34-day Itinerary Tips and Suggestions

I'm going to Japan this October to finally fulfill a dream (going to Japan) and pay a promise I made four years ago (watching the Rugby World Cup).

Since I'll be watching three matches, the logistics have been complicated to draw my itinerary, but alas! I now have it. There are a few doubts I have over it and if you have any suggestions, feel free to make them!

As matches will take place on the weekends, I have made my itinerary over week-long trips and day-trips to places near Tokyo, building on the premise of getting to places in a good time for Koyou. Basically:

Week 1: Japanese Alps + day-trips
Week 2: Tohoku and Hokkaido
Week 3: Iya Valley & Shikoku
Week 4: Going West with Chugoku & Kyushu
Week 5: Kyoto/Nara and The Return

On a more detailed level, it will go like this (places in brackets is where I'll be staying for the night):

Oct 14: Day-trip to Kamakura one day after arrival
Oct 15: Takayama & Shirakawa-Go [Okuhida]
Oct 16-17: Norikuradake/Norikura Kogen/Kamikochi
Oct 18-19: Tokyo (RWC quarterfinals)
Oct 20-21: Aizu-Wakamatsu/Urabandai
Oct 22: Yamagata/Yamadera
Oct 23: Shimokita Peninsula [Aomori]
Oct 24: Sapporo
Oct 25: Wakkanai (yes, that far)
Oct 26: Back to Sapporo [flight to Tokyo at night]
Oct 27: Yokohama (RWC semifinals) [last train to Kawaguchiko]
Oct 28: Day-trip in Kawaguchiko [Takayama]
Oct 29: Takamatsu/Kotohira [Iya Valley]
Oct 30-31: Iya Valley
Nov 1: Day-trip to Himeji on the way back to Tokyo
Nov 2-3: Tokyo/Yokohama (RWC Final)
Nov 4: Day-trip to Kurobe (arriving on the 3rd by night) and back to Tokyo
Nov 5: Hakone/Ashinoko
Nov 6-7: Hiroshima/Iwakuni
Nov 8-9: Hagi/Sekionji/Motonosumi
Nov 10-11: Kagoshima/Kirishima
Nov 12-15: Kyoto & Nara as the swan song

This is a quite an extensive itinerary, but fairly doable from what I have seen from train and local bus timetables. I am limited, though, since I will not be able to rent cars while there. As I said, feel free to make suggestions if you feel something seems amiss (except for Wakkanai, I'll be going there regardless of how absurd it seems xD) and while we are at it, here are a few questions I have:

1) Should I get two JR Passes (21-day and 14-day) for this trip? Would there be any alternative passes that would best fit the way the itinerary has been built?

2) Initially my plan was to get to Yamadera in the morning, maybe wander around Yamagata in the day and sleep at Ginzan Onsen, but I won't be able to do this last one. It doesn't seem Yamagata has much to offer besides Yamadera. Without Ginzan Onsen, would you still recommend visiting this city?

3) I am quite in doubt between doing Hagi/Sekionji/Motonosumi or Izumo/Iwami-Ginzan, which one would you say pays off better for a two-day trip?

4) Most of my days in the actual metropolitan area will be during weekends for the matches. I still get five full days in Tokyo itself, but only one during the week (on the 18th). Will I be missing out too much of the city due to this limitation? From my point of view, since this will definitely not be my last trip to Japan, I don't feel much bothered by this, but I would like to hear from you.

I admit being a slow traveler but your plan seems to be very hectic at times with places that are far/complicated to reach. Did you analyze time on transport vs time at destination?


