Japan Student Trip Autumn & Queries

Hi everyone 👏, We are a Group of 3 Polytechnic Students (18-20 yrs old) travelling around Japan for the first time ever for 2 weeks during our off campus Holiday from Singapore.
We have a strong interest in the Japanese culture especially temples,shrines and natural wonders. However we would also not want to miss out the bustling city of Tokyo while were in Japan!, we are willing to wake up early to see the sights or to travel on the Shinkansen to beat the crowds as well. 👌

We are the kind of people that enjoy seeing the gHighlightsh at destinations, However prefer to take our time in general and would rather not rush things unless we have too. I hope that i can obtain more information about travel spots and basic information in general which we would be very appreciative off.



Full Japan Dates: 29th Sep- Oct 12th

Kyoto: (29thSep-4th October)
-5 nights
|
| (Shinkansen-Morning, we are willing to wake up early)
|
Hiroshima: (4th-5th October)(incusive of Miyajima Island)
-1 night
|
| (Shinkansen-Himeji on the way to Ōsaka)
|

Osaka: (5th -7th October) (Day trip to Nara)
- 2 nights
|
| (Shinkansen)
|
Tokyo: (7th-12th October) (Day trip to Hakone and Nikko)
-5 nights
|
| Fly Home
|

Queries:
-Will a 7 day pass be sufficient if we activate it right before we leave Hiroshima, or would a 14 day pass be more advisable. As we will be able to cover the trips to/from the airport as well as cater our interest of visiting/staying in Nikko/Hakone while in Tokyo.
Or perhaps there are alternative passes that would be better?

-Also from 4th-5th September, is that enough time to see Hiroshima,Miyajima and lastly Himeji with just one night in Hiroshima on the way to Osaka? (We Want to see the castle)
Presuming we leave Kyoto early in the morning for the Shinkansen towards Hiroshima.

-We would like to travel light for the one night stay in Hiroshima, so would it be possible to store our luggage somewhere in Osaka/Kyoto such as train stations? and collect them when we come back.

-Also coming from a Bustling Tropical city like Singapore, Most of us have never really experienced the autumn colours and we might be a little bit too early in Japan too see them. However from what i have researched it seems that we might have a chance to see them in the more mountainous regions like NIkko during our stay? if not are there any recommended autumn spots along our route as we are willing to take some days out of tokyo and kyoto just to see them.

-If we do go to Nikko/Hakone is it worth an overnight stay?

-How is the weather during our stay?

Many Thanks in advance !! 👏

Will a 7 day pass be sufficient if we activate it right before we leave Hiroshima, or would a 14 day pass be more advisable. As we will be able to cover the trips to/from the airport as well as cater our interest of visiting/staying in Nikko/Hakone while in Tokyo. if you can fit Nikko and Hakone in to the 7 days, ie by 10/Oct a 7 day pass would seem to be sufficient. You can check yourself if the train to/from airport would make a 14 day pass pay off. BTW you could look into doing Kyoto ( with side trips to Nara and if you want to Osaka) - Himeiji - Hiroshima - Hakone - Tokyo - Nikko - Tokyo and activate your pass only once you leave Kansai for Himeiji. Ie donft come back to Osaka but go directly from Hiroshima to Hakone. This way probably you could have the 7 day pass active until your departure date ( which if you depart from Narita might be interesting)

-Also from 4th-5th September, is that enough time to see Hiroshima,Miyajima and lastly Himeji with just one night in Hiroshima on the way to Osaka? (We Want to see the castle)
Presuming we leave Kyoto early in the morning for the Shinkansen towards Hiroshima. I would go directly to Miyajima see it in the morning and then late afternoon for Hiroshima. You are not going to see a whole lot in Hiroshima though but you can go to the peace park. Then next morning you can go to Himeji and have the day there before catching nearly last train to Osaka.

-We would like to travel light for the one night stay in Hiroshima, so would it be possible to store our luggage somewhere in Osaka/Kyoto such as train stations? and collect them when we come back. you could obviously travel just the entire trip light. I traveled 2 months through Japan by bicycle with a bag of about 10 kg. This means youfd need to take nearly always hotels with a washing machine. Alternatively you can put luggage in lockers ( there are many, but luggage storage time will be different per each place) or - and thatfs what I am now doing when traveling with more luggage ( eg with all my business clothes) just use a delivery company ( eg Yamato Kuroneko) to ship your big luggage ahead to the following place you will stay. They can keep it Max 1 week and some hotels will also accept to receive it a few days before your arrival.

-Also coming from a Bustling Tropical city like Singapore, Most of us have never really experienced the autumn colours and we might be a little bit too early in Japan too see them. However from what i have researched it seems that we might have a chance to see them in the more mountainous regions like NIkko during our stay? if not are there any recommended autumn spots along our route as we are willing to take some days out of tokyo and kyoto just to see them. You are going a bit early for autumn colors in the region where you go. Here you can see how it evolved last year:
https://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo18/

I think you could either scrap Hiroshima and go up from Tokyo to eg Towadako ( easily reachable by Shinkansen) or you could go to the Alpine Route. In both cases you would need to scrap something.


-If we do go to Nikko/Hakone is it worth an overnight stay? it depends. I am a slow Traveller but I also have time to dedicate to one spot only. So yes, if you have the time to stay over, staying a night makes sense. For Hakone if you do it on your way from South to Tokyo then youfd be arriving in the evening anyway and would need to stay over a night. In Nikko it depends if you want to see temples and koyo. If yes, an overnight stay might be easier as you will need to get up in the mountains for the koyo.

-[ How is the weather during our stay?weather I obviously canft predict but the climate at end September/ early October is normally very nice. Warm but not too warm and generally good weather. But this might obviously change if a typhoon comes through. However it sounds worse than it is. Typhoons are relatively local and fast and actually have really good weather around them. For me the period you have picked is with May the best period of the year for traveling to Japan.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

@LikeBike Thanks a lot! We will definitely consider some of your advice, we will probably just stick with Hiroshima and come back next time for the autumn colours

5 day JR Hiroshima-Kansai pass 13,500 yen

Shin-Osaka to Tokyo reserved ticket 14,000 yen.

Cheaper than a seven day pass.

I would consider doing an overnighter at Hakone instead of daytrip. 1) you get more time there. 2) you are travel past it anyway.

Even staying in a cheap business hotel in Odawarra. Then take a cheaper local/express train to Tokyo instead of shinkansen.