Summer Itinerary

I will be flying into KIX on July 21st, and flying back out on August 16th. I have some of the days figured out:
July 21: Arrive, Nankai train to Namba.
July 22: Open
July 23: Open
July 24: Activate three week JR Pass, Train to Amanohashidate, Monju-do Mantsuri
July 25: train to Osaka, Tenjin Matsuri
July 26-August 1: Open
August 2: Nobeoka, Fireworks
August 3: Akita, Kanto Matsuri
August 4: Amori, Nebuta Matsuri
August 5: train to Sendai, Afternoon at Matsushima bay, Sendai Fireworks.
August 6: Sendai, Tanabata Matsuri
August 7-8-9: Open, but I want to end up at Miyajima Island on the evening of the 9th.
August 10: 48,000 Kannon Matsuri at Miyajima, train to Kochi
August 11: Kochi, Yosakoi Matsuri
August 12: more Yosakoi, train to Tokushima (final day of JR Pass)
August 13-14: Tokushima, Awa Odori Matsuri
August 15: Ferry to Wakayama
August 16: Bus to KIX, Fly out.

I have several gaps, and I will be lacking a JR Pass on the first gap.

I thought about adding a temple visit to Mount Koya on the first gap, because the JR Pass does not help. Other suggestions at or near Osaka would be helpful.

On the one week gap, I was thinking of going up to Hokkaido, because it will be cooler, and I can visit the lavender fields. I could also relax on a beach, such as Shirahama, or Atami. Another possibility is that I could head into the mountains, say, Takayama, Northern Alps, Kurobe Gorge before heading to Nobeoka.

Does anyone have an ideas as to what they would do with the one week gap, or, give me some feedback on the three options that I have outlined?

On the final open area, I could put something there too, but I am not sure what. Once again, any suggestions would be helpful.

Thank You, in advance, for any suggestions that you can make.

Nobeoka to Akita will be painful...

Hi,
You're a long term participant here, and have been to a few places so far. Nevertheless, you have a lot of gaps you want to fill - it may help if you start off by saying where you don't want to go as well, such as where you've already been to.

It's getting late here, but a cursory check shows you are using your JR Pass for 20 days, not 21 - if that matters.

It also looks like you are seriously gunning for every matsuri and fireworks show you can attend - if that is your primary focus. One thing that really jumps out is going to Nobeoka (I presume you mean in Miyazaki), and then the following day be in Akita City - you are going to fly, right? By train it would take you 14-15 hours. You might barely arrive in time with a dawn departure, but you won't feel like attending any festival.
If you go to Hokkaido in mid-summer, you might like the sunflowers there too.

I'll stop here until you can clarify a bit more.

Miyajima to Kochi will be a longish trip also. I calculate in my head it will be about 4-4.5 hours. Make sure you have left yourself enough time at Miyajima be heading off to Kochi.

Oops, sorry. That's Nagaoka. It is known for having a large fireworks display, with a very large shell at the end call a Phoenix shell. Nobeoka is a town in Kyushu that I have been to, that has a bus route to Takachiho.

Sorry about that. And yes, I have contributed to this forum a bit. I don't know what to expect to see if I
I so the Alpine Route at the end of July. Snow? The other option is going all the way up to Hokkaido, which seems like a long way. I may need to fly up from KIX, and not even try to use the JR pass to get there.

Thank you, for any additional help.

To Ken, there are lots and lots of festivals in July and August, and I have picked out bigger ones to go to. I have omitted Gion In Kyoto, because I have been to that. I have also not put in the PL Art fireworks display in Osaka, and the end of July (Sumeda ?)fireworks in Tokyo, both of which may fit the one week gap. I am trying to put something else in.

But yes, I want to hit as many different types of festivals. The big three in the north are all very unique. I would also like to see a Danjiri festival with cart racing, if I can. I know the big one in Kishiwada, Osaka is in the fall.

I also wanted to include the two dance festivals in Shikoku.

Thanks for the added info, but again, it would help if you gave more info on what you've seen, otherwise giving a lot of suggestions is like poking in the dark. You might like visiting Miyama for example along with Amanohashidate, but I don't know if you've seen it - your user profile gives no info on what you've seen or not seen. Maybe seeing some lesser known gems in the Hokuriku area might be good, or perhaps seeing some often bypassed places in Shiga or Gifu.
If you like fireworks though, you might browse the Aqua Geo channel http://bit.ly/2luOBc9
or Discover Nippon http://bit.ly/2DDfTVr for some insights or to just whet your appetite.

As I'm sure you know already, August in Japan can be brutal, so the Japan Alps or Hokkaido sound really nice. Walking down the Oirase in Aomori might be really good too.

Ken, you were also correct about using only 20 of the days of the 21 day pass. I will probably activate the pass a day earlier, and I may go to Amanohashidate a day earlier.

I probably going to add Hakone, and possibly Atami between Sensei and Miyajima.

That still leaves the week before Nagaoka. I want to go to Hokkaido, but I don't want to spend that much time on a train. I think Takayama, the Alpine Route, and possibly seeing the snow monkeys, is probably a better option.

Have you ever been to Hokkaido? It would seem that July/August is the best time to go. Some relief from the heat everywhere else. Even the alps can be quite hot and humid in summer.

Regarding the snow monkeys, without snow, they are simply monkeys and might actually not be around. Although they do get fed in the park, in summer they should be able to find so much food out in the wild... as it seems you are a regular visitor of Japan, I would do that in winter. Then you can also enjoy the close by onsen village.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

In terms of time, the sunflowers and lavender fields should be at peak bloom in Hokkaido. I think that if I do choose to go to Hokkaido, I will need to budget for plane tickets to reduce travel time. I did initially budget for a three week AND a one week JR pass, and I expected to fly in and out of Tokyo Narita airport. The direct flights have me two extra days in Japan, and, I was going to use my airline miles. I am now paying for airline tickets, and dropping the extra one week pass. I am dealing with some budget issues, but I think I can overcome these.

Something else is also bothering me about going to Hokkaido. When I try to put in Osaka and Sapporo into Hyperdia, and change the filters to JR only, no route comes up. Does the JR pass not cover access to Hokkaido? Are you required to use a private line at this time for one of the legs of the trip? This seems like a glitch in Hyperdia, but it may not be.

I would look into cheap flights. But yes, there is JR from Osaka to Hokkaido,
Osaka-Tokyo, Tokyo-Shin-Hakodate by Shinkansen and then on by JR train to Sapporo or other plac s (Asahikawa...) in Hokkaido. I haven�ft looked it up, but I�fd expect that Osaka -Asahikawa could easily take 24 h of riding time.
There are sometimes cheap flight guys specially for tourists.

I think I am going to approach this as if this will be my final trip to Japan in the Summer, ever. I am now planning to fly to Hokkaido from Osaka KIX, and probably fly back to Nagano which is closer to Nagaoka, using discount air lines. I am probably going to figure out how to add a day or two at the end, so that I can see the Daimonji Bonfire in Kyoto on August 16th, before I depart. I am supposed to be at work on the 18th, but I know that I may be able to trade off days.

I haven't figured out everything, but I now have a fairly good start. I somewhat freaked when I checked for airline tickets with my airline miles. I know several hotels and ryokans will start booking their rooms six months in advance, so I was starting to panic. I want to have my itinerary nailed down, along with the finances, before I book my first ryokan.

Thank You, once again, for your assistance.