Oct 15: Takayama & Shirakawa-Go [Okuhida] this seems to be quite undoable. Why would you stay in Okuhida (which is a lovely places, but visit Shirakawago and Takayama the same day?
Oct 16-17: Norikuradake/Norikura Kogen/Kamikochi
Oct 18-19: Tokyo (RWC quarterfinals)
Oct 20-21: Aizu-Wakamatsu/Urabandai
Oct 22: Yamagata/Yamadera
Oct 23: Shimokita Peninsula [Aomori] what will be your mode of transport? You say car is out of the question. There is a train to part of the peninsula , but what do you actually want to see? I went 2 yrs ago by bicycle from Oma and really enjoyed Osorezan and the remoteness of the peninsula but I am doubtful how much you can enjoy it if you are limited to train/ bus.
Oct 24: Sapporo
Oct 25: Wakkanai (yes, that far)
Oct 26: Back to Sapporo [flight to Tokyo at night] why not a flight from Wakkanai back to Tokyo? This would win you a day which I think you urgently need in this packed itinerary.
Oct 27: Yokohama (RWC semifinals) [last train to Kawaguchiko]
Oct 28: Day-trip in Kawaguchiko [Takayama] Takayama???? Takamatsu??? Takayama is in the alps and you were already there. It�fs also not a reasonable place to stay after a daytrip to Kawaguchiko. Takamatsu is on Shikoku and nowhere close to Kawaguchiko. I would drop Kawaguichiko and head straight from Yokohama to Shikoku (Takamatsu) by plane (from Haneda)
Oct 29: Takamatsu/Kotohira [Iya Valley]
Oct 30-31: Iya Valley
Nov 1: Day-trip to Himeji on the way back to Tokyo assuming that the game is in the afternoon/evening couldn�ft you spend the night in Himeiji and then travel the next day to Tokyo and be still in time for the game? Iya Valley to Himeiji will take it�fs time. I am actually unsure if you can make it and (!) have enough time to visit the castle before it closes.
Nov 2-3: Tokyo/Yokohama (RWC Final)
Nov 4: Day-trip to Kurobe (arriving on the 3rd by night) and back to Tokyo
so not a daytrip, right? You spend the night of 3Nov in Unazuki onsen and then next morning into Kurobe gorge (right????) and back in the evening to where??? Tokyo??? Hakone???

Sorry but you are all over the place rushing around from one spot of Japan to a different one every day. I appreciate that you have invested already a lot of time in this plan and that you have constraints with the RWC matches, but I think your initial plan to stick to certain REGIONS between each match makes sense. But what you did is interpret those regions way too big. Kurobe and Hakone isn�ft remotely in the same region. Same goes below for Hagi and Kagoshima or above for Kawaguchiko and Shikoku. [Qs]

Nov 5: Hakone/Ashinoko
Nov 6-7: Hiroshima/Iwakuni
Nov 8-9: Hagi/Sekionji/Motonosumi
Nov 10-11: Kagoshima/Kirishima Kagoshima??? In southern Kyushu? Are you flying there ? Hagi isn�ft anywhere close to it and it�fs a long trip to get from Hagi back to Shinkansen tracks.
Nov 12-15: Kyoto & Nara as the swan song
okay, this part is doable. Could be crowded though due to koyo but well, that�fs what it is.

1) Should I get two JR Passes (21-day and 14-day) for this trip? Would there be any alternative passes that would best fit the way the itinerary has been built?

Have you checked out regional passes? Such as a pass for Tohoku? There are a number of passes for set regions only. Investigate and you might be able to find cheaper combinations.

2) Initially my plan was to get to Yamadera in the morning, maybe wander around Yamagata in the day and sleep at Ginzan Onsen, but I won't be able to do this last one. It doesn't seem Yamagata has much to offer besides Yamadera. Without Ginzan Onsen, would you still recommend visiting this city?


Yamagata as a city isn�ft terribly interesting, but Yamadera is nice. So I would visit Yamadera only. If you can�ft include Ginzan onsen. You could go from Yamadera straight to Sendai or even better up to Aomori if you time it well.

