One month in March/early Apr 2012 (Cont.)

Hey all,

This is a bit of a continuation from my earlier thread (http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+86698. In Japan from 3rd March to 7th Apr). Partly because the below is a C&P from the Japan-Guide itinerary, I should stress very strongly that the below is by no means definite, such as the length I've opted to stay in places, especially given the fact I still have 11 days to spare in the itinerary. Also, if the skiing season seems a bit rubbish, or I'm not willing to stretch my budget that far, I may skip Hakuba.

While I'll almost certainly get a JR Pass, I'm still a bit unsure about how best to utilise it given the longest JR Pass I can get is a 21 days one so a little stumped as to my best options. I've noticed there's a new JR Kanto Pass so maybe I'll buy that or the Seishun 18 Kippu, once I've figured out a more solid itinerary.

Day 1 (4th March): Arrive at Haneda Airport, and spend the remaining day in Tokyo.
Day 2-4: Spend two full days in Tokyo and one day in nearby Kamakura. Kamakura is an easy day trip from Tokyo.
Day 5: From Tokyo, make a day trip to Nikko.
Day 6: In the early morning, travel from Tokyo to Ise (3.5 hours) and visit the Ise Shrines. In the late afternoon, return to Nagoya (90 minutes) and spend the evening and night there.
Day 7: Nagoya
Day 8: Nagoya - (train and bus via Nakatsugawa) - Magome - (walk or bus/train) - Tsumago
Day 9: Tsumago - (train) - Matsumoto - (train) - Hakuba
Day 10: Hakuba - Skiing, weather permitting
Day 11: Hakuba - (train) - Matsumoto - (bus) - Takayama
Day 11: Takayama - (bus) - Shirakawago - (bus) - Kanazawa
Day 12: Leave Kanazawa in the morning for Kyoto. Spend the afternoon and evening exploring Kyoto.
Day 13-16: Spend three full days in Kyoto and one day in nearby Nara. Nara is an easy day trip from Kyoto.
Day 17: In the morning, travel from Kyoto to Mount Koya (3 hours) and overnight there at a temple.
Day 18: Spend the morning at Mount Koya. Around noon, take the train to Osaka (2 hours) and spend the afternoon, evening and night there.
Day 19: In the early morning, travel from Osaka to Hiroshima (2 hours) and visit the Peace Park. In the afternoon, continue to Miyajima and overnight there.
Day 20: Get up early and spend the morning on Miyajima. Then continue to Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu (4.5 hours) and spend the evening and night there.
Day 21: Spend a full day in Nagasaki.
Day 22: Leave Nagasaki in the morning for Himeji (4-5 hours). Spend the afternoon exploring Himeji Castle (note that the castle is currently being repaired and covered by scaffolding). Return to Tokyo in the evening (3-4 hours).
Day 23 (27th March): Depart Japan from Haneda Airport.

11 days left over until 7th Apr.

Date-specific events that I'd like to catch, although possibly optional if too tricky itinerary-wise (especially the fact that TAF & Koshien are around the same time!)
March 1st-14th - Omizutori in Nara
24th Mar & 25th Mar - Tokyo Int'l anime fair
24th March for 12 days - One baseball match during Spring Koshien (dates according to http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&i...).

Many thanks in advance!

It looks very good to me except for day 11, which you list twice (!) and with a program that will allow you to do almost no sightseeing in any of the places visited (Matsumoto, Takayama, Shirakawago and Kanazawa).

Thanks!

I've shuffled things around so that Kyoto will come at the end of the trip, thus allowing me to use my JR Pass a little better....

