My 12 Day Japan Itinerary - Inviting Tips

Hi

Does my 12 day itinerary look realistic/doable basis time needed to do the activities.
Should I add/remove certain activities?

Day 1 to 5: Tokyo
1. imperial palace, edo garden, rainbow bridge sunset cruise
2. meiji shrine, harry potter studio, shibuya 109 shopping
3. day trip to nikko in tobu railways - kegon fall, toshugu, shinkyo bridge, lake chuzenji
4. day trip to kawaguchiko in fujikyu railways - lake ride, chureito pagoda ( and if time permits visit shiraito falls)
5. day trip to kakunodate (only to see cherry blossom - will visit kakunodate castle and aayogi house)

Day 6 to 9: Kyoto

6. Himeji castle
7. Day trip: hiroshima, miyajima
8. Day trip: awaji island ( only to see naruto hidden lead village park)
9. Arashiyama bamboo, and some other places nearby if time permits
Leaving to osaka in evening

Day 10: Osaka
10. Osaka castle, aquarium, shopping
Flying to okinawa at night

Day 11, 12: Okinawa
11. Kerama island boat tour, snorkeling
12. Onna sea walk, aquarium

Day 13: back to haneda , have a flight back home

I am planning to buy JR pass for 7 days to cover for kakunodate and kyoto commutes.

Please let me know if there are any useful tips to improve this itinerary. Thanks in advance!

Day 12 : okinawa
Day 13 : haneda
So on your last day,you will go okinawa to han eda by domestic air then fly homeby intl airlin

For my personal taste this is too fast, but I reckon that it could be doable.
What I don�ft understand why do you stay in Kyoto if only 1 if the days is actually in Kyoto. Kobe, Himeji, Okayama would make more sense to me for those day trips

Osaka castle definitely skip.

If you stay in Kyoto tge no need to change hotel to Osaka just do your Osaka things from Kyoto. You don�ft seem to mind hours on end on a train anyway.

The flight back home seems a bit risky UNLESS it�fs the same ticket.

More time in Kyoto would be good. You can see Himeji Castle and the Kokoen Garden in half a day or less. You could see more of Kyoto that day.
https://goo.gl/65ZtRi

You could easily skip the Tokyo Imperial Palace and not miss much. It's a led by the nose tour, where most places are off limits and you don't go inside anywhere. If you want to see a nice garden in Tokyo, there are better ones than the East Gardens, like Rikugien, Koishikawa Korakuen, and Kiyosumi. For Meiji Shrine, don't miss the shrine garden there too. And if you can fit it in on Days 1 or 2, go see Sensoji.
For Nikko, trying to jam in both the Nikko and Okunikko areas is too much. It is a long bus ride there and back, and not that many departures, so timing is important, unless you're renting a car. There are still other good places at Nikko, like Taiyuin, Rinnoji, Tamozawa, Kanmangafuchi Abyss, etc. Also are you renting a car at the Fuji 5 Lakes? Otherwise, going to see Shiraito Falls will be very time consuming. For Kakunodate, you should check on the cherry blossoms blooming or not, and have a back up plan. I tried what you're planning last year, but I was about 10 days too late due to earlier than average blooming. The preserved samurai area is still good though.

As mentioned, I wouldn't bother with Osaka "Castle". Especially if you're also seeing Himeji. It may be worth a walk around the ramparts, but no real need to go inside.
If possible, in Hiroshima please do more in the city than just see Peace Park. The city has so much more, like Shukkeien Garden and Okonomi-mura.
https://goo.gl/fAz4ax

A question - why you stay in Kyoto when you are actually not there at all?
Kyoto is worth of weeks not days, and does not make sense to use it only as a place for bed...

5 h in train for Awaji, same next day for Hiroshima - sounds like waste of time. Enjoy Kyoto instead.

I agree with LikeBike regarding the flight to Okinawa. It sounds risky. Can you do Tokyo/Nikko/Kakunodate -> Okinawa -> Osaka -> Kyoto/Himeji/Hiroshima/Awaji, then fly back from Osaka, or are your flights already booked?

You can buy the JR pass for your day trip to Kakunodate online, at the last minute, so you can check the sakura forecast before committing to the trip.

Himeji (or maybe Osaka) would make a better base for your day trips than Kyoto. If you were planning to visit Kyoto in the evenings, that would be difficult as most temples close early (5pm).