4) Most of my days in the actual metropolitan area will be during weekends for the matches. I still get five full days in Tokyo itself, but only one during the week (on the 18th). Will I be missing out too much of the city due to this limitation? From my point of view, since this will definitely not be my last trip to Japan, I don't feel much bothered by this, but I would like to hear from you.

you can see pretty much the same on a weekday as on a weekend so I don�ft think that this is a problem.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

I would agree, the itinerary isn't realistic. Kawaguichiko sightseeing, then off to Takayama. Even the quickest route is 4-5 hours. And that uses buses that do run after 7/8PM. For example.

As a person who travels faster than most and has traveled around Japan more than most - I can confirm that the only way that this trip is possible is if you are traveling via transport at all times with only stopping at the train or bus stations.

Shinkansens and flights are fast - but this is not always true of local trains and highway buses.

Slow down a bit, choose a few major cities as bases and work out what you want to do from there.

Hi guys, thank you so much for your comments! Perhaps I have miscommunicated a bit on this itinerary, along with a typo that seems to not have been noticed. I would like to get into a bit more detail on some trickier parts, perhaps that will clarify a bit better:

Oct 15: Takayama & Shirakawa-Go [Okuhida] this seems to be quite undoable. Why would you stay in Okuhida (which is a lovely places, but visit Shirakawago and Takayama the same day? Sorry, not Okuhida, but Shin-Hirayu (my bad). Getting an early train from Tokyo, one could reach Takayama by 10:00. However, I do admit that from the beginning I thought Shirakawa-Go is a bit of stretch, so good to know and I'll focus on Takayama (Hida Sato will fill the void of Shirakawa-Go). From Takayama to Shin-Hirayu I could get the 17:40 Nouhi bus (https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/route_bus/shinhotaka-line-en/), ending the day. The following days would comprise the trips to the Norikura region and Kamikochi and getting back to Shin-Hirayu by evening. Getting back to Tokyo on the 17th would involve buses from Shin-Hirayu to Takayama and then to Tokyo, but it is possible to arrive by 21:00 in Tokyo without compromising too much of the activities for the day back in the region.

Oct 23: Shimokita Peninsula [Aomori] what will be your mode of transport? You say car is out of the question. There is a train to part of the peninsula , but what do you actually want to see? I went 2 yrs ago by bicycle from Oma and really enjoyed Osorezan and the remoteness of the peninsula but I am doubtful how much you can enjoy it if you are limited to train/ bus. Well, the main attraction would be Osorezan. From either Yamagata or Sendai (which will probably be used to cover for Ginzan Onsen), Shimokita would be reachable by 11:00 and then I would have the rest of the day to enjoy Osorezan, before going to Aomori by 18:00 and leaving for Sapporo the next day very early (after all, it is far away).

Oct 26: Back to Sapporo [flight to Tokyo at night] why not a flight from Wakkanai back to Tokyo? This would win you a day which I think you urgently need in this packed itinerary. I was initially thinking that since I'll have half a day in Sapporo on the 24th due to the train trip, I would use the 26th to have another half-day (arrival from Wakkanai by noon). But getting back directly to Tokyo is a very fair point, would you recommend that over trying to fill this time in Sapporo itself?

Oct 28: Day-trip in Kawaguchiko [Takayama] Takayama???? Takamatsu??? Takayama is in the alps and you were already there. It�fs also not a reasonable place to stay after a daytrip to Kawaguchiko. Takamatsu is on Shikoku and nowhere close to Kawaguchiko. I would drop Kawaguichiko and head straight from Yokohama to Shikoku (Takamatsu) by plane (from Haneda) There, I wanted to say Takamatsu alright, but I missed this typo. For Kawaguchiko, I would take the last train from Shin-Yokohama (right by the side of the stadium) and start early in the morning. Takamatsu would be reachable from Kawaguchiko by 22:00, but true it would compromise the experience should I go by train. I am considering your suggestion to leave immediately to Takamatsu and perhaps I found a way to rearrange Kawaguchiko without missing Koyou there. How long would you recommend Kawaguchiko

