Planning 23 nights in Japan

ello I need help with my plan please. Open to all suggestions places I am missing or shouldn't go or to little or to much time. Looking at 21 day rail pass and want to hit all the major spots during cherry blossoms at peak.


March 31st - Tokyo : Land 1700 eat and Spend night
April 1st - Day 1 Tokyo (night): Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku
April 2nd - Day 2 Tokyo (night) : Ginza, Samida, Akihabara
April 3rd - Day 3 Leave Tokyo(early)- Hiroshima (night) : peace park , Shukkein garden, castle
April 4th - Day 4 - Hiroshima (night) : Miyajima
April 5th Day 5- Hiroshima (night) - Onomichi
April 6th - Day 6 Hiroshima- Okunoshima (bunny island) – Osaka (night)
April 7th Day 7 - Osaka (spend night)
April 8th - Day 8 - Osaka(leave early)- Kyoto (spend night)
April 9th Day 9 - Kyoto (spend night) : day trip to himeji
April 10th - Kyoto
April 11th - Kyoto: Day trip Nara
April 12th Kyoto : day trip Arashiyama (bamboo forest)
April 13 - Kyoto – Hakone
April 14th Hakone – Kawaguchi lake ( mt fuji, suicide forest)
April 15th Hike chureito pagoda – Shibu onsen (Nagano)
April 16th Shibu onsen (Nagano) – Jigokudani – matsumoto
April 17th Nagano- Takayama
April 18th Takayama
April 19th Takayama(early)- Kanazawa
April 20th Kanazawa
April 21st Kanazawa (early)- Kamakura Day trip – Tokyo
April 22nd Tokyo : Nikko Day trip
April 23rd Tokyo – Asakusa, Ueno then fly out at 1825

three spots I kinda wanted to check out but had trouble finding room not sure if there worth it. DOn't want to be super busy but like medium>

Mount Koya?
Izu Peninsula ?
Okayama?

Mount Koya/Koyasan is a very interesting location if you are into temples. There is also Okunoin Cemetery - almost a reason alone to visit Koyasan. It is Wakayama so requires a little of traveling from Osaka but a lot of people do it as a one night and even day trips.

Don't go suicide forest.

nagano to takayama is a long journey. Maybe you could take the bus from kanazawa (after staying overnight there) to takayama with a stop at shirakawa go/gokayama.

Wouldn't it be better to do Kyoto to Kanazawa to Takayama to Nagano to Fuji 5 Lakes to Hakone? Less travel so more time for sightseeing.

From the additional destinations you list, Okayama is the easiest to reach. Just an additional stop between Kansai and Hiroshima.
Koyasan is nice but to go there Ifd spend a night there and for me the same holds true for Izu peninsula.

Be aware that Hanami is notoriously hard to plan for. You could be too late/too early. However, specially if you are gtoo lateh there is often some place around that is a bit higher up that blooms like a week later.

Eg this year I had 3 weeks of fantastic Hanami in Kansai region:
7\Apr in Kyoto : http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2019/04/hanami-at-kyoto-temples...
13\Apr in Yoshino
21/Apr at Miho Museum http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2019/04/miho-museum-perfect-day...

Last year I remember being on 2/Apr/2018 at Osaka castle and it was already falling petals. This year that weekend it was just about starting to bloom.

Prediction donft get accurate until a few weeks out and even then can still suffer changes due to sudden changes in weather, wind, rain...

So : stay flexible!

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

If you don't have specific plans for Osaka on Day 7, you could do Koyasan as a day trip. The conventional wisdom is that you "have to" spend a night at Koyasan, but I totally disagree with that. If you leave early you can be at Okunoin by 10, spend two or even three hours there, then visit two or three of the major sites in town, and easily be back in time for dinner. Okunoin is one of my favorite places and I think it's worth a trip. (I would take Koyasan over Okayama any day, especially since you're planning to go to Kanazawa. But it really depends on what your own tastes are. You're probably not going to see too many cherry blossoms at Koyasan. But surely you will be getting enough cherry blossoms anyway? As for Izu Peninsula, it is nice but I don't see it as being any nicer than many other places you're going to. You can't do everything.)

Of course, the idea of planning a fixed itinerary this far in advance and hoping to hit "all" the major cherry blossom places at peak is quite optimistic. As long as you recognize that and have contingency plans, you can see a lot of cherry blossoms. Having a rail pass will surely make this a lot more feasible from a cost perspective. Also realize that there are many types of cherry trees and blossoms, and although you might miss peak bloom for the "major" sites of the areas you are visiting, there could be early or late blooming trees that are nonetheless spectacular. Local tourist information centers are sometimes a good source of information regarding what is good at the time, and you can also get up-to-date information on the Internet.

On quite a few of your days you will be spending a lot of time in transit, so just be aware that this will cut into your sightseeing time in a major way. On those days, just be prepared to enjoy the journey as well as the stops along the way. I feel kind of sorry for people who see ground travel in Japan as a necessary evil and resent every minute spent on trains.

Seriously, don't try to "hit all major spots at cherry blossom in peak".

You will end up very sad when it doesn't happen. If, by some freak chance, it does happen, then you will also end up very sad because you will have spent three whole weeks in crowds, doing the same thing over and over again.

You're going in April, and you're planning to do a fair bit of travel. You WILL see good blossom in at least one of the places you go to. Probably in a few places. Just enjoy it when it happens. There's so much else to do in Japan, and IMHO it's often nicer to see blossom in the quieter places rather than the (often insanely crowded) "famous" blossom-viewing spots.