---
Day 1 (4th March): Arrive at Haneda Airport, and spend the remaining day in Tokyo.
Day 2-3: Spend two full days in Tokyo
Day 4: One day in nearby Kamakura. Kamakura is an easy day trip from Tokyo.
Day 5: From Tokyo, make a day trip to Nikko.
Day 6 (9th March): (JR Pass activated) In the early morning, travel from Tokyo to Ise (3.5 hours) and visit the Ise Shrines. In the late afternoon, return to Nagoya (90 minutes) and spend the evening and night there.
Day 7: Nagoya
Day 8: Nagoya - (train and bus via Nakatsugawa) - Magome - (walk or bus/train) - Tsumago
Day 9: Tsumago - (train) - Matsumoto - (train) - Hakuba
Day 10: Hakuba - Skiing, weather permitting
Day 11: Hakuba - Snow monkeys - Nagano
Day 12: Nagano
Day 13: Nagano - Matsumoto
Day 14: Matsumoto - (bus) - Takayama
Day 15: Takayama
Day 16: Takayama - (bus) - Shirakawago - (bus) - Kanazawa
Day 17: Kanazawa
Day 18: Kanazawa
Day 19: Leave Kanazawa in the morning for Osaka. Around noon, take the train to Osaka (2 hours) and spend the afternoon, evening and night there.
Day 20: In the morning, travel from Osaka to Mount Koya (3 hours) (and overnight there at a temple?)
Day 21: (Spend the morning at Mount Koya. Go to?) Osaka
Day 22: In the early morning, travel from Osaka to Hiroshima (2 hours) and visit the Peace Park. In the afternoon, continue to Miyajima and overnight there.
Day 23: Get up early and spend the morning on Miyajima. Then continue to Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu (4.5 hours) and spend the evening and night there.
Day 24: Spend a full day in Nagasaki & go to Fukuoka in evening.
Day 25: Fukuoka
Day 26: Fukuoka (Day trip to Kumamoto?)
Day 27: (JR Pass expires today) Leave Fukuoka in the morning for Himeji (4-5 hours). Spend the afternoon exploring Himeji Castle (note that the castle is currently being repaired and covered by scaffolding). Kyoto in the evening (3-4 hours).
Day 28(31st): Kyoto. Spend the afternoon and evening exploring Kyoto.
Day 29-31(1st-3rd): Spend three full days in Kyoto and one day in nearby Nara. Nara is an easy day trip from Kyoto.

Queries:-
* 4 days left until the 7th April. Any suggestions?
* The Kyushu part is a little uncertain. I might work on this a little - see if I can get Mount Aso in there, although my understanding is that you need a car to get the best out of a trip to Mount Aso?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can make!

Addendum - I should have edited that itinerary as I don't think I'll overnight at Miyajima - probably just do a day trip there.

My suggestion would be to go from Kanazawa to Hiroshima, enjoy time on Miyajima (JR Pass works on the ferry) and onwards to Kyushu from there, and end up back in Osaka/Kyoto on the evening of the last day of your pass.
Himeji,Nara, and Mt Koya can all be reached from Osaka/Kyoto without using your JR Pass, so I would maximise the time around Hiroshima/Kyushu with the JR Pass, and use it to return to Osaka/Kyoto.

This link gives you an idea of options for being in Osaka/Kyoto:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_005.html

How are you planning to get back to Haneda? Is it possible to leave from Kansai?


Have fun!

How about Koyasan for the spare time? You could also visit areas in the Kii peninsula. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4950.html

Also, I'd recommend visiting Miyajima later in the day, staying until the Torii is illuminated at dusk and the crowds are gone. It's beautiful and a brilliant long exposure photo opportunity. You can catch a ferry back in the evening.

If I count correctly, you are planning to use your 21-day rail pass over a 22-day period.

I will be in Japan for four weeks starting a couple of weeks after you. This is my Itinerary for comparison. Bear in mind this is my 5th visit so I have been to some of the places before. This time I am bringing my bicycle.

Day 1 (17th Mar): Narita to Tokyo, Sensoji (Always visit Sensoji on my first day)
Day 2: Tokyo, recover from jetlag. Gentle bicycle ride along the mighty Arakawa :)
Day 3: To Okayama which I love, JR pass starts
Day 4-7: Okayama, Ride the Kiso plain cycle route but extend it to Saijo Inari shrine. Also visit Kaikaen garden and Bitchu Takahashi castle.
Day 8: To Hiroshima. I didnt ring the peace bell when I was there last and need to do this.
Day 9-11: revisit Miyajima and ride the Shimanami Kaido
Day 12: To Nagoya
Day 13-14: Use Nagoya as a base visit Ise, weather & legs permitting get the train to Nakatsugawa & Ride through Magome to Tsumago & back down the river valley.
Day 15: To Utsunomiya
Day 16: (Jr Pass expires)-19: maybe visit Sendai on last day of pass. Use Utsunomiya as base to visit Nikko. Cycle through rural areas, Visit Kairakuen in Mito.
Day 20: To Tokyo
Day 21-26: Tokyo Possible trip to Hakone. Ride down to Kamakura. Hopefully tag along with Tokyo Cycling Club for a couple of rides.
Day 27: Narita