Nov 1: Day-trip to Himeji on the way back to Tokyo assuming that the game is in the afternoon/evening couldn�ft you spend the night in Himeiji and then travel the next day to Tokyo and be still in time for the game? Iya Valley to Himeiji will take it�fs time. I am actually unsure if you can make it and (!) have enough time to visit the castle before it closes. From what I've seen in HyperDia (https://bit.ly/2MzDMWj), it should take around 3 hours to reach Himeji, so leaving early (and I believe two full days in Iya Valley should be enough to cover it), I could be in Himeji by 10:00, leaving plenty of time for the castle =) Particularly I don't feel comfortable with getting back to Tokyo right on match day, especially for the Final.

Nov 4: Day-trip to Kurobe (arriving on the 3rd by night) and back to Tokyo so not a daytrip, right? You spend the night of 3 Nov in Unazuki onsen and then next morning into Kurobe gorge (right????) and back in the evening to where??? Tokyo??? Hakone??? Initial plan: RWC final on the 2nd, wander around Tokyo on the 3rd and leave by 18:00 to arrive by 21:00; take the earliest train on the 4th to Unazuki-Onsen Station and then the sightseeing train to the gorge, hopefully the first at 8:00. Departure from Unazuki-Onsen should take place by 18:00 to reach Tokyo back by 22:00. I concur that Kurobe is the "farthest" and most out of place "day-trip", but that is because this was the only date I could place it in time for Koyou (https://bit.ly/2TZUD5w). Do you consider it doable having something like 10 whole hours to visit it? Or if I truly wanted to experience it, more than one day would be required? Alternatively, Kurobe could be done right after the Alps, from either Matsumoto or Takayama it should take around three hours. That way, Tokyo area would be more tightly packed, but on the other hand Koyou in Kurobe would not be optimal.

Nov 10-11: Kagoshima/Kirishima Kagoshima??? In southern Kyushu? Are you flying there ? Hagi isn�ft anywhere close to it and it�fs a long trip to get from Hagi back to Shinkansen tracks. True, Hagi-Kagoshima would take a long time (at least 4:30 hours), but I calculated that I would need one day and a half in Hagi and around, and I'll have one full day in Hagi, which seems to imply that it could be doable, but maybe my vision is clouded.

Nov 12-15: Kyoto & Nara as the swan song okay, this part is doable. Could be crowded though due to koyo but well, that�fs what it is. Well, I consciously chose this time period precisely because of Koyou =)

There, I hope that this have clarified the itinerary a bit better and why I was considering it to be doable. Please, by all means, make your comments if you believe I have miscalculated how much time is needed for the places, because in regards to transportation, I actually feel quite secure about how much I'll take to get from one place to another (perhaps that's because I live in a large country, so three/four-hour-long trips are not unusual for me). Still, please comment if you believe I'm out of my mind with some displacements.

LikeBike, I came up with an alternative itinerary that maintains all places, but perhaps follows better logistics:

Oct 14-17: Takayama/Norikura/Kamikochi/Kurobe
Oct 18-27 stays the same
Oct 28-30: Takamatsu/Iya Valley
Oct 31: Himeji on the way back
Nov 1-3: Tokyo/Kamakura
Nov 4: Hakone/Ashinoko
Nov 5: Kawaguchiko
Nov 6-15 stays the same

I think that sounds better to you, LikeBike, but due to my perception on displacement, I tend to stick with the first one to better get Koyou times, but what's your opinion on it?

Additionally, I have a further question I forgot to ask yesterday:

5) Hakone would be a day-trip from Tokyo. My intention is to do the Round Course starting early in the morning and preferably covering Tokaido, the Hakone Checkpoint, Mototsumiya at the top of Komagatake via the ropeway, a cruise through Lake Ashinoko, crossing the Sengoku Kogen and go back to Tokyo, stopping by Hakone Yumoto by early night for a hot spring bain. Is it doable or am I being too optimistic about distances and times around the area? Aditionally, is there anything worthy buying in Gotemba or should I just disregard it?

