Should i advance or postpone my trip?

Hi,
It's me again (sorry for asking so many questions here)

At first, me & my friend want to visit Japan around mid april - early may (14-15 days more or less)
Our itinerary so far is:

# Kyoto :
Nishiki market, Higashiyama, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Gion, Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizudera, Philosopher's Path, Maruyama Park, Kibune

# Arashiyama :
Bamboo groves, Sagano Railway, Bridge

# Osaka :
Osaka Castle, Mino Park, Himeji Castle

# Nara :
Nara Park, Todaiji, Kasuga Taisha, Kofukuji, Isuien Garden, Yoshino, Iga Ueno

# Toyama :
Namerikawa to watch Hotaruika

# Tokyo :
Tsukiji Market, Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno Park, Tokyo Skytree, Roppongi, Odaiba, Nikko, Kamakura, Yokohama

# Hakone :
Ashinoko, Owakudani, Tozan Railway, Kowakien Yonessun

# Ashikaga Flower Park, Hitachi Seaside Park, Kachoen in Kakegawa, Hamamatsu Flower Park, Nagakushiyama


So, back to question..
Regarding golden week 2013 will be placed around weekend, i assume there will be very crowded travel activities.
Should we advance or postponed our trip?
Our main objective is to view the sakura blooming & wisteria flower at Ashikaga Flower Park

What is the best pass should we buy? JR Pass or regional pass? If JR Pass, then which is better, 7 days or 14 days pass?

All the itinerary above have no fixed date yet. So far, that's all we have in mind & we haven't decided the exact day we will spend there.
We would love to hear any opinions & advice for our itinerary. Which should we visit (or not), how long to stay, best transportation around, etc. Oh, and we would love to add Hokkaido in our trip too if it is possible.

Sorry for the long inquiries & i thank you in advance =^^=

PS: one more question, where can we view rice paddy art along with the itinerary above?

The right time of the year for some of your destinations depends on the season and the unpredictable weather. The following are some guidelines that hopefully can help decide on your desired visiting time.

Early to mid April for sakura and tulip in Hamamatsu Flower Park

Late April to mid May for wisteria in Ashikaga Flower Park

Late April to mid May for nemophila in Hitachi Seaside Park

If water lily is what you are after (apart from all those cute birds) in Kakegawa Kachoen, you should not have problem incorporating it with the other sites as the best time is said to be from April to November.

Nagakushiyama Park seems a long way off from the rest of your destinations as the park is located near Nagasaki in Kyushu. If you want to go there for azalea, mid April to early May is said to be best.

Early April to early May for boat cruise to see Hotarnika. Note that the cruise starts at 03.00 in the morning and you have to be there around 02.30.

For Himeji Castle note that it is under major restoration and is under scaffolding though you can still go to see part of the renovation work.

thank you William-san :)

any idea about the rice paddy art?
and if we advance our trip into early April (starting from around 10th), can we still viewing the sakura blooming, at least in the end of our trip?

if we advance our trip into early April (starting from around 10th), can we still viewing the sakura blooming, at least in the end of our trip?

I think maybe you can catch sakura, if anything, in the beginning of your trip.
You have many chances to watch sakura and wisteria, because there are in any Japanese garden.
But you can't view both of SomeiYoshino(sakura) and Fuji(wisteria) as the same time.

Rice paddy art is best during summer months from Jul to Sept. We went to Fukushima Lagoon last month but couldn't see any though we were hoping to see some like those shown in the following last year.

http://ameblo.jp/tanbo-art/image-11051241698-11554011469.html

Early Apr is indeed a better time for sakura in Kansai and Tokyo, but for wisteria and azalea it is late Apr to early May. We too tried to see sakura, tulip, pink moss, wisteria and azalea during the last 2 weeks of April this year. Tulip was our greatest catch, pink moss was OK and there were some late sakura in Kawaguchi-ko. But we were deprived of wisteria and azalea. Maybe an extra week into early May would let us cover the missing link. There are some trip photos of our trip in the following thread in another forum.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g294232-i525-k5409672-Photo_sharin...

@ ajapaneseboy-san:
I do hope to view the infamous sakura blooming. That's our main objective for this trip ^^
But honestly, i really want to view the wisteria too. I once found the pics of wisteria flower of Ashikaga & immediately fell in love with it.
If we stay until 28th April, does it possible for us to watch this flowers? (i am not expecting the full bloom like in the pics of course, but maybe some flowers in their early blooming?)

@ William5-san:
Woaaa, your pics are fantasterrific!! O.O
All are amazing & i felt like i want to pack my suitcase & fly to japan right now!