Nothing booked past Okayama yet though much more will be booked in the next day or so The only part that I am still dithering about is Nagoya.

fmj- excellent suggestion! I'd overlooked the Kansai Thru Pass. I'll rearrange my itinerary as you've suggested. Unfortunately, my flights from Haneda are already booked - I'm thinking one option would be to pick up a Seishun 18 Kippu & make my way slowly to Tokyo over 4-5 days, or cough up & pay for a Shinkansen. Will have to think.

Sal1980 - Thanks re. Miyajima! Will keep that in mind. Bit confused about your remark - isn't Mount Koya & Koyasan the same thing. It's already in my itinerary :)

Uji- Oops. Teaches me to blindly add numbers! In any case, with fmj's suggestion, easy enough to fix when I restructure my itinerary.

Stan- Thanks!!! That's useful! As coincidence happens, the hostel I'd already booked in Tokyo is like literally 5 minutes away from Sensoji :)

haha yeah they're the same thing, my bad. I'm still putting in a vote for the Kii Peninsula though.
What about Yoshino? It should be good timing at the end of your trip for sakura viewing there.

Yes, Koyasan is Mount Koya in Japanese.

Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto. You will be bored if you spend three days in Kyoto. I've seen too many people come with great ideas about spending lots of time in Kyoto being 'cultural'. Anything over a day and a half in Kyoto is overstaying unless you REALLY, REALLY love temples. It's not a historical paradise, like an Asian Venice/Carcassonne/York. Its a big, plain, dull city, that happens to have some excellent temples, a 'castle' (palace) and another palace. Visit it, yes, but don't count on entertaining yourself there for long. See the best temples there, go to Nijo Castle, Gion, maybe Arashiyama,and then move on before you tire of it. 'Temple fatigue' will set in faster than you can imagine. Spend more time in Tokyo, there's just so much more to see and do.

Other than that, it looks like a fairly good itinerary, and quite similar to one I'm drawing up for my Parents when they visit around the same time.

Thanks all! For the curious, here's my itinerary as it now stands.

I've moved Tsumago & Magome to the end for a couple reasons - so that I can meet my parents who are joining me for the Takayama-Kanazawa portion & also to break up a bit the journey between Kyoto & Tokyo.
---
Day 1 (4th March): Arrive at Haneda Airport, and spend the remaining day in Tokyo.
Day 2-3: Spend two full days in Tokyo
Day 4: One day in nearby Kamakura. Kamakura is an easy day trip from Tokyo.
Day 5: From Tokyo, make a day trip to Nikko.
Day 6 (9th March): (JR Pass activated) In the early morning, travel from Tokyo to Ise (3.5 hours) and visit the Ise Shrines. In the late afternoon, return to Nagoya (90 minutes) and spend the evening and night there.
Day 7: Nagoya
Day 8: Nagoya - Hakuba
Day 9: Hakuba - Skiing, weather permitting
Day 10: Hakuba - Snow monkeys - Nagano
Day 11: Nagano
Day 12: Nagano - Matsumoto
Day 13: Matsumoto - (bus) - Takayama
Day 14 (17th Mar) : Takayama.
Day 15: Takayama. In afternoon - (bus) - Shirakawgo
Day 16 (19th Mar): Shirakawago - (bus) - Kanazawa
Day 17: Kanazawa
Day 18: Kanazawa
Day 19: Leave Kanazawa in the morning for Hiroshima (4 hours) and visit the Peace Park.
Day 20: Hiroshima & Miyajima
Day 21: Continue to Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu (4.5 hours) and spend the evening and night there.
Day 22-25: Based in Fukuoka, & day trips to Nagasaki, Kumamoto. Perhaps day trips to Mount Aso, Beppu, Akita.
Day 26: (JR Pass expires today) Leave Fukuoka in the morning for Himeji (4-5 hours). Spend the afternoon exploring Himeji Castle (note that the castle is currently being repaired and covered by scaffolding). Kyoto in the evening (3-4 hours).
Day 27-30(31st-4th): Kyoto & Osaka. Side-trips to Yoshino etc.
Day 31: Nozomi Shinkansen from Kyoto to Nagoya & train to Tsumago
Day 32: Magome - Tokyo by bus
Day 33: Tokyo
Day 34: Fly to HK.
---

What an exciting itinerary, well thought out and a lot of advanced planning has obviously gone into it.

