Hotel / Train reservations necessary?

Hi everyone,
:-) I'm going to Japan my third time from Dec. 18th to Jan. 18th. The last two times we never made any hotel reservations except for the arrival and departure day. There wasn't any problem finding a room at all of our visited locations.

But this time we are there during the New Year's Holiday period (Dec. 29th – Jan. 3rd). We don't know exactly which towns we will visit these days but we plan going to Hokkaido and the Northern Honshu region (mostly for hiking, maybe for skiing). If we are not strong enough to stand snow and coldness Kyushu is our alternative. Generally we would prefer to enjoy the freedom our Japan Rail Pass provides us with and not to plan every day in advance...

My questions:
1. Do you suggest us to make hotel reservations?
If yes, only during the New Year�fs Holiday period or the Christmas time and after Jan 3rd either?
2. Are the northern parts of Japan popular destinations for Japanese to spend these holidays (except for skiing)? Which destinations should be avoided these days?
3. Do you think there maybe problems to get train tickets? How long in advance these tickets should be reserved?
4. I don't like bargaining (and I think Japanese neither :-) ). For getting a good room price - do you suggest hotel booking sites (like asiarooms.com) or do you get similar/better prices if you phone there directly?

Do you suggest us to make hotel reservations?

Big cities should pose no problems in terms of hotel reservations.

Popular tourist resorts could be booked out over the New Year holidays, though.

Are the northern parts of Japan popular destinations for Japanese to spend these holidays (except for skiing)?

Famous shrines and temples across the country are very crowded from January 1-3. Nevertheless, it is a great experience to visit one.

Apart from that, popular hot spring and wintersport resorts will be quite busy.

Do you think there maybe problems to get train tickets?

I thought you get a Japan Rail Pass! That's your train ticket!

As for seat reservations, December 29-30 (leaving Tokyo) and January 2-4 (returning to Tokyo) will be very busy and seats on many trains will be booked out. Most trains have cars with non-reserved seats, though.

For getting a good room price - do you suggest hotel booking sites (like asiarooms.com) or do you get similar/better prices if you phone there directly?

The best rates are usually found on the hotel's website (especially Japanese version) and good reservation websites, such as Rakuten Travel. Asiarooms and most other non-Japanese reservation websites have usually higher rates.

For low budget:
http://www.hostelworld.com/index.php?affiliate=japan-guide.c...