Looking for central travel hubs

Hi,

last time I visited Japan for 4 weeks and travelled almost day by day to a new town (except for 6 days in Kyoto and 7 days in Tokyo). That way I have travelled from Shirakami Sanchi in Akita to Takachiho in Kyushu.
As it was a bit stressful I want to change the way of travel this year.
I am going to stay for 5 weeks in Oktober/November and want to stay about a week at a central "hub" and go to places from there.
I'll start in Hokkaido (landing in Sapporo) and end in Kyushu (departing from Fukuoka).

So I'm looking for hubs in:
* Hokkaido (probably Sapporo?)
* Tohoku
* Kanto/ Chubu
* Shikoku / Chugoku/ Kansai
* Kyushu

that are most central. Meaning they have good connections. As I'm going to use Japan Rail Pass and local passes. It would be best if they had great connections by train to get to interesting places nearby (at most 2hrs I'd say).

Do you have any suggestions?

"Go to places", where?

I don't have any specific place just yet. I'm mainly into casual hiking (1 day trips) and everything else. I'd prefer off tourist spots.

The hub-based model of touring doesn't work well in Hokkaido, Kyushu or Shikoku. Not unless you like to waste hours traveling back and forth each day. As you said that daily point to point travel was stressful, have you considered just slowing down the pace a little?

Sapporo, Morioka, Sendai, Tokyo, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Maibara, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Himeji, Okayama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, etc.

I figured if you've traveled the entire length of Japan, you'd have a rough idea of what "hubs" are and they're most likely in fairly large cities along the major shinkansen lines.

Gor Shikoku Takamatsu might work. You can do:
Day1 Naoshima
Day2 Takamatsu and garden
Day 3 Teshima
Day 4 some of the 88 temples & onsen along the coast
Day 5 Kotohira
Day 6 iya valley (it's a famous gorge. Not sure about the name now)

For some destinations a car would be convenient but you can return to your hotel every night.

Enjoy Japan!

Earlier this year, I tried something similar to your idea of utilizing many hubs, after learning from the trip of 2016.
See my travel map here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1T_TRmNEWkYhHDy3J_gsp-VR3pAs&...

In my 2016 trip, I was moving (packing & unpacking) too much. In many places, I stayed only one night and that was too tiring. For 2017, I stayed in one place AT LEAST 2 nights (and most places 3) - that worked out MUCH better. So, instead of staying in "major" hubs where you stay for a week, I suggest you try "mini" hubs where you stay 2 or 3 nights at least.

Hokkaido and Shikoku are too big, and they don't have Shinkansen. So picking only one hub in those places is not very efficient (you will be spending most of your time on trains).

Thanks for all your answers!

I guess I'll do as you say and move from a central hub for a longer period to smaller hubs for 2-3 days.
But still it's a bit difficult for me.
Currently I'm trying to find stuff to do in northern Tohoku.
I thought I'd stay 2 nights at Aomori and then move south to Morioka.
But all places I have favored like eastern Shirakami Sanchi (Anmon Falls area), Iwakisan, Towadako or Shimokita seem to be not to convenient to travel to by bus/train for a day trip basis.
Guess I'll just stay 2 days at Aomori and see what I can do from there.

For Hokkaido I guess I'll book a car at Sapporo and take that to Hakodate even though the one way fee is 10tsd yen plus fuel and tolls. But it really seems to be the best option.

Unfortunately I can't afford to book a car all 5 weeks 😅

Thanks again for the input. I ended up taking the smaller hubs as Trip2Japan suggested. Making at least 2 day stops.
I'll see how that works out :)

Just a thought:

Reduce your North South distance ( far away is not always best)

And travel by CAMPING CAR: No more suitcase lugging, no more checking in-checking out, no more time tables to stick to.
Just go or stay as you like.

I'll land in Sapporo and depart at Fukuoka. The distance was willingly chosen.

Next time I'll try to get a camper. But they are too expensive as a single traveller.
My limit is 6500 yen per day for accommodation plus 2500 yen for transport.
The cheapest I could find was 7000 yen a day but without extra cost like fuel, tolls, sanitary, ...