Feasibility of our planned trip

Hello!

We are planning to go to Japan in October 23rd to November 1st or 2nd. None of us has ever visited Japan before, so we have only google maps to plan our travels. Could anyone please check our plan and shed some light on the following:

-Is it feasible time-wise and at the time we want to take each train?
-If not, could any changes be made to make it feasible
-Is everything covered by the JR Pass?
-If not, which lines will cost us extra?
-Are there any festivals during these dates that are close to the areas we'll visit?

Our Plan:

1st Day: Our flight arrives in Tokyo at 10:35PM in the morning. We will leave immediately for Osaka. The places we want to visit there so far are the Osaka castle, Nara Park and take the train to Himeji caste. We will leave for Kyoto late evening/early nigh to spend the night there.
2nd & 3rd Day: We will spend 2 days in Kyoto.
4th Day: We leave early morning for Shirakawa and spend a couple of hours there and Gokayama We'll then leave for Toyama to visit the Toyama Bay at night. We catch a late train for Tokyo.
5th Day: We think of spending the day around the foot of Mt Fuji, before leaving around 8AM-9AM for Sapporo (sleeping on the train rides there) from either Kofu or Fuefuki.
6th & 7th Day: We are still not sure which areas to visit (mostly because we don't know if the trip to Sapporo will be feasible), except for the Shirogane Blue Pond. Late evening we leave for Tokyo (Is the JR Pass valid if we exchange train early morning of the 8th day?)
8th to 10th Day: We will spend the last few days in Tokyo and the nearby areas.

I know it's not a throughout plan, but we only want to know about the feasibility of traveling between the areas.

Your first day is totally unreasonable. Too much to do!

Ummm... I admit being a slower traveler than many, but your itinary just wont work.

Please look again at Google maps with the right scale, look at Hyperdia (or google maps) for your train connections, and have a look in a guide book or on this web page about access of your places.

1st Day: Our flight arrives in Tokyo at 10:35PM in the morning. We will leave immediately for Osaka. The places we want to visit there so far are the Osaka castle, Nara Park and take the train to Himeji caste. We will leave for Kyoto late evening/early nigh to spend the night there.

Assuming you arrive at 10:35 AM (i.e. morning) at Haneda (or do you arrive in Narita???), with passing through customs, exchanging your JR pass etc, you will be likely leaving the airport around 11:30 at the earliest and then head to Tokyo to take the Shinkansen. Assuming you arrive at Haneda (closer to Tokyo than Narita), you'll be in Shinagawa (best case) around 12:00 and in Shin-Osaka after 15;00 (because you can't take Nozomi with JR). And at Osaka castle not before 15:30 (you will need to leave your luggage in a locker at Shin-Osaka station and pick it up later. The castle closes at 17:00 (as many other places in Japan do), so you will have exactly the time to visit Osaka castle, which BTW is not a terribly interesting castle.

If you'd go directly from Shinagawa to Himeiji, I don't think that you'll have enough time to see the castle. Checkout opening hours, size of Himeiji castle, transport from Shinkansen station to castle...

So on day 1 , I would really only go to Kyoto, do potentially some sightseeing in the later afternoon in Kyoto (e.g. Shrines normally don't close), and then have day 2 and 3 also in Kyoto with potential side trip to Nara or (!) Himeiji. I would skip Osaka completely.


2nd & 3rd Day: We will spend 2 days in Kyoto.
4th Day: We leave early morning for Shirakawa and spend a couple of hours there and Gokayama We'll then leave for Toyama to visit the Toyama Bay at night. We catch a late train for Tokyo.

It's about 4 h Kyoto to Shirakawa, and apparently the first train would bring you there at around 11:00. Then let's give you a full hour of sightseeing plus 30 min for a quick lunch, let's skip completely Gokayama (which admittedly is nicer than Shirakawa, but harder to reach) and you head off to Toyama, which will take your roughly 2 h. At around 15:00 you will be in Toyama and can head towards the bay. I think you said you'll be going in October, check the sunset hour, but let's assume around 17:00. You will look at the bay (what is there specific to see at night in October??? - I am ignorant of it... I know Toyama bay is famous for some squids, but I thought that was in spring??? ) for 1 h, headback to Toyama station, and you'll be around 22:00 at Tokyo station. What did you accomplish in this day? You saw a few thached roofed, nice houses and starred at a dark bay. Is that worth 9 h on different types of transport? Your call.

5th Day: We think of spending the day around the foot of Mt Fuji, before leaving around 8AM-9AM for Sapporo (sleeping on the train rides there) from either Kofu or Fuefuki.

You probably mean 8 or 9 pm (20:00 or 21:00). I am not an export on these night trains, but Kofu - Sapporo station in the best case is something like 11 h on various trains. You would need to look up when the last train from Kofu to Tokyo is, and then catch the night train from there. Flying would make things easier. E.g. you could look into flying from Haneda to Asahikawa directly.

BTW, there are also a lot of people on this forum that doubt that looking at the foot of Mt. Fuji is such a thrilling experience. I can't comment, although I have been travelling extensively in Japan, I have never been to Fuji 5 Lakes and only attempted once (20+ yrs ago) to hike up, at night...

6th & 7th Day: We are still not sure which areas to visit (mostly because we don't know if the trip to Sapporo will be feasible), except for the Shirogane Blue Pond. Late evening we leave for Tokyo (Is the JR Pass valid if we exchange train early morning of the 8th day?)

Well if you manage to see on Day 6 Shirogane Blue Pond, that is likely everything you are going to achieve that day. Shirogane Blue Pond is 150 km from Sapporo and it does not have a good public connection. If you'd be renting a car (not included in JR pass) it's about 3 h each way. If you go public, expect something maybe around 4 h, one way.

8th to 10th Day: We will spend the last few days in Tokyo and the nearby areas.

So in conclusion, I would re-do the entire itinary. E.g. starting here, or in any other guidebook you trust. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400.html

A typical itinary (based on the places you cite) for 10 days would be Tokyo, Kyoto, Himeiji, Shirakawa (and that is already hectic for me). Obviously Tokyo - Sapporo - Biei - Tokyo is an alternative.

Enjoy planning your trip!

Totally not feasible if you want to get your money worth.

At the end of day 4 you will be exhausted and in a constant rush and you would have seen or enjoyed nothing of your great trip to Japan.

If this is your first time (or only time you visit Japan) then I would go for quality over quantity.
Day 1 -(2) stay in Tokyo and enjoy its sights. Akihabara and Akasaka. Shibuya and Shinjuku with temples, parks and food.
Day 3(2) - 5 Go to Kyoto and make it your Hub. From there Miyajima (itsukushima island with its Tori), Himeji, Osaka, Nara are just 1 - 3 h by Shinkansen away and some combination of these is even doable in a single day.
Day 6-8 Fuji Five Lakes, Nikko(?) and adding maybe something in that area closer to Tokyo as you leave from there.

I would definitely forget about Sapporo. Why would it be worth on such a short trip? You will get your money worth out of JR Pass anyway.

Thank you both for your reply! As I said, we haven't visited Japan, therefore we didn't know the castles close at 17:00. I can understand it's not feasible indeed. We'll check on your feedback and see what to do. Btw, do you have any onsen inn suggestions in Kyoto?