About Oshino Akkai, Showa Kinen Koen, Akebono Kodomonomori Koen, Yachonomori koen Tatebayashi, Fukiware no taki, Hitsujiyama Park, Jindai-ji Chofu & Sakura Furusato Square, are they accessible for daily trip from Tokyo? (just finished gawking at your pics & haven't searched any information of those places yet ^^)

And the Gundam Front Tokyo..
Does it worth to pay visit there? We are not a big fan of Gundam, but i think as we already there, perhaps we should stop by & take a nice pic of it? ^^

Do you have blog where i can read your travel story? I'd love to read them. All of your pics spoke about how amazing trips you've done =^^=

We did use public transport (train + bus) for Sakura Furusato Square and Jindai-ji. Both of them can easily be done as daytrips from Tokyo. If connections are good both can be squeezed into a day. For the other destinations we used a rental car. Hitsujiyama Park is about 1.5 hr by train from Ikebukuro plus 15 min walk, so a daytrip should be feasible. Showa Kinen Koen is even closer to Tokyo, about 30-40 min by train from Shinjuku, so no problem there. Akebono Kodomonomori Koen too is not far from Tokyo in the town of Hanno which has direct 40-60 min rail link with Ikebukuro. But there does not seem to have any local bus from Hanno rail station to the park, so maybe taxi is the way to go. Oshino Hakkai is within the Fuji Five Lakes area and though it may possibly be done as a daytrip from Tokyo, an overnight stay in the area to take in other sites is highly recommended. Yachonomori Koen and Fukiware no taki are in Gumma Prefecture and doing them as a daytrip from Tokyo would be stretching it, not my idea for having an enjoyable trip.

We gave up on the troublesome ticketing requirements for Gundam Front Tokyo and just took a look at the show room and took photo of the 1:1 Gundam outside. The mighty Gundam is definitely worth a few photos. Note that it is said to be on display till Mar 2013 only.

I haven't written any trip report or travel blog as I am no good in words. I just love doing research for our trips, so if further references are needed I'll try to dig them up from my disorganized pile of gathered materials.

Happy Planning.

@ William5-san:
Hmm, so it seems that i better drop Yachonomori Koen and Fukiware no taki, since they are pretty far to reach from Tokyo or Kyoto.

We plan to start from Kyoto then heading north to Tokyo (and further to Hokkaido if possible).
Since we will be staying at Kyoto & Tokyo, then taking day trips from there, if we add Kanazawa's Kenrokuen, Mito's Kairakuen & Okayama's Korakuen , would it be fit with our itinerary?

PS: Sorry for keep asking ^^

As daytrips, Okayama from Kyoto and Mito from Tokyo are OK. I have second thought about Kanazawa from Kyoto as a daytrip. Solely a whirlwind tour of Kenrokuen is possible but Kanazawa has so much to offer besides the garden that it deserves an overnight stay at least.

@ William5-san:
Hearing your opinion above, me & my friend has discussed to add Kawazawa into our itinerary and plan to stay one night there. However, although we had browsed about this place, we still have no idea about what is best to view there beside Kenrokuen.

About Mito's Kairakuen, does the trip from Tokyo (and vice versa) fully covered with JR Pass?

Thank you very much for always giving us advice for our trip ^^

You can easily do Kanazawa as a daytrip from Kyoto, though.

If you are unfamiliar with the city's sites, here is a list of some of the most famous/popular:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2167.html

To be honest, if you plan well, you can see everything on that list in one day but overnight will be nice.

I don't know what days you finally decided for your trip, but if you go out to Korakuen Garden in Okayama, you can also stop in Wake Town to see the wisteria park there:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/a40e1/ec723/

@ Rabbityama-san:
This is the first time i've heard about Wake Town ^^!
The wisteria park looks very nice too.
Thank you very much for the tips ^^!!

Umm, if we want to stop by at this town, can we do it in the middle of our travel to/from Okayama?
I read that the train fare to Okayama is fully covered by JR Pass, but what about this city?
I am still looking for information regarding how to get to this place, but google always directed me to "wake" town (wake like awake, lol)
And i am reading your blog right now. That's a nice travel record ^^
Thanks again for the tips ^^!

To do some in-depth research on Kanazawa, the following are some general introduction websites:
http://discoverkanazawa.com/
http://www.kanazawa-tourism.com/eng/guide/guide1_1.php
http://www.kanazawa-tourism.com/
http://www.kanazawa-tourism.com/eng/data/data1.php
http://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/english/area.html
http://www.city.kanazawa.ishikawa.jp/index_e.html
http://kggn.sakura.ne.jp/index.html
http://www.eyeon.jp/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Kanazawa
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2167.html

The top attraction is of course Kenrokuen
http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/siro-niwa/kenrokuen/e/index.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4200.html

Across the road from Kenrokuen are Kanazawa Castle and its park
http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/siro-niwa/kanazawajou/index.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4202.html

Higashi Chaya District/Eastern Quarter
http://www.ochaya-shima.com/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4206.html

gold leaf factory/store with free taste of tea with kippaku, demonstration and DIY workshop
http://www.goldleaf-sakuda.jp/page_file/index_e.html

Yasue Gold Leaf Museum
http://www.kanazawa-museum.jp/kinpaku/
http://www.kanazawa-tourism.com/eng/guide/guide1_4.php?no=5

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4209.html

Nagamachi Samurai District and Japanese Garden
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4204.html
http://www.nomurake.com/

