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I'll answer these one-by one:
1:
How fast do you normally travel? Are you fast or a slow traveler? I do agree that some days are extremely cruisy (aka - Fushimi Shrine)
- We are normally quite busy travellers and are both physically fit. For example, we went hiking in September 2020 in the Italian mountains and were doing approx 10km hiking, sometimes with a drive at the start and end.
- The reason I have gone for what appears to be a leisurely trip is that Japan will be by far the most out of our comfort zone we have ever been, and I don't want to feel lost and like I am rushing around trying to keep up with my itinerary. For example, if a day of activities in Kyoto or Tokyo is over by lunch-time, I'm sure we will find stuff to keep us occupied.
2.
What type of things do you like to do? What interests do you have? Aka - are you more about temples, gardens, experiences, castles, traditional buildings, futuristic stuff, traditional performances, anime???
- We want to strike a good balance between cities and countryside, and really experience variety.
- On other trips, we are guilty of just doing walking tours of all the sightseeing locations and forgetting to do any experiences. Again, this is a reason for a leisurely itinerary as we would like to fit in some experiences (i.e. cooking classes, sake tasting, perhaps sumo or NJPW events).
- I would say our interests are food, history, photography, the countryside, walking, and pop culture (we love anime, JRPG gaming especially Final Fantasy/Pokemon).
- Personally, I would have liked to fit in some more "off-the-beaten-track" locations, and was interested originally in Shikoku, Kurashiki, and even Yakushima island. However, being realistic (and not wanting a ridiculously hectic itinerary), I felt that the middle section through Shirakawago, Takayama, and Fuji Five Lakes, as well as Koyasan, would satisfy that desire to experience nature and countryside too.
- We (my fiancee especially) is a massive foodie, so a part of our journey will be trying to find great places to eat all kinds of food.
3.
Do you have a tight budget or is it reasonably comfortable? This is more important when you consider how you travel around Japan along with what you do.
- My rough estimate at the minute including flights, internal travel (inc. JR 3-week pass), food, accommodation, and experiences was around £6500 ($8700USD, 977,822JPY).
- In the city sections (Kyoto, Kanazawa, Osaka, Tokyo) we will most likely go for budget hotels, in Takayama/Fuji Five Lakes we want to use Ryokan, in Shirakawago a farmhouse stay, and in Koyasan a temple stay.
- Food-wise we tend to eat cheaply during the day (street food, convenience store) type stuff, and in the evenings we will probably go out for dinner when we can. Again, we don't really go to expensive restaurants, but we would like to eat dinner out say 5 to 10 times throughout the trip (not including the Ryokan/Temple where we will have some meals provided).
4.
Is there a reason you want to visit Fuji Five Lakes? It's reasonably nice and all - but it's a bit annoying to get to. Hakone has nice views of Fuji and has quite a lot to do as well.
- It didn't seem especially inconvenient to get to from Takayama, and seemed geographically logical on the way from Takayama to Tokyo.
- As for reasoning, probably the same as a lot of people, the draw of getting good views of Mount Fuji and potentially being able to experience Onsen. My fiancee isn't too keen on public Onsen, so we are hopeful of getting accommodation that has private Onsen available for booking on-site.
- If I do as suggested by you guys and rent a car, we should have a good amount of freedom to explore the area even if the weather isn't right for viewing Mt Fuji. We could even go on day trips to Hakone or other parts of the Izu Peninsula.
5.
The locations you are visiting is basically a stock standard loop which is not a problem - but will include areas with larger crowds. If you mention what type of stuff you like to do - I'd be happy to suggest an alternative itinerary that could focus more on secondary cities if that interests you. Once you mention what you like and if this is ok - I am happy if you use or ignore my suggestions.
- Sure, I really welcome suggestions so thank you very much.
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