Having traveled in Japan extensively and now living here, I agree with the above commentators that your itinerary feels too rushed. Based on the locations you picked, it looks like you are into nature. Few notes:

(1) Hokkaido is a wonderful place but probably not at its best in October. No snow and not much colors. Sapporo is just a cute city tucked between mountains. Are you into culinary? Otherwise there are way more rewarding destinations in Hokkaido if you are looking for nature.
(2) I would divide my weeks by prefectures like a week in Kyushu, a week in Kansai etc. Kyushu is a wonderful place but not sure if Kagoshima is worth a rushed two days itinerary.
(3) I understand you will also be flying between certain destinations. Both ANA and Japan Airlines offer great visitor fares if you have a return ticket to outside of Japan. I assume you may have already considered those.

Burcu

As suggested you will try very hectic itinerary. Yes, it's your travel and Brazil is in the opposite side to Japan so you may want to travel as many as possible. I will comment on the first part of your travel.

Oct 14-17: Takayama/Norikura/Kamikochi/Kurobe

Do you give-up Kamakura? I guess you will land Japan (NRT or HND) and then go to Takayama. I don't know what do you mean by Kurobe, but if it means Kurobe gorge or Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route, it will take almost one full day. Do you also give up Shirakawago? If you want to go there, take Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa and take bus. This is the fastest route to Shirakawago from Takayama. After Shirakawago (2-3 hours might be enough) take bus to Takayama and stay there. Takayama to Norikura will take about 2 hours with a transfer at Hoonoki-daira. Are you planning to stay at Norikura-Kogen? Accommodations are limited and some of them seems to be out of service due to the winter season. From Norikura-Kogen to Kamikochi, it will be also 2 hours bus ride with a transfer at Hirayu-onsen. Norikura and Kamikochi has not so many accommodations so you need to book in advance.

Okay, so the consensus is that I am rushing places too much.

Disregarding the overall time constraint, how long do you think I should spend on each of the locations listed?

I wonder if you might do better thinking about how long you want to spend in each place? For instance, if you are intent on going to the far north of Hokkaido, why not go for a few days and really make the most of it. Perhaps do that to the exclusion of something else.

I really enjoyed Kagoshima, but I wouldn't go there for one day. Hagi is great, but it's isolated. Which is not to say don't go to either place, but you'll likely get more out of the trip if you sacrifice something else. You might enjoy an off the beaten track adventure.

Also, are you really going to want to finish watching a game at say 10pm, do post-game festivities/commiserations then be on a train again at 5.40am?

Whatever you decide, enjoy the RWC and Japan!

How long to stay in each location is obviously a personal choice depending on what you want to do there.
Let me try to come up with an alternative order of places. For me personally this would be still too much, but as said I am a VERY slow traveler:

Oct 14: Fly Haneda to Wakkanai (night Wakkanai)
Oct 15: travel to Sapporo (night Sapporo)
Oct 16: fly Chitose to Haneda (night Hakone)
Oct 17: Hakone then move to Kawaguchiko area. (Night Kawaguchiko)

Re your question on Gotemba outlet: I am not into shopping but you can for sure check their webpage to see what shops there are and if anything of that appeals to you.

Reason for starting with Hokkaido: mid October is likely too early for koyo in the Alps but should be better for Hokkaido.

For this first leg I don�ft think any railpass will pay off. But look into the discounted Ana/JAL tickets.

And whatever get yourself an IC card upon arrival.

Oct 18-19: Tokyo (RWC quarterfinals) (night Tokyo) , you might want to do a daytrip to Kamakura on one of those days or just enjoy Tokyo. You can decide last minute.

