Japan 30 Day Solo Itinerary?

So I am a 23 year old Irish guy travelling to Japan for the first time next month for 30 days.

Im just trying to work out an itinerary that makes sense for me considering I want to see as much as I can but also trying to live for less than €100 per day.

At the moment my plan is to follow the 21 day japan-guide itinerary and to add on days in certain locations. Looking for advice on what the best places to spend more time in would be.

Day 1 - 4: Time spent in Tokyo + possible day trips one or two days.

Activate 21 Day Rail Pass
Day 5: Tokyo to Ise to Nagoya
Day 6: Nagoya to Takayama
Day 7: Kanazawa
Day 8: Kanazawa to Kyoto
Day 9 - 12: Kyoto + possible day trips
Day 13: Kyoto to Mount Koya
Day 14: Mount Koya to Osaka
Day 15: Osaka to Hiroshima to Miyajima
Day 16: Miyajima to Nagasaki
Day 17: Nagasaki to Himeji
Day 18 - 24: ??? Rail Pass ends day 21
Day 25 - 30: Tokyo

Where would be the best locations to spend more time? At the moment I think adding an additional day to Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, and to end in Hokage on day 21 so as to get cheap rail fare back to Tokyo and possibly spend more time there.

Is this suitable or is this too much time spent in Tokyo? I am interested in experiencing the cultural, historical, food, rural and city life Japan has to offer.

Also I have read that having tattoos is quite taboo over there? What is the situation with this? I am half Irish/Vietnamese but am quite tall, so I look partly Asian so I am unsure as to whether people will mistake me for Japanese or consider me a foreigner.

I have an egg allergy as well but I dont think this will be an issue as I have traveled to Asia in the past and had no issues.

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. First time solo travelling so I am a bit frantic trying to organise everything myself.

I traveled to Japan 3 times, duration for each were 60, 35, and 21 days. When traveling for such a long duration I found it necessary to be flexible, because things can change. The 21-day JR Pass is good for a flexible itinerary. If you activate the pass on Day 5, it is good until Day 25 so you probably want to make all long distance trips within those days.

The places I stayed the longest are Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nara. I visited those 3 places on each trip.

Tattoo on foreigners are not treated the same as tattoo on Japanese. If you don't look like 100% Japanese, then you should be OK. But you will still have issues entering some onsens and beaches.

Fantastic trip you have planned.

As well as the extra days you suggest, I'd suggest an extra day in Kanazawa in any event, and if you want to visit the dome and atomic bomb museum, in Hiroshima as well. Otherwise, perhaps skip those towns altogether.

You can use your JR pass to go to Himeji from Kyoto or Osaka very easily, rather than squeezing it in on what will already be a long day in the train out of Nagasaki. We actually almost did this ourselves in March, travelling Nagasaki to Nagoya, and in the end could not stir ourselves to get off the train at Himeji. We'd been before, which no doubt factored in to the decision, but it didn't feel like it was going to be fun at that point.

I don't know how you are placed, but two 14 day passes might suit you better, with the couple of days gap coinciding with your time in Kyoto, where the JR pass isn't much use to you. JR passes are wonderfully flexible but it's worth thinking a bit strategically about the purchase, particularly on a longer trip.

Do the sums on hyperdia-a two week, then a one week (or vice versa) might be better for you than one three week. On the same theme, there are lots of great day or overnight trips out of Tokyo-Nikko, Mt Fuji area, Kawagoe: each of those can (or must) be reached by railways other than JR and you might think about looking into those packages, and how that affects the value you get out of different JR pass combinations.

I can't offer any advice about the tattoos but if in doubt carry some light adhesive bandages to cover them. I'd suggest most Japanese people can spot a foreigner pretty reliably, with language being one of the last things they rely on to do so.

Eggs pop up quite a bit in Japanese food, it might be worth having a printed card saying you are allergic so you can alert people in restaurants.

Have a wonderful time!

Way too fast. 2.5-4.0 hours of travel per day. No time for sightseeing.

