, I would trade Kinkakuji for many other locations in Kyoto it is still a very unique piece of architecture. I try to visit Kinkakuji and Ryoanji in the early morning or late afternoon for the best photo and meditative experience respectively. Places like Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizudera actually are better with some crowds so going midday is an idea.

I think being having some things being underwhelmed was what I was afraid of because I didn't want to have worked so hard to save up for a dull experience. I have to realize that there will be dull moments but not the entire trip.

So I have another question. How much of the stuff is a walkable distance? For example, I know that with the time that I have, I cannot explore all of Tokyo but if some so close you can walk or the train rides are less than 15 minutes then I can see more.

I know I can't see it all but based on my time frame, what's the percentage of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka if I stayed for 3 days each?

It depends on what you mean

If you are talking about the whole city as in the parks, gardens, local malls, residential areas, sports complexes. Everything. That is too large to consider. Tokyo is so big that there are mountains that are part of the city limits.

If you are just talking purely attractions with light shopping then you can see about 40% of tokyo in 3 days. These being the sights listed here and those I find personally enjoyable like the expo and museums in odaiba. Also the art galleries of Tokyo are great fun.

Osaka city centre is pretty compact. If you aren't interested in going to the suburbs then you can see 70-80% of Osaka's main attractions in those days. If you skip USJ and Osaka aquarium you can see all of Osaka's main sites and have spare time for himeji or Kobe.

Kyoto unlike the previous two cities is a lot smaller. But unlike Osaka where most attractions are in the city centre, kyoto's attractions are spread out away from the city. There are some exceptions like Nishiki market and the imperial palace. But these are rare exceptions. Kyoto is surrounded one 3 sides by mountains and these mountains are where most of beautiful attractions are. Small residential areas, villas, and temples built atop the mountains are what make kyoto so beautiful. This means that the attractions can be segmented into eastern, Northern, and Western mountains. The southern side is a plain and there are few major attractions. IN 3 days, you are able to see the major popular sites like the golden pavillion, kiyomizudera and fushimi inari. But kyoto is much much more than that. Just strolling along the old paths or visiting a hundred year old tea shop is just some of the cultural indulgence one can partake in. If you do kyoto at a fast pace you can probably do about 60% of the sites listed on this website in 3 days.

If you want to work out how much is walkable, you can put your destinations in to google maps and get a good idea.

For three days in Tokyo you can do:
- one day exploring Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya (sights include Meiji Shrine, Shibuya crossing, museums, etc)
- one day exploring Asakusa, Ueno(sights include Sensoji temple, Kappabashi dori, Ameyokocho, Ueno Zoo, museums)
- another day doing other areas like Akihabara, Odaiba or Ikebukuro or one of the many other areas to explore.

Three days in Kyoto you can do:
- one day in Higashiyama area (Sanjusangendo, Kiyomizudera, Kodaiji, Yasaka Shrine, Gion, further up to the northern part if you wish/have more time) , and Fushimi Inari.
- one day in Arashiyama (bamboo grove, Tenryuji, Gioji, Adashino Nenbutsuji, Otagi Nenbutsuji, Monkey Park, scenic train or boat rides if you wish)
- one day exploring Nishiki Market and Nijo castle in the morning, and Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, etc in the afternoon.

Three days in Osaka you can do:
- one day exploring Osaka castle, any temples/shrines of interest, Namba area
- one day of Umeda area and Osaka Aquarium
- either USJ or a day trip to Nara, Himeji or Kobe.

Pick one modern city, and one older city, so you could divide your time between Tokyo and Kyoto. Again, it is personal preference, but I don't bother with Osaka if Tokyo is on my schedule - perhaps because the castle is concrete, I'm not there for shopping and I don't go to USJ. (too many other better places to visit).

And yes, there are some attractions that are really not very interesting despite rating highly on guide sites (including Japan-Guide). Some are good to go to at least once, others are good to visit many times. I suspect some reviews and reviewers are just impressed by what they see, rather than understanding the range of different sights. Without a broad perspective or comparison, they like what they see, but don't know about what they don't.

Irrespective, go, look and experience - the place is pretty addictive.