First time 14-day travel help

Hello Dear people,

I'll be going to Japan for the first time. Below is an outline of a 14 day itinerary. I plan on getting the 14 day rail pass which I hope will cover most of the travel.

Day 1: Arrive in Osaka (overnight)
Day 2: Train to Kanazawa (Kanazawa 1/2 day)
Day 3: Matsumoto - Omiya
Day 4: Omiya - Tokyo (Ueno - Ota)
Day 5: Tokyo - Hitachi Seaside Park
Day 6: Tokyo (Harajuku - Shibuya)
Day 7: Tokyo (Tsukiji - Toyosu- Odaiba)
Day 8: Tokyo (Imperial Palace - Shinjuku)
Day 9: Tokyo (Ueno?) - Yokohama (or Shin Yokohama?)
Day 10: Kamakura - Shin Yokohama
Day 11: Enoshima
Day 12: Mt. Fuji - Atami (To catch sleeper train)
Day 13: Okayama - Himeji - Osaka
Day 14: Osaka (late departure)

Q1: Should I stay near Yokohama or Shin-Yokohama?
Q2: If I can't reserve the sleeper train should I return to Yokohama/Shin-Yokohama or stay overnight at Mt. Fuji?
Q3: Should I cut out Atami and Okayama/Himeji?
Q4: Best plan for luggage? I assume sending from Yokohama/Shin-Yokohama to Osaka hotel...

Thank you for your help in advance. :)

If Kamakura is your goal you are better to go to Yokohama. Note that Enoshima and Kamakura are very close together, you would benefit from staying in one or the other if you're breaking the visit over two days.

Where to stay if you can't book the sleeper will depend on what you're interested in doing.

I've not been to Okayama, but have been to Himeji and the castle is stunning. I think it's worth a visit. The garden nearby is also nice.

You could forward your luggage, or just take it with you if you travel light.

You mention a pass, but I doubt it will pay off for you. You can work it out easily with this calculator: https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/

A few thoughts-why only half a day in lovely Kanazawa? I'd take a second night there before heading to Matsumoto.

Why stop in Omiya? You're so close to Tokyo by then. If you're not wedded to Omiya, it's really easy to take the Chuo line direct from Matsumoto into Shinjuku, which buys you an extra night somewhere else.

Have a wonderful time in Japan!

Travel within the cities gives minimal value with a rail pass. You also can't go to Enoshima or Fuji all the way by a JR pass.

Kanazawa to Matsumoto to Omiya isn't really practical. It is 5-6 hours of trains.

The first couple of days of you itinerary are very rushed.

It's a kind of unusual trip plan.

Both the order of your places (if you put your Tokyo time at one end of your trip, you find a 7 day pass is fine for you), and the general itinerary (going all the way to Kanazawa for a half day visit, then doing the - scenic, but long - trip to Matsumoto, also for a very short visit) seem unusual to me.

However, I guess you want to do a high speed tour of famous castles and gardens.

Thank you all for the helpful responses!

Looking at it does seem unusual. However, for me airfare is very cheap flying in and out of KIX vs. almost double the price to fly NRT or multi-city. I'm not very interested in doing Kyoto/Osaka at the moment but plan to in the future during a different season and hope to cover more of Osaka/Kanazawa with the Alpine route on another trip.

You're correct! I want to see the gardens and nearby castles. I figured Omiya would be a nice place to rest as I want to go to the Bonsai Art Museum/Village and the Railway Museum. I'm staying in Tokyo (Ueno) for several nights already. I'll look into maybe Mito/Ibaraki area but it seems out of the way to stay the night. I like that I can do a reasonable day-trip to Hitachi Seaside from Tokyo.

Thanks for the advice. In doing more research, I think my mom would enjoy the Yokohama area for a few days/nights.

