1 night between Naoshima & Tokyo?

I'm working my way westward early in my trip, from Kyoto to Mt Koya to Naoshima. The current plan after Naoshima is to either go all the way back to Tokyo or do one last night in Kyoto.

Does anyone have any recommendations of memorable places on the pack back to Tokyo? Takayama/Shirakawa?

I personally did not like Takayama. Too many tourist in the one nice street. I did like though Shirakawa.

But I think that as a 1 night stop between Naoshima and Tokyo that�fs a bit too much travel time.

What about adding a day in Nara? Or Izu peninsula. Or Hakone? It really depends on your interests. Eg onsen, nature, temples, some museum...

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

I havent been yet but am developing a desire to visit Shizuoka https://shizuoka-guide.com/english/

I would suggest against Takayama because you are looking at at least 6 hours of train travel to reach there from Uno ignoring the ferry from Naoshima. It will then take you close to 5 hours the next day to get to Tokyo. Shirakawa Go is going to be about 5 hours to Kanazawa and then 1 hour plus on the bus to Shirakawa Go.

I think an ideal stopover isn't going to extend your trip by several hours each day, it should be somewhere sort of on the way.

I guess I would look at Shizuoka or Hakone or Nara or if you want to do more traveling the first day and want to go to the coast, maybe Kanazawa. (It will take you close to 5 hours to get there, but the next day is less than 3 to get from Kanazawa to Tokyo. )

?Takamatsu?