6th Trip to Japan, 32 days - Where?

My partner and I have been 45times to Japan and have booked flights for this year, 6th October - 8th November.

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 so/Miyazaki/Yakushima/Amamioshima (5 Weeks)
5. Aomori/Hachinohe/Tokyo/Izu Peninsula/Nagoya/Onomichi/Shiminamikaido/Osaka/Kyoto

As usual, it's hard to decide where to go as so many places are appealing,
Food is really important, we also love exploring cities, going out and meeting people, cycling, hiking, onsens, nature, museums etc.
We�fd ideally like a mix of big city, countryside, volcanos, mountains, villages and beautiful coastal areas.
I speak basic Japanese badly but enough to be useful and allow us to be unstressed being in areas with no English.

Some very initial ideas are as follows:

*Option 1*

Hokkaido (Hakodate/Noboribetsu/Shikotsu-Toya/Sapporo)
Chubu (Toyama/Matsumoto/Kiso Valley etc.)
Shikoku (Matsumoto/Kochi/Iya Valley etc.)

*Option 2*

Hokkaido
Shikoku+Seto Inland Sea (Aoshima, Shodoshima etc.)

*Option 3*

Chubu
Hiroshima + Miyajima + Shikoku

*Option 4*

Hokkaido
Chubu (more time, more places, no Shikoku)

Option 1 appeals as we loved Hokkaido and I'd love to see some of the parts we didn't get to, the Alpine area also looks great, we spent a day in Kamikochi and it was very beautiful, timing should be good for Koyo too. Shikoku also looks wonderful and is one of the less touristy parts. We have 32 full days so are very lucky.

I wonder if it's trying to squeeze too much in, we're not the types to rush around on hectic schedules, nor do we need to try and see everything there is to see, there is always a next time.
So the other options are limiting to 2 areas rather than three, maybe Chubu makes more sense at that time due to Koyo compared too Shikoku but the combo of Hiroshima + Shikoku is very inviting.

However, there are so many other possibilities, lower Tohoku, Nikko, Niigata, Sado Islands, Nara, Wakayama, Tottori etc.
Any advice would be welcome, we're happy to do a mix of Rail Pass use and Hire Car when needed.

I'll add to you Seto Islands idea for Shikoku-Hiroshima etc and add Ferry to Beppu so you can do Beppu and bus to Yufuin also.

How about:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4411.html
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5909.html

Hokkaido is in autumn season right now, so I think it's a good place to visit.
https://koyo.walkerplus.com/list/ar0101/
Kamikochi is also the best season to see autumn leaves.
https://koyo.walkerplus.com/detail/ar0420e13025/data.html
It seems that the area around the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is also in the fall foliage season.
https://koyo.walkerplus.com/detail/ar0516e12978/
https://koyo.walkerplus.com/detail/ar0516e12865/
I've stayed at a hotel in Midagahara in the summer, and it was good.
https://midagahara.alpen-route.co.jp/en/
Many parts of Shikoku are not in autumn foliage season, but there are many attractive places.
https://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1107.html
Ritsurin Park in Takamatsu, Dogo Onsen and Uchiko in Matsuyama, Oboke and Koboke in Tokushima. (I have never been to Iya Valley)
I would also like to go to Naoshima and other art islands.
I've never been to Hiroshima so I don't know how to make an accurate judgment, but in my case I might choose option 1.

@Nonn Bay

Thanks for those tips, we don't want to go all the way down to Nagasaki again yet, on our Kyushu trip we went to Karatsu Kunchi festival which was incredible.
I hada noticed about the Takayama festival and was wondering, we'd have to go almoststraight there after arriving and could make rail pass timing difficult but worth looking into more.

@haro1210
Thanks for the great Koyo resources.

I think it would maybe make sense for us to leave Shikoku for a future trip with Hiroshima and parts of Kyushu we missed such as Oita.

So, after Chubu we would spend time in the Kii Peninsula, something like

8 days Hokkaido (Hakodate/Noboribetsu/Shikotsu-Toya/Sapporo)
10 days Chubu ( Toyama/Matsumoto/Kiso Valley etc.)
10 days Kansai (Nara/Koyasan/Kumano Kodo etc.
4 days Tokyo

Either that or
8 days Hokkaido
20 days Niigata/Chubu(Sado Island, Hoshitouge RiceTerraces,Kiyotsu Gorge,oyama/Matsumoto/Kiso Valley etc.)
4 days Tokyo

After plenty of pondering, thinking of the following.

We realised we had very little time on the coast so added the Northern Kyoto/Tottori section,
I know people mostly just do day trips there but it looks a very beautiful area to spend some relaxing days.
Possibly lots to improve here, all suggestions welcome.
Aiming to not be too hectic but have a great variety.

Day Location Sleep
1 Sapporo Sapporo
2 Sapporo Sapporo
3 Sapporo/Otaru Otaru
4 Shakotan Peninsula Shakotan
5 Niseko Panorama/Lake Toya. Lake Toya
6 Shikotsuko/Mount Tarumae Shikotsuko
7 Shikotsuko/Noboribetsu Noboribetsu
8 Onuma Quasi/Hakodate Hakodate
9 Hakodate Hakodate
10 Morioka Morioka
11 Hachimantai Nyuto Onsen
12 Nyuto Onsen Morioka
13 Travel Magome
14 Nakasendo Matsumoto
15 Matsumoto Matsumoto
16 Toyama Prefecture Toyama or Kanazawa
17 Toyama Prefecture Toyama or Kanazawa
18 Toyama Prefecture Toyama or Kanazawa
19 Toyama Prefecture Toyama
20 Travel/Amanohashidate Northern Kyoto
21 Ine, beaches etc. Northern Kyoto
22 Northern Kyoto Northern Kyoto
23 Tottori Dunes/Coast Tottori
24 Mount Daisen Tottori
25 ? ?
26 Nara Nara
27 Nara/Yoshino Nara
28 Kyoto Kyoto
29 Tokyo Tokyo
30 Tokyo Tokyo
31 Tokyo Tokyo
32 Tokyo Tokyo

After lots of deliberation we ended up planning and booking the following:

3 nights Sapporo
1 night Lake Shikotsu
1 night Noboribetsu
2 nights Lake Toya
2 nights Hakodate
1 night Kakunodate
1 night Morioka
1 night Higashiyama Onsen (next to Aizu Wakamatsu)
1 night Takayu Onsen (near Bandai Azuma)
1 night Maizuru
2 nights Ine (North Kyoto prefecture)
2 nights Tottori
2 nights Okayama
4 nights Shodoshima
8 nights Tokyo

Lots of travelling but we have a nice mix of what we like and will see lots of new places, so excited!!!