Japan itinerary

Hi, I'll be visiting Japan in April next year for 13 days for the cherry blossoms and am having a little hard time planning out the itinerary. I will land at Narita Airport on the 3rd and was thinking of staying in Tokyo until the 10th, whereby I'll travel from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. I was thinking that Shin-Osaka's a good place to stay at as it seems to be a convenient point of access to visit Kyoto, Nara and Nagoya. I would then travel from Shin-Osaka back to Tokyo on the 15th and stay a night, before my flight the next day evening. Just need advice on some points as follow:

1. From Tokyo, I would like to visit the Hakone Shrine and Mt. Fuji and it seems that they're both nearer to Tokyo. Do I also have time to visit the Bunny Island? In this case, which day should I activate my 7-day JR rail pass?

2. Does it make sense to visit Yokohama on the way from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka on the 10th? I'm thinking of visiting the cup noodle museum and perhaps some places of interest for a short day trip. Am just a little afraid of missing the last shinkansen to Shin-Osaka (if this day trip even makes sense).

3. I'm thinking of leaving 2 days for Kyoto itself as I would like to visit the Fushimi-inari shrine, Arashiyama Bamboo grove & Gion area. Perhaps also leaving some time to walk around leisurely in Kyoto city itself. I would assume that both days as day trips make sense since the travelling time back to Shin-Osaka is quite short?

4. I understand that Nara is good for a half-day trip so I'm thinking of using half a day for that, but am just not sure which day to place Nara in. Should I use it as a half-day trip on the way from Shin-Osaka back to Tokyo, or is that actually quite a far distance to cover?

5. I would also like to visit Nagoya as a day trip. This seems to be right smack in the middle of Osaka and Tokyo, and though a little nearer to Osaka, I don't really know where to place it. Please advise.

Any other free time would probably be spent on experiencing Osaka. I'm not very keen on taking my luggage and moving from one accommodation to another hence I would appreciate it if I could minimise this. Thanks!

Shin-Osaka is where the shinkansen station is but isnt the in centre of Osaka. I would look for hotels in other area's but dont know Osaka enough to advise where. The transport links are plenty good enough to get to Shin-Osaka easily. I would personally move the Osaka stay forward a couple of days and split the Tokyo stay between the start & end of the trip. Yokohama is a nice day trip from Tokyo. I enjoyed the cup ramen museum but others may say there isnt really much there.
Kyoto & Nara are, as you say both easy day trips from Osaka.

I will write more later if others havent covered things but I have to go to work now.

Yokohama : doing is at a day trip on your way to Osaka should not be a problem unless you start your day very late. Have a look at google maps or hyperdia but the last train should be around 21:00 from Shin Yokohama. It is however do close to Tokyo that you could do it as a normal day trip from Tokyo as well.

Nagoya: I personally would do Nahoya on your way from Tokyo to Osaka. In my eyes there isn�ft that much to see in Nagoya so you could spend the day there and then take the last train, likely around 21:30 to Tokyo.

Also remember that in Japan it gets dark very early. So after 17:00 there isn�ft a lot of sightseeing you can do.

Nara: for me needs 2 days. But it depends on what you want to see. You could combine Nata with Uji if you only want to do half day.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

The best place to visit Kansai and Kyoto.
You are in the center of traditional Japan
Have a good day

Jacky

I agree with @likebike regarding Nagoya. The castle is spectacular but I couldn't find much else compelling there. The extra time would be much better spent in Nara

If you like eel - it's supposed to be a Nagoya speciality (although the vast majority of them will be imported from elsewhere - generally from abroad). You can get eel eki-ben if you're just passing through and changing trains.....

Hi!
Since no one else has really hit on this yet... You said you wanted to visit Hakone and Mt. Fuji. Usually people think of Mt. Fuji as Fuji Five Lake. It is an easy day trip from Tokyo there but it's going to take you over an hour to get from there to Hakone and it's something you will need more than 1 day to do. Pr are you saying you want to try to see Mt. Fuji from Lake Ashi?

Okunoshima (the Rabbit Island) is closer to Hiroshima than Osaka. It's not so far, but the connections can be tricky and make the trip take longer than it should otherwise.

I've stayed in Shin-Osaka. It's... quiet and sort of dead. There are very limited dinning and shopping options in the station itself.