5th Trip to Japan - Where?

My partner and I have been 4 times to Japan and are desperate to return , not taking it for granted but as there�fs a chance we may be able to go this Autumn (mid October - mid November) I want to start planning.

Previously our trips were as follows:

1: Osaka/Kyoto (1 Week)
2: Okinawa/Miyakojima/IshigakiJima/Osaka/Kinosaki Onsen/Takayama/Kanazawa/Himeji/Tokyo (4 Weeks)
3: Hokkaido (Shiretoko/Kushiro/Lake Akan/Obihiro/Sapporo/Otaru/Asahikawa/Tokyo (2.5 Weeks)
4: Kyushu (Fukuoka/Kumamoto/Nagasaki/Karatsu/Kagoshima/Mount Aso/Miyazaki/Yakushima/Amamioshima (5 Weeks)

For our next trip we�fll probably have 3 weeks, travelling from Europe and top ideas so far are
Tohoku, maybe head straight to Hakodate or Aomori and work our way down, ending in Tokyo.
Western Honshu/Shikoku, Hiroshima prefecture, Tottori, Shimanami Kaido, Shikoku, probably ending in Osaka.
There are so many other possibilities, we could go back to Hokkaido and see the places we missed, e.g. the SW with Hakodate, Noboribetsu, Lake Toya plus up North to Rebun/Rishiri.

We could do SE Honshu, i.e. Nara, Wakayama, Gifu, Toyama, Nagano, Shizuoka, Chiba prefectures.

Food is really important, we also love exploring cities, going out and meeting people, hiking, onsens, nature, museums etc. We have enjoyed everywhere we�fve been apart from maybe Kushiro.

Any help would be appreciated.

Have you explores the Izu peninsula before? Lots of beautiful nature, luxury train carriage trips along the coast, onsets, etc.

Also, Koyasan (Mount Koya) in Wakayama is gorgeous as well.

I think you could do quite well on any of those possible itineraries. Though by that time of year it will be cooling down fast in Hokkaido, so I myself probably wouldn't do it. You could see the Tohoku Region though - you have a lot of time and there is a lot of ground to cover. However again, as you wrote, I would do it from the north going southwards. Renting a car would be the ideal way to get to many of the more isolated places.
Seeing the Chugoku Region is also well worth it - Yamaguchi is sadly given short shrift. Izumo, Matsue, Tottori, and Hiroshima all have more to explore, and Shikoku could be the icing on the cake. The Hokuriku area also has loads to explore, and Kanazawa is wonderful.

Mid Oct to mid Nov kind of coincidence with koyo season. (Autumn leaves). Now being from Switzerland that might not be your main goal seeing in Japan. But if it is, check out the timing on JG. I guess Tohoku would be a good plan.
A few years ago I was traveling through Japan North to South and around early/ mid October in northern Tohoku and it was always about 7–14 days too early for full koyo.
Like on this day outside of Kakunodate where I stumbled upon a koyo festival but hardly any koyo: https://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2017/10/day-18-nyuto-onsen-dow...

Good point on Hokkaido in late October, we were there in September last time and it was lovely, caught the start of Koyu. We love seeing Koyu and all our other previous trips were in October/November so we saw some stunning sights.
It all sounds great, as does Izu Peninsula and Wakayama, we will eventually visit all of them, just to choose the next one that is tricky!

You are missing Nagoya. You say food and cities. If so, you should think of Nagoya. We can pick up cities or metros by population; Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. Hiroshima and Sendai would follow, but they would start to confuse with other cities.

You may already know that Hakodate and Aomori area is a brand-new World Heritage site. Odai Yamamoto Site dates back to 13,000 BCE, but this site is not well developed for sightseeing yet. On the other hand, Sannai Maruyama is already well organized.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1632/
https://jomon-japan.jp/en/
https://jomon-japan.jp/learn/jomon-sites/odai-yamamoto
https://sannaimaruyama.pref.aomori.jp/english/

Kansai? If it were me I would head straight for Kyoto before the foliage season starts to pack in the domestic tourists, and I would visit sites that are less famous. It seems a little odd to me that you have spent less than a week there given your total trips and weeks spent in Japan.

