2 Week Stay...Ideas on what to do?

Hello all! :)

I wanted to run my itinerary by everyone and see what everyone thinks, as well as possibly getting some ideas. :)

I have my plane ticket and my 14 day JR Rail Pass purchased. Despite mediocre exchange rates, I'd rather exchange my money here in the US ahead of time, so I'm doing that next month.

I will be landing at Narita on March 25th at around 3pm. I plan to exchange my rail pass voucher and stumble onto the train, once I figure it out.

I am staying at Oak Hotel, a hostel in Ueno, in a private room from March 25-29. I am a big shopping fiend, and outside of buying up half of the anime/videogame/dollfie merchandise in Tokyo (a bit of an exaggeration,) the only actual event I have planned is to go to the Ghibli Museum on Thursday the 27th. I am going to the Square-Enix store on the 29th because it is only open on weekends.

So my questions for this leg of my trip are:

Any sightseeing ideas? I will be a very short distance from Ueno Park smack in the middle of Sakura season, so I plan to admire and take pictures. I'm going to be surviving on a small food budget, I have a very touchy stomach, and I don't like fish, so don't bother recommending the fish market or fancy restaurants. :P

I DO like temples/palaces/historical-anthropological sites muchly (my BA is in Anthropology) but I know Tokyo is not the best place for this. Any ideas on this front are welcome! :D

On the 30th, I hop the train to Ritto-shi, where my JET-working best friend is living, and crashing in her apartment until April 5th. Ritto is about 30min outside of Kyoto. The 30th is a writeoff, but I have almost no specific plans for the rest of that entire week. I will be visiting Volks Tenshi no Sato on Saturday the 5th before hopping the train back to Tokyo, so the 5th is a writeoff too. I fly back home on the 6th.

So for the second leg of my trip, any ideas? Kyoto is covered in facinating things, and I want to go to Osaka for at least a day if at all possible. I would love to hear about any favorites from people at these places. :)

Sorry for the rambling, and thanks again for everything!

:)

~Anrui

Any sightseeing ideas?

Here you go:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

I DO like temples/palaces/historical-anthropological sites muchly (my BA is in Anthropology) but I know Tokyo is not the best place for this.

It is certainly not the worst, either. Only Kyoto stores more national treasures than Tokyo, although Tokyo's treasures are mostly located in museums with the Tokyo National Museum at the top of the list.

There are also quite a few historic sights, such as landscape gardens, temples and shrines.

And Kamakura is just a one hour train ride away:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2166.html

So for the second leg of my trip, any ideas?

For historical sites, make sure to visit the Kansai Region:
http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1105.html

Thanks! I'm curious, do you have any favorites that you enjoy yourself? Sometimes it is hard to stare at a website and get excited over something that is described in only a few sentences. ^_^;

Thanks again!

many websites and personal blogs have lots of pictures. You just have to be patient..and look at a lots of sites. Then there are guidebooks like Insight and Eyewitness that have lots of pictures...
what to see is really such a personal choice.. I love to explore out of the way old residential neighbourhoods for example, but also the food floors in major department stores..Yodobashi cameras is a place I always check, not for the cameras but for unusual stuff we don't get in my country like refrigerators with 4 to 6 compartments, ceilining ligths operated by remote controls..and of course any neighbourhood temple is worth a visit..

Don't know if my suggestion will be of much help to you but if you are really planning to travel around in Japan i would recommend that you at elast try to cover the 3 mosts cenic place in Japan, ie Amanohashidate, Miyajima and Matsujima. Since you have the Rail Pass, then most of the tarvel expenses will be covered except for the last section when you travel to Amanohashidate where the last 'lwg' of the rail travel is not operated by Japan Railways. However the extra expense to be incurred will be rather minimal.

I was in Japan this summer and stay about month and some days.. i visited soo many places..
About Tokyo and the shrines/temples you can see the Meiji, its a really soo beautifull , one of my favorites in Japan, i was lucky then see there japanese traditional weeding ^^
and also you can visit Asakusa, Sensoji temple and Kamanarimon.. you will stay in Ueno, soo you can use just Ginza subway to Asakusa.
Odaiba at night is soo beautifull too.
as for muesums, yes Tokyo National muesum is a really great, but and Tokyo Edo museum is also a really really good too ^^

and your second part of the trip..
yes its possibile go on one day trips from Kyoto to Osaka, i did that too, and one way its just 530 yen as i remember..
also i did and one day trip to Nara too ^^
about Kyoto, you can see many temples/shrines there, sure and your friend will help you. also maybe you can go to Uji too, soo nice there too ^^
well wish you all the best on your trip, i cant wait to back again there..hehe

Sounds like you are spending most of your time in the big cities and not much time in small remote areas. I did a trip over a year ago and saw big cities and small towns alike. Kyoto was my favorite city, lots of things to do and see. On this web site just look under Kyoto and u will see about 3 or 4 times more things to do than Tokyo. I might suggest Northern Kyoto its out of the city but not to far. This will give u a chance to see the more traditional side to Japan. Have a great trip.