Ninjadera
http://www.myouryuji.or.jp/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4205.html

Seisonkaku
http://www.seisonkaku.com/english/index.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4201.html

Kanazawa Noh Museum
http://www.kanazawa-noh-museum.gr.jp/

Omicho Market for seafood with Kegani crab a popular local specialty
http://ohmicho-ichiba.com/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4207.html
highly recommended place for sashimi rice, just allow time for the queue
http://www.ohmicho-inoya.com/

Kaga Yuzen is the one-stop souvenir and hands-on experience place
http://www.kagayuzen.or.jp/kaikan.html

another popular shopping place
http://www.100bangai.co.jp/

geisha performance
http://www.kanazawa-kankoukyoukai.gr.jp/feature_geikonotabi10/

kimono rental to walk around town
http://www.kagayuzen-club.co.jp/english/yuzenkan/experience.htm
http://www.kagayuzen.or.jp/kaikan2.html

Japanese sweets DIY
http://kanazawa.ftw.jp/gaiyo.html

sand-blast glass handicraft DIY
http://kanazawa.ftw.jp/u4642.html

Since you are visiting Apr or May look out for some annual springtime events. The following are some held this spring, just keep monitoring the webpage for next year update.
http://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/shiki/spring/index.html

You are right. The Golden Week typiclly starts on 29th April. Since 29th falls on Monday in 2013, I would think people start travelling on Saturday, 27th. Plces are crowded and it might be difficult to make reservations for Shinkansen even if you have the JR Pass. I would recommend that you start the trip in early/mid Apri and end before the GW. I am from Kyoto (now living in LA), and Sakura is most beautiful in mid-April in Kyoto (although it is hard to say because it depends on the weather). Have a great trip!

@ William5-san:
Wow, so many information! O.O
Sooo many places to visit in Kanazawa!
Those links are very helpful (i am reading them one by one right now ^^), especially the spring events, higashi-shops, shopping places, and many others. Thanks to your links, we have quite good ideas about what to do & where to go while being there.
Thank you very much, William-san. We really really appreciate all your information!

@ Kichi-san:
Due to Golden Week, we changed the date of trip into 10th April - 26th / 27th April (not fixed yet). But this way, we afraid we won't be able to view tulip & wisteria flower. As for sakura, hopefully around that time we can enjoy the bloom starting from kyoto to tokyo. =^^=

Don't despair about not seeing tulips during your time of visit. Not far from Kanazawa is Tonami with its nation-wide famous Tulip Fair which is held annually from late Apr to early May. This year it started Apr 25 and last year it started Apr 22. Keep monitoring the following websites for any update schedule in 2013.

http://www.tulipfair.or.jp/fair2012/
http://www.tulipfair.or.jp/

@ William5-san:
Oh my, oh my.. All those tulips are so tempting!
We've never seen tulip before & we'd be happy if we can visit the fair & enjoy those flowers.
But unfortunately, around 20th April we will be staying & travelling around Tokyo.
Do you think we should go to the fair from Tokyo? Perhaps you can recommend us how to get to Tonami from Tokyo? Does it covered with JR Pass? (seeing those pics of the Tulip fair, i think we will still going there even though the travel fare is expensive, lol)

Hi mchan07, you sound so excited when it comes to flowers, just like my boss (my wife)!

The national JR rail pass will cover the trip from Tokyo to Tonami, but the journey is at least 4 hrs with 2 transfers whereas from Kanazawa it is only 1-1.5 hrs.

If your time of visit doesn't allow you to go for the Tonami Tulip Fair, be content with Sakura Furusato Square and Showa Kinen Koen both of which are easily done as daytrips from Tokyo. My wife likes the tulip fields in Showa Kinen Koen so much that she says I'm forgiven for not bringing her to see wisteria at the right period in Ashikaga Flower Park, LOL.

@ William5-san:
Well, i think flowers are best friends for women ^^
Observing your pics, i think you & your wife must had wonderful trips.
We just hope we can view the same beautiful scenery as you guys.
Anyway, many thanks again for all the info & please send our regard to your wife =^^=

Even most Japanese people have not heard of Wake! haha

Wake would be covered by the JR Pass. It is on the regular Sanyo Line between Okayama and Himeji. The station is Wake Station. You can rent a bike to reach the Wisteria Park for 300 yen or take a taxi. If the wisteria are in full bloom, the bike actually ends up being faster, because the roads are crowded with cars trying to get to the wisteria.

If you are able to use the internet during your trip, the town's official website actually tracks the blooming of the wisteria so if you see it says the wisteria are over 40% blooming, you may want to go. If they are under or not blooming at all, you won't have to waste time stopping. (They can also tell you at the bike rental what percentage the flowers are in bloom. They say that the best time to go is at 80% rather than full bloom because the wisteria are so long that at full bloom, some of the parts may be dying but at 80% everything is beautiful).

Of course, it's early now, but if you have the thread bookmarked, here is the town's website:
http://www.town.wake.okayama.jp/