If you have gotten a bad impression of Kyoto because of the extremely crowded tourist magnet sites there, then you really owe it another look. Kyoto is much, much more than Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji, and Fushimi Inari Taisha! It has loads of less-famous sites that are as good as any other places in Japan, and they are all concentrated in a small, easily accessible area. I try to spend a few days there on every trip to Japan, and I don�ft think I could ever get tired of revisiting my personal favorite sites, and discovering new ones.

The sooner you are able to get into Japan after it opens to tourism, the better the conditions will be. I supposed foreign tourists will start to return pretty quickly but it will probably take a while to return to pre-pandemic levels. If I were you, I would go to Koyasan on this trip, too. Some of the other places you are thinking about are fine, but they are likely to still be relatively uncrowded when you take your sixth, seventh, and eighth trips, so why not use the unusual conditions to spend some quality time in Kansai?

From Kyoto you can make multiple trips to Nara (or spend one or two nights there). There is so much to see and do in Nara. I also recommend the Kii Peninsula. One of my favorite places in all of Japan is along the Mie Coast. The eastern part of Kumano Kodo is great for hiking if you don�ft want to see many people. Or you can hit the more famous stretches farther west. And from Osaka or Kyoto, Shikoku is very easy to get to. Okayama is a nice place to stay.

Osaka also has some very nice venues if you do your homework and keep your mind open.

I still see many different trips which are possible - but a Hakodate to Tokyo (through Tohoku) really tends to scream out due to fall colors.

From North to South - what I found were highlights from this area included:

Noboribetsu (my favorite onsen water in Japan) - Hakodate (with side trip to Onuma) - Shimokita Peninsula - Hirosaki - Lake Towada (fall colors) - Nyuto Onsen - Tono - Hiraizumi - Matsushima - Yamadera - Dewa Sanzan - Aizu.

Note that the above is not a must do in order - but a pick and choose.

Some great tips, thanks a lot.
I'll do further investigation, a lot to chew one!

Tokyo is always nice.

I�fve pretty much decided to focus mostly on Tohoku for this trip (which I�fm aware is 50/50 at best for this year) but I�fm having trouble putting it all together, it makes sense to go from North to South but there�fs so much zig-zagging unless I don�ft do the Sanriku Coast which looks stunning..
I�fve also considered doing a circle route.
e.g. Clockwise
Flying to Aomori City (21st October) then rent car
Start: Aomori City
Lake Towada/Oirase Stream
Shiriyazaki Peninsula
Hachinohe -> Kuji -> Miyako
Hiraizumi-> Matsushima
Sendai
Ginzan Onsen
Dewasanzan
Kakunodate
Shirakami Sanchi
End:Aomori City
This could be anti-clockwise, start and end in Sendai.

I�fd be very happy (happier) to use a Rail Pass and only hire cars in specific areas if it could work out.
I have 2-3 weeks, could use the full 3 weeks but I like the idea of having the last week for Tokyo-> Nagoya-Kiso Valley

I�fm also happy to miss some places, e.g. could skip Demasanzan or Shiriyazaki Peninsula, we like to have a nice mix between city/coast/nature/onsen/mountains.
Any help would be appreciated.

What we ended up doing is this:


We stayed in
Aomori City
Hikage Onsen
Hachinoe (2 nights)
Tokyo (2 nights)
Izu Peninsula (3 nights)
Nagoya (2 nights)
Onomichi
Ikuchi Island (shimanami Kaido)
Osaka (2 nights)
Kyoto (2 nights)
Osaka (1 night)

It was a fantastic trip, a little bit too much squeezed in maybe.

A pleasant surprise was Kyoto, I've been before years ago and first impressions were negative, with it having such a touristy feel compared to everyone else but once we settled in, it was great. Kyoto is such a pleasant city to explore away from the main sights anyway and we got to see the likes of Kinkakuji with not too many people.

Other highlights were Western Izu, the Sanriku coast, the great food and museums in Nagoya, the shimanamikaido.
Now to plan this year!