6 week itinerary May 2017

Hi! I need help with my 6 week itinerary.
I've never been to Japan before so I'm starting the planning early to make the most of the trip. My main priority at the moment is working out a route that doesn't go back on itself too much. I'll be flying into Kansai airport and out from Tokyo Narita.

May 09 Osaka
10 Osaka
11 Osaka
12 Osaka
13 Kobe
14 Okayama
15 Naoshima
16 Kyoto
17 Kyoto
18 Kyoto
19 Nara
20 Koyasan
21 Koyasan
22 Takayama
23 Toyama (Tateyama Kurobe Alpine to Kurobe Dam and back)
24 Toyama
25 Kurobe (Kurobe Gorge Railway)
26 Niigata
27 Sendai
28 Sendai
29 Sendai
30
31
June 01
02
03 Tokyo for 2 weeks

Does the route make sense without too much going back on myself?

Also, I have a few empty days between Sendai and Tokyo, so on the route I have planned is there anywhere that would be worth staying longer, or would it be more cost-effective (less days required for a JR pass?) to get to Tokyo sooner?

Would appreciate any advice! Thanks in advance!

Well, backtracking is usually inefficient and can waste time/money, but that is not your only consideration. I take it that your itinerary above is still a rough draft and needs to be worked out a lot more. Two weeks in Tokyo? Unless you have some specific ideas or events planned, I'd say 3-4 day are enough. There are many good day trips in the area - and you can certainly expand your trip in many ways if you want to allocate the time and money for it. A Tokyo Wide Pass (or 2) could really help you here.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_06.html

Given the long length of your enviable trip, you travel pace is not going to be very fast or very far - so a series of regional rail passes would likely serve you better than the full JR Pass.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html
Every place has something to see, but since you are already seeing Tokyo, you can largely skip Osaka during the day. With that time you could see more of Kyoto, like Miyama, and Amanohashidate, plus there is nearby Himeji with Japan's finest castle, and you could also do a day trip (and preferably overnight) to Hiroshima and Miyajima.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7LcPcmoSg-iCNZ6AdsKGUB-HPKNxP1...
With the time you have, skipping Kanazawa would be a terrible shame.
Also not sure why you're going to Niigata (Sado is great, and if you drive there are of course some nice places) and 3days for Sendai, unless you're branching out or going to the rest of Tohoku too.
Okinawa and Hokkaido are also possibilities, and it's very cheap to fly there on Jet Star, Peach, and Vanilla Air.
You could certainly put more time into the Chugoku area - in addition to Okayama City, Hiroshima, Naoshima, you could see Onomichi, Kurashiki, and Iwakuni. Even venture into Shikoku a bit and see Takamatsu, and Kotohira.

i agree with many of the suggestions ken provided.

itinerary suggestions would depend on your desired pace, your activness, what type of things u like seeing / doing.

i think 2 weeks in tokyo is a lil long too. you could play around with expanded your already nice foundation of an itinerary.

id stay a bit longer at takayama. u could use it as a base to travel to shirakawago and kamikochi. historic village and awesome hiking / scenery respectively.

as ken's suggestion, id visit kanazawa as well. you could play around with all of the above; toyama, takayama, kamikochi, shirakawago and maybe even hida furukawa as well and get a nice efficient flow ( minimising backtracking )
Yudanaka (snow monkeys) is also not that far from these places.

Nikko might be a good option if looking to fill a day coming back.
from sendai.

Again, as per Ken's suggestion, id venture down a bit further and include the castle at himeji and maybe even hiroshima. if you do go as far as hiroshima and are relatively fit, i would strongly suggest a couple of days in onomichi and cycle the shimanami kaido ( a group of islands joined with huge suspension bridges. this was the hilight of my last trip and cant wait to go back. breathtaking views and a good way to work off those unwanted kilos from all the great food :)

you can cycle from onomichi (leaving your suitcase at the hotel) to the other side imabari (sleep there - take an backpack for change of clothes) and cycle back the next day. its about 65km each way but you can stop as many times as you like and if u get tired just leave your bike at a predetermined drop off zone and catch a bus. cycle hire is really cheap.

anyway,

good luck - youll have a blast!!!! oh, i suggest you learn some basic japanese (at least 50 words / phrases - essential stuff ) it will makes things a lil easier for you and your efforts will be appreciated. besides it helps make the trip more of an immersive experience :D

Great, thank you both so much. Good to know there aren't any glaring backtracking problems with the route.

Niigata, Sendai and Tokyo are more bases to make smaller trips to islands and the surrounding areas (there's an artist house near Niigata I hope to visit), as from experience I think by that point I'll be a little tired of moving constantly - definitely haven't ironed out the details here!

Thanks for the tips, especially the Shimanami Kaido, which sounds great, and exploring towards Hiroshima.

Kanazawa was originally on the list, but I wasn't sure how to fit it into the route without having to go back on myself to go to Takayama? Or perhaps I see that as a sort of side trip?

Anyway, definitely more to think about.

Definitely going to try and take a crash course in basic Japanese, though slightly more overwhelmed by trying to read the kanji- I recognise characters from my knowledge of basic Chinese but meanings are different. Hopefully it'll be easier to get the hang of it once I'm there!

You dont need to learn Kanji
You only need to know Hiragana and to a certain extend some of Katakana.
Mostly you need to learn grammer. Once you know how the word sounds and what it means, Hiragana would help you greatly!

As for your 6 weeks, I recommend going from Kansai Airport all the way to Hiroshima, see the northern portions of Chugoku and Kansai, ending in Kyoto. This would take 2-3 weeks. From here go on to Kanazawa with day trips to Takayama and Shirakawa-go, plus the Kurobe Tateyama ALpine Route. This would take week. after this, head to Tokyo and your sendai portion.