Shikoku, Kagoshima and Niigata

Just a few questions for those who have travelled there.

I am a fast pace traveler so regarding those cities:

-Kagoshima, my idea is to a day trip from Yamaguchi city with shinkansen, is it doable? Sakurajima, I guess I'd have to pick tour bus or bike if possible, the park and the Shiroyama Park and come back to Yamaguchi to sleep, if not I guess just the Sakurajima should be fine right?

-About Tokushima my idea is just to come see the Awa Odori and pick last train back to Takamatsu city, is there anything worthseeing in Tokushima city besides the festival and the Awa Odori Museum?

-Kochi, my idea is to go from Takamatsu to Kochi city and visit Sakamoto Ryoma museum and Katsurahama , eat some katsuo and not much more, maybe the castle, is it doable from Takamtsu in one day? I think it's 2,5 hours of train so I guess should be ok.

-Matsuyama city, I plan to overnight one night there coming from Takamatsu, it's 2,5 hours train. Is it very big? My idea is to visit the Dogo Onsen (although it's partially closed), visit the temple Ishiteji and Castle, one day should be fair enough right?

-Niigata prefecture, I would come from far so I don't know if staying half day in Niigata city (is there anything to do?) or take an afternoon ferry to Sado Island so I can at least walk around a bit in Sado during my first day and then enjoy a full day in Sado Island.

Any previous experiences from fellow travelers to those places?

Thanks faithfully

You want to visit a lot of place.So you must buy JR nationwide pass.
Because to travel by shinkansen, is always my top priority.

Check the train timetables in Shikoku to see if the timings work out. The trains are infrequent. Would I do a daytrip to Kochi? No way. Whilst the best case scenario train might seem quick, you'll spend most of the day travelling to and from.....

In my opinion, you can limit your Tokushima sights to the ones you've mentioned.

-Kagoshima: If you just want to visit Sakurajima and then view it from Shiroyama Park, you can do it in a day. There are frequent buses to Shiroyama Park and frequent boats to/from Sakurajima.

-Tokushima: Tokushima Castle ruins have a nice garden. The Awa Odori doesn't really have anything happening until the evening, so if you will be there all day, visiting somewhere else in the morning is probably a good idea.

-Kochi: Since you don't have a lot that you want to do, it looks possible. Make sure you know the bus times for Katsurahama (and back). The buses are not so frequent. Kochi Castle is well worth it if you can visit.

-Matsuyama: Your trip is very doable, especially since you are spending the night.

-Niigata: It's difficult to say what you can do without knowing where the far place is that you're starting from. If you will be spending the night on Sado Island, it may be best just to go straight there. There's not much to do around Niigata Station, so you'll probably have to take a bus if you want to visit somewhere in the city. It may not be possible or worthwhile.

With Kagoshima, though, take the early Shinkansen.

Ifve visited Kochi as a day trip from Okayama, and it worked great for me, as I didnft try to visit too many places. Not much different doing a day trip from Takamatsu. The question is not so much whether you are a fast-paced traveler as it is whether you mind spending a lot of time on trains in one day, and limiting how much you do at your destination city. Most people arenft up for that, and can in fact be very unaccepting about this style of travel. But I like it myself. (On the other hand, I am very unaccepting about the idea of rushing around visiting a half-dozen hugely crowded famous Kyoto sites in one day!)

Ifd say what you have planned for Kochi is very achievable. You need to carefully research the timing of the loop bus in advance as it doesnft run very often. This is important. If you go on a weekend there are more buses, and Kochi is one of the few places that is not likely to be terribly crowded on a weekend, so I would probably tend to schedule it on a Saturday or Sunday if you have one available. By the way, there is a good Tourist Information Center at the station. I had wonderful assistance from a fluent English speaking staff member there.

I have also done Matsuyama as an enjoyable day trip from Okayama, so what you have in mind is certainly doable.

Your plan for Kagoshima also sounds fine. Ifm not sure what you mean by gthe park,h but if by chance you mean Senganen, I can definitely recommend it. I havenft been to Maruyama Koen but what I recommend is you go somewhere where you can get a good view of Sakurajima, and Maruyama Koen is probably perfect for that. Unfortunately, Sakurajima can be almost as fickle as Mt. Fuji about showing herself. Some days you canft even see it at all. Try to get a day with clear weather for your trip there. Of course, if what you want to do is go out there, then it doesnft matter as much, but I find that the view of Sakurajima from a distance (either close or far) is so spectacular that it is kind of a pity to miss it. Ifve done a couple of very enjoyable day trips to Kagoshima from Fukuoka and the timing was fine. Shin Yamaguchi isnft all that much farther, so Ifd say go for it. However, depending on where you are in Yamaguchi, it can take a while to get to Shin-Yamaguchi, so that could complicate things. Donft expect overly much scenery from that Shinkansen ride, by the way. The Kyushu shinkansen has an inordinate number of tunnels. But itfs a very nice, very fast, very modern train, of course.

Correction: I meant Shiroyama, not Maruyama, in Kagoshima, of course. You have the name right. The fact that you clearly donft mind spending time researching your destinations and carefully picking a small number of things that suit you means that you will probably have very enjoyable day trips. It is definitely important for this type of travel, especially when visiting places where transit is infrequent.