Japan 11 day itinerary in November

Hi
I'm planning my first trip to Japan, from 17th to 27th November. My itinerary is below, but I feel I'm staying at too many places. I'll be staying at 6 places in total, and wonder if I can cut it down.

17th - Arrive in Tokyo
18th - Tokyo - 1st day sight seeing
19th - Fujioshida (for Mt. Fuji, stay overnight)
20th - Kyoto (leave Fujioshida in the afternoon)
21st - Kyoto (1st day sight seeing)
22nd - Kyoto (2nd day sight seeing)
23rd - Koyasan (stay in temple)
24th - Osaka (leave Koyasan in the morning)
25th - Tokya (Himeji castle in the morning, and then leave for Tokyo in the afternoon)
26th - Tokya (2nd day sight seeing, shopping)
27th - leave Tokyo in the afternoon

I've kept Tokyo last largely for shopping.

1. At what point should I activate the 7 day JR pass? I'm thinking when I leave Fujioshida.
2. How to get from Fujioshida to Kyoto

Thanks for you help!

1. You would want to activate it for the trip to Kyoto, yes.

2. You will have to backtrack to Tokyo (likely Tokyo Station) in order to catch the bullet train to Kyoto. It will make for a long travel day (~5hrs), so keep that in mind when deciding when to leave (you said afternoon).

If I have to backtrack to Tokyo from Fujioshida to travel to Kyoto, then maybe I can instead push this towards the end of the trip ? i.e. Tokyo-Kyoto-Koyasan-Osaka-Fujioshida-Tokyo That way I don't spend time in travelling, which is something I would like to minimise.