Oct 20-21: Aizu-Wakamatsu/Urabandai (nights in Urabandai or Aizu Wakamatsu)
Oct 22: Yamadera ( night in Tazawako) - this is a long day by train but you only have Yamadera to visit this day. As you seem to be interested in hiking I think Tazawako /Hachimantai would be a good destination. If you don�ft agree you could go to Hiraizumi instead or stay in Sendai and then proceed to Osorezan
Oct 23-24: Tazawako/Nyuto onsen/ Hachimantai hiking ( night in Tazawako)
Oct 25: Tazawako- Osorezan. Check if Osorezan is still open that late!!!! If yes, ideally night in Osorezan.
Oct 26: back to Tokyo through Hiraizumi arrive with last train to Yokohama. Night Yokohama (or Tokyo if you prefer)

For this leg look into the JR pass or Tohoku.

For Tokyo accommodation I would try to get the same hotel for ALL your Tokyo /Yokohama stays as this would allow you to deposit some bag there.

Getting accommodation in some of the places might already be difficult due to Koyo.

For Osorezan check when they close. If it�fs already closed you�fd either need to drop it completely or rearrange with Hokkaido.

Oct 27: Yokohama (RWC semifinals) (night Yokohama or Tokyo)

Oct 28: Yokohama to Japanese Alps & some light hiking (night in some place that is convenient for your destination. Sorry I am not an Alps expert)
Oct 29Alps (eg Norikuradake/Norikura Kogen/Kamikochi) ( night in same place as before)
Oct 30 : Takayama and Hida folk village (night in Takayama)
Oct 31: Shirakawago (or better Ainokura) (night in Unazuki onsen) (if you want more hiking you could drop Shirakawago and add this day before but I would sleep the night of 31 Oct in Unazuki onsen or at least very closeby. )
Nov1: Kurobe gorge with one of the first trains. Trains sell out quickly as this is high peak of koyo. Buy the return ticket also as early as possible. Then travel back to Tokyo. (Night in Tokyo or Yokohama)

For this leg look if there are some passes for the Alps. I am no expert on these. But there is a lot of bus travel involved here so I guess that no JR pass will pay off.

Nov 2-3:Tokyo/Yokohama (RWC final) (night in Tokyo or Yokohama)
Nov 4-5: fly from Haneda to Hagi area. Visit Hagi area. Sorry no expert on that area, but try for 1 accommodation only.
Nov 6-7: Hiroshima and Iwakuni ( night in Hiroshima)
Nov 8: Takamatsu (night Takamatsu or Iya Valley if that�fs possible in one long trip.) - look if there are ferries from Hiroshima that would make for a nice trip through the inland sea.
Nov 9&10: Iya Valley (night Iya valley)
Nov 11: Himeji (night Kyoto)
Nov 12-15 : Kyoto and Nara( nights in Kyoto)

Have a look if a 7 day JR PASS pays off or maybe there is a Shikoku / West Japan Pass that you could use.
I assume you leave Japan through KIX, ie don�ft need to go back to Tokyo. If that�fs wrong, railpass calculation is different.

I think with this reordering the only place you are not going is Kagoshima/Kirishima. But you got some new places in Tohoku.

You�fd need to review my proposal carefully as there might be some too long days in there as I am not an expert on all places in Japan.

Hope this helps.

I think it will still be tiring as you hardly stay more than a few nights in any place. Make sure to travel light and consider using Takyubin. Eg you could leave your �gmain luggage at a hotel in Tokyo and each time you return to Tokyo just stock up again and pack a new small bag /suitcase for the next leg. Then for the final week you can ship your luggage to Kyoto and do the trip before light. Even better if you can do the entire trip light. When I went for 2 months (Sep-Nov 2017) by bicycle through Japan i has 1 bag of about 10 kg for the entire trip.
Reserve hotels with washing and drying machines. (Not every night but often).

Enjoy your trip!

