Fly in to Osaka or Tokyo (from Melbourne)?

Any advice/tips from past travelers? I'm leaning towards Osaka because of its relative cheapness compared to flying in to Tokyo, and a lot of the places I intend on visiting are in the Kansai area (or around it).

Oh, and I don't think KIX airport will be as bustling/full of people in comparison to the airport in Tokyo (and that can only be a good thing seeing as I'm not really accustomed to crowds! :P)

Any advice/tips from past travelers?

I prefer KIX but I don't really care either way.

I'm leaning towards Osaka because of its relative cheapness compared to flying in to Tokyo,

What dates are you travelling? If you are looking for cheap then sign up to Jetstar's Jetmail and book when they have a sale on. Usual sale prices are around AU$600 return from Melbourne to either KIX or NRT, makes no difference to price usually.

and a lot of the places I intend on visiting are in the Kansai area (or around it).

Then KIX may make sense. You may also wish to fly into KIX and out of NRT or vice versa.

Do you have a rough itinerary?

Oh, and I don't think KIX airport will be as bustling/full of people in comparison to the airport in Tokyo

They are both fine. I don't think it makes that much difference.

Enjoy your trip!

Bear in mind that this is just a rough itinerary (I'll be working on in tonight):

Spending a total of 2 weeks (or possibly more..?) in Japan:

- Land in Osaka, catch the train to Kyoto.
- ~4 days in Kyoto, with day trips to Hiroshima/Miyajima (probably staying in Hiroshima for a night, undecided), Hikone, Nara (Lantern festival, mountain fire festival)..?
- Take the train from Kyoto to Unuma - Inuyama (to see Inuyama-jo), & then catch the train back up to Takayama (stay the night, see Shirakawa-go the following day) on the same day.
- Would also like to visit Magome/Tsumago (walk the pass), stay (or at least visit) Matsumoto for the castle.
- Tokyo for a few days, with day trips to Nikko & the Mt Fuji area.

I would also like to visit the Snow Monkeys at the Onsen (Jigokudani (spelling)?) and see the Sapporo Yuki Matsuri (highly doubting I'll be able to make it as it's so far away).

Anyway, like I said this is incredibly rough, but it gives you an idea of what I want to see.

By the way I plan on going somewhere around the 25th for ~2 weeks.

25th of January??

Will comment later on the rest once I have time. You could include Sapporo snow festival if you don't mind spending time on trains, or you could fly there.

Yes, January. Sorry, I thought I included it when I posted my response O_o

What dates are you travelling? If you are looking for cheap then sign up to Jetstar's Jetmail and book when they have a sale on. Usual sale prices are around AU$600 return from Melbourne to either KIX or NRT, makes no difference to price usually.

$600? Really? O_o The prices I've seen haven't really budged below $950 (Jetstar). I've seen some flights advertised for around $800 on Adioso, but they have incredibly long layover periods (like ~18h) and rely on multiple airline companies.

$600? Really?

Yes. Really!

Like I said, sign up to Jetmail and wait. I expect a sale sometime in the next month or so. Of course, can't be predicted exactly.