I especially like the part that you have included some seasonal highlights. Jigokudani snow monkey park is one, just hope that the snow is still there mid March (we went mid April and there was no snow, quite disappointing). Most would skip Himeji knowing it under scaffolding and indeed a pity not being able to see it in its full glory especially during cherry blossom season. But going to see the restoration work would be a unique life-time experience too. Yoshino is also a good choice. We had a memorable visit during the sakura festival on April 11. Fingers crossed that sakura will still be nice early April.

Early April is indeed a good time for sakura in Kyoto and Osaka. Hopefully you have already secured accommodation in Kyoto as that time of the year is extremely popular. To complicate things a bit, is that any chance to stop by Kyoto for a night between Mar 10-20 for another seasonal highlight, Higashiyama Hanatouro 2012!?
http://www.hanatouro.jp/e/higashiyama/index.html

Another seasonal event is a "geisha/tea house experience" in Kanazawa. Note that during March 2012, seats are only still available on Mar 17 and Mar 24.
http://www.kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.gr.jp/feature_geikonotabi11/

Nagasaki deserves more time than just a daytrip from Fukuoka. Your time of visit is also ideal for a side trip to Huis ten bosch. They are having a tulip festival on Mar 17-Apr 8. We were there in 2010 and absolutely loved the spectacular flower fields seeing "sea of tulips".
http://www.huistenbosch.co.jp/event/tulip2012/

You will be a bit early for the Beppu Hot Spring Festival which will be held from Mar 30 to Apr 3, 2012.
http://www.beppu-navi.jp/onsenmatsuri/
But there is a mention of a festival of light from Mar 1 to Apr 3, 2012
http://www.city.beppu.oita.jp/02kankou/06calender/index.html

In your Kyushu days you mention Akita, I assume you meant Arita instead of Akita up north in Honshu's Tohoku region. Arita is a good destination for ceramic and pottery fans. The following sites are worth going:
http://www.nonnoko.com/app/index.html
http://www.arita.gr.jp/
We also like Imari, especially the scenic Okawachi-yama area.
http://www.imari-ookawachiyama.com/

No trip to Japan is complete without an onsen experience and yet there is no mention in the itinerary. Beppu seems the obvious choice but we find it a bit too touristy. In Kyushu we like Yufuin and Kurokawa Onsen better. A friend recommends Ureshino Onsen.

Thanks! :) I couldn't have done it without the advice of others on here!

But your list of events is brilliant! Very useful as didn't know about most of these events! However, given I don't want to be hopping from one place to other practically every day, I'll pick out what I think are possibles with comments.

* Higashiyama Hanatouro 2012. A quick evening trip from Nagoya. It's only an hour to Higashiyama anyway according to Hyperdia. (Keep in mind I'll be returning to Kyoto later for a more leisurely look so an evening's fine)
* Kanazawa. Probably a little too difficult to rearrange sadly. I'll be emailing the tourist office & see if there are other tea ceremonies we can go to though.
* Nagasaki - I'm not too terribly keen on jumping all over Kyushu, especially with luggage, hence thinking to base myself in Fukuoka, & travel from there. Same goes for Huis Ten Bosch - I notice that Arita (sorry, my typo earlier!) is nearby so again could always travel from Fukuoka, I suppose.
* Beppu & onsen towns. I admit I hadn't considered visiting an onsen town specifically - I'd always figured there's plenty of onsens in towns around Japan which ought to be enough, no? :) I notice that Ureshino Onsen is near Huis Ten Bosch & Arita, although might be a bit much cramming all three in a day!

I'll have to think about Kyushu a little bit more & figure it out.

Thanks again!