LikeBike, I think I have reached a compromise around the itinerary between yours and mine. Firstly, I have dropped both Hagi and Kagoshima. The latter one is particularly a great bummer, but it is indeed too far away to crunch between those already rushed days. Some days and directions will be a bit different than yours, but that is to accommodate Koyou (even though it is from 2018, I use the calendar from http://www.nihon-kankou.or.jp/kouyou/), bus availability and some of the reservations which have already been made (though I am not locked to them since I can cancel anytime, there is the risk of not getting the place on another date).

Here's how it turned out:

Oct 14-15: Takayama and Shirakawa-Go [one night in Takayama]
Oct 16-17: Norikura and Kamikochi [stationed at Shin-Hirayu]
This is very similar to my original, but I start from Takayama at the get-go to give time for the city and Shirakawa-Go. In the Norikura region, one day would be for Norikuradake/Norikura Kogen and the other for Kamikochi, going back to Tokyo by evening.

Oct 18-19: Tokyo & Quarterfinals
Oct 20-23: Aizu-Wakamatsu/Urabandai/Yamadera/Shimokita
Oct 24-25: Sapporo and Wakkanai
Oct 26-27: Tokyo & Semifinals
I think it is very difficult to change this week specifically due to the distance traveled. It is somewhat effective since it begins in Tokyo and leads all the way up to Hokkaido (allowing for a Tohoku-Hokkaido pass). I really wanted to go to Nyuto Onsen/Akita-Komagatake and that was the place in lieu of Aizu-Wakamatsu originally, but Nyuto Onsen won't allow single travelers and buses to Akita-Komagatake only run on weekends, so... =(

Oct 28-29: Takamatsu/Kotohira
Oct 29-Oct 31: Iya Valley
Nov 1-3: Tokyo & Final
Your idea to group all of Western Japan in one go after the final is very pleasant and I would definitely follow it if not for other restrictions, namely that there will be no more buses to Mt. Tsurugi (https://www.miyoshi.i-tokushima.jp/fs/1/5/5/5/4/1/_/__31_4____________...) during the week starting from November. Therefore, it is mandatory that I get to Iya Valley before the final.

Nov 4: Kurobe Gorge [arrive on the 3rd by night to catch the earliest train]
Nov 5-6: Hakone [travel to Kawaguchiko on the 6th in the evening]
Nov 7: Kawaguchiko [back to Tokyo by the end of the day]
Nov 8: Tokyo
I stretched a bit this one, it will give plenty of time to explore Hakone and at least get a good day in Kawaguchiko. Kurobe Gorge, however, will be out of place since I would prefer to do it around this time (and I could swap the 18th in Tokyo for it, but since Takayama-Unazukionsen, Matsumoto-Unazukionsen and Tokyo-Unazukionsen all take around three hours, travel-wise it won't matter on which day I make it).

Nov 9-10: Hiroshima/Iwakuni
Nov 11: Himeji [sleepover on the 10th so Takeda Castle becomes possible again after I originally cut it out]
Nov 12-15: Kyoto/Nara
Tokyo-Hiroshima will take the longest time, but then all connections between one another are much easier to do, allowing for more time in each city.

Overall, the Alps, Takamatsu, Hakone and Kawaguchiko all get more time than in the previous itineraries, at the cost of Hagi and Kagoshima. Also note that Tokyo is now listed as having eight days compared to the previous five, but that's because Yokohama and Kamakura are now grouped into the Tokyo area, and I get an additional day to do perhaps Saitama which I had cut out.

Also, the way it is now arranged, I sleep in the same town I spend the day visiting in 20 of the 34 days (compared to 17 in the previous itinerary), so more cities where I will be able to enjoy during nighttime and not feel rushed by covering distances between places.

Particularly, I could do things a bit more rushed, but I understand the point you were trying to get across. What broke the entire itinerary requiring things to be rushed was the Hagi-Kagoshima leg. But as much as I get upset from having to cut even more than I already have, I am satisfied with this last one.

Thanks for the advice, guys, hopefully with this I will be able to enjoy Japan better than by following the rushed itinerary I had come up with before.