Thank you for the wonderful responses you have very much helped me shape up my itinerary well, and thank you for the information about tattoos and my allergies.

I had never even considered buying two JR passes or splitting my time up so to avoid having to buy one a more expensive one. At the moment I have done some calculating and I think I am better suited to buying one 14 day pass rather than a 21 day pass or a 14 and a 7 day pass however any information on this would be of great help.

Would this seem like more of a suitable itinerary?

Day 1-4 - Tokyo, 2 day trips
Day 5 - Tokyo to Nagoya - Possible 7 day pass, but probably not needed
Day 6 - Nagoya
Day 7 - Nagoya to Takayama
Day 8 - Takayama
Day 9 - Takayama to Kanazawa
Day 10 - Kanazawa
Day 11 - Kanazawa to Kyoto
Day 12-15 - Kyoto, Day trip to Nara and Himeji half day
Day 16 - Kyoto to Mount Koya
Day 17 - Mount Koya to Osaka - Activate 14 day JR Pass
Day 18-21 - Osaka - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 22 - Osaka to Hiroshima - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 23 - Hiroshima - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 24 - Hiroshima to Miyajma - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 25 - Miyajima, Bunny Island Half Day trip - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 26 - Miyajima to Osaka - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 27 - Osaka to Tokyo - 14 Day JR Pass
Day 29-30 - Tokyo - 14 Day JR Pass

I decided that there were some places that I would have to get rid of such as Nagasaki and Ise as my original plan seemed very ambitious.

I think this plan will be more suitable and involves a slower paced trip rather than trying to cram everything into one.

Any advice on how to better arrange this trip or any additional information would be of great help.

Please and thank you!

You mentioned Tokyo, Ise, Nagoya, Takayama, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Mount Koya,
Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima Miyajima, Nagasaki and Himeji. All of these are
cultural/historical places so you don't include nature spots. Also you plan to
stay in Tokyo for 10 days which, in my opinion, is far too long for the first
timer traveling 30 days. Of course everyone has different preferences, but
I would recommend you to do some nature trips and stay less in Tokyo. In general
staying in Tokyo cost more than staying in rural area.

I would recommend you to buy Three Star Route Shinjuku ticket.

https://www.bus-navi.com/news/d3537db208ce9dcd2aff.pdf

This combination bus ticket will take you from Shinjuku (in Tokyo) to Matsumoto, Hirayu Onsen, Takayama, Shirakawago and finally to Kanazawa or Toyama (8560 yen, valid for 7 consecutive days). If you add 2050 yen you can visit Kamikochi, the best mountain resort in Japan, from Hirayu Onsen.

Also you might consider travel to Murodo, the highest point of Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route from Toyama (around 8000 yen round trip, you can't use Japan Rail Pass for this section). Murodo and Kamikochi are very nice place but the accommodation is rather expensive but there are some cheap options.

http://www.nishiitoya.com/en/

8500 yen icluding two meals.

http://www.mikuri.com/english/index.html

9300 yen including two meals.

I suggest staying in Shima Onsen at the end of your traveling.
It's so quiet and relaxing place.
My friends from Australia stayed at Kashiwaya Ryokan(Japanese style inn).
http://www.kashiwaya.org/e/
They said that it was a great experience. It has three private baths.(These are free of charge!)
Tattoo friendly(even in a public bath), staff are friendly, cuisine is excellent!
There is a beautiful lake(the color of the lake is sapphire blue), a dam and some waterfalls.
Before getting back to busy city Tokyo, enjoy rural Onsen!

Not to confuse things even more, but you might also consider whether one or more of the regional passes works into your itinerary (instead of or in addition to a general JR pass):

https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/pass-regional

Also I see that you would have an active JR pass while you are in Tokyo for the last few days in the above itinerary. While you might use it to get to whichever airport you are leaving from, in general it is inexpensive to buy single subway or JR tickets within the Tokyo area so you might want to concentrate on using the JR pass to cover some of your longer-distance routes earlier in your itinerary.