I am concerned that the early part of the trip is rushed but it's mostly hours of train rides (which should be relaxing and help with the jet-lag. We don't have trains where I live so I'll consider it part of the Japan experience :) Especially day Day 3 (Leave Kanazawa - Matsumoto Mid-day - Arrive Omiya late afternoon). I thought about leaving out Matsumoto and doing more Kanazawa but then, Day 2 would be almost just train so I added that stop. I also figured that if I like Matsumoto, I can go back another time for more regional travel/different season.

Thank you for the link! I've tried out the calculator and it estimates that the pass would pay for itself. I tried the Hyperdia site and found another more accurate with the stations I'm looking for at https://www.jrpass.com/farecalculator and it shows it'll actually work well in my favor. Unless I'm searching incorrectly. (I've removed the NOZOMI/MIZUHO/ HAYABUSA (SHINAKANSEN) and Private Railways. I left it on reserved seats as it should be covered by the JR pass. I don't know how different the price would be if I did unreserved, but I'll be traveling with a group of five or seven anyways.

Any suggestions on Enoshima and Fuji? As someone mentioned the JR pass wouldn't take me directly. Should I purchase other passes or pay by ticket? I did estimates based on google maps on the stops but they have so many pass options?

I know you want to visit a lot of places and do a lot of things to get the most of your visit , but just looking at this itinerary makes me feel rushed. Even though you say that the train rides will be when you relax, it can also be tiring. Making the connections; walking through huge, crowded stations; and being on a train for hours will take a toll on you and will get tired fast. And it seems you will have only a few hours to half day in certain areas. If you rush, you might not experience the little nuances and flavors of each place. When I first started traveling, I wanted to pack as much as I could into the itinerary because I felt like I might never come this way again or that I traveled all this way and I was spending all this money. I soon learned too take it a little easier. Just my two cents. Enjoy your trip and I hope you make many discoveries!

I don�ft see why you have to spend the night close to these places (Omiya and Mito) to see the sites you wish. These places close relatively early and you can make it back to your Tokyo-based hotel in plenty of time for a nice dinner somewhere.

I wondered if the bonsai museum was part of the draw of Omiya. It's very nice but not that big and probably 2-3 hours at absolute most. We had a night there for just that reason, but honestly (as someone else suggested) you could go to Omiya from Tokyo in the morning, see the bonsai museum and the train museum, and be back in Tokyo before the end of the day. Omiya itself didn't seem specially interesting.

I agree with other commenters that the magic of train travel can wear a bit thin when you're doing a lot at once. Note that to go from Matsumoto to Omiya you have to backtrack to Nagano, whereas you can go direct to Shinjuku from Matsumoto.

Matsumoto Castle is quite lovely. I'm not a fan of Kanazawa Castle-it's way too new and shiny inside-though Kenruoken is stunning. Definitely Himeji, and if you can rejig things a little you can also see Hikone Castle, on the shores of Lake Biwa.

Enjoy yourself!

I thought about leaving out Matsumoto and doing more Kanazawa but then, Day 2 would be almost just train so I added that stop.
I think you mean Day 3. However getting from Kanazawa to Tokyo (or Omiya if you really prefer, however I am with the PPs to stay in Tokyo instead) is fast (3 h, Shinkansen!). Getting from Kanazawa to Matsumoto to Ōmiya is slow (5 h total best case, lot of changing trains).

I don�ft know if it is the first time for you to travel with a group of 7. But I feel that specially with a bigger group you want to slow down a bit as everyone will have different interests and just �geat�h into your time allotment for each attraction. Also staying longer in a single place (eg Tokyo ) has the benefit of flexibility in your daily plans. If it rains today you can do something more Tokyo based and do the trip to Enoshima the next day.

Regarding your question how to reach Enoshima on a JR pass. Well you can reach Kamakura by jr and then simply take the Enoden Line from there to Enoshima and the onwards to Fujisawa either Odakyu or Enoden. These are relatively short rides and you can just pay out of the pocket ( I would get though an OC card for everyone as it is just so more comfortable and you can use it on local busses in Kanazawa and subway in Tokyo as well.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Thank you all for tips ;)