3.5 weeks in Japan

Dear all

I'm wondering if there is a direct route from Hakone to Takayama?

My parents are visiting in February for 3.5 weeks, I really want them to have a great time so that they can see the Japan I see, and they will love Japan as much as I do!

The itinerary so far:

Feb 03 Arrive Nagoya Chubu 1700, staying at a hotel near airport
Feb 04 Morning flight to Sapporo and check out Sapporo surrounding
Feb 05 Check out Yukimatsuri (Snow festival)
Feb 06 Day trip to Otaru
Feb 07 Snowboarding
Feb 08 Afternoon flight to Tokyo Haneda, check out surrounding area of hotel in Shinjuku
Feb 09 Day trip to Kamakura (I think there is a cheap return rail ticket to area surrounding Tokyo during weekends and public holiday for 2300 yen, correct me if I am wrong)
Feb 10 Day trip to Yokohama
Feb 11 Day trip to Nikko probably with JTB Sunrise Tour
Feb 12 Around Tokyo
Feb 13 Around Tokyo and train to Hakuba in the afternoon, checking out area surround ryokan in Hakuba
Feb 14 Hakuba tour (the circle cuicuit tour thing involving train, cable car and mini-ferry)
Feb 15 Hakone / Nagoya
Feb 16 Nagoya
Feb 17 Ise / Pearl Women divers
Feb 18 Kyoto
Feb 19 Day trip to Nara
Feb 20 Day trip to Osaka
Feb 21 Kyoto
Feb 22 Kyoto
Feb 23-26 No plans just yet

1. Is this itinerary ok? Or does it seem a bit impossible?

2. Initially I wanted to go from Hakone to Takayama, but it seems that trains/shinkansen go to Takayama via Nagoya anyway. So now I would like to take them perhaps from Kyoto to Takayama. Whilst in that region, I want them to see a)Morning Market in Takayama b)Night view of Shirakawago, as well as spending a day there c) I heard Kanazawa is really beautiful, but Im not sure if time will allow it / weather.

3. Shall we go to Kanazawa too?
If so
Feb 22 Kyoto - Kanazawa
Arrive around 6pm ish (it takes 4 hours, I believe)
Feb 23 Kanazawa, afternoon bus to Shirakawago and stay in Shirakawago the night
Feb 24 Shirakawago, afternoon bus to Takayama. In the evening, bus back to Nagoya.
That means they will miss the morning market, but its ok I guess.

Advise please :) Thank you so much in advance

Is this itinerary ok? Or does it seem a bit impossible?

It looks okay, assuming that you meant Hakone when writing Habuba.

Whilst in that region, I want them to see a) Morning Market in Takayama

Note that the morning market is very low profile. Nothing spectacular, at all. But the rest of Takayama is beautiful.

b)Night view of Shirakawago, as well as spending a day there

I think that ligth up shows are only during certain times of the year (in February 2008: on the 2nd, 9th, 10th and 16th). During the rest of the year, I think Shirakawago will be just dark during the night. But it is very nice during the day.

I heard Kanazawa is really beautiful, but Im not sure if time will allow it / weather.

Weather is no problem. But if you also plan to add Takayama and Shirakawago, it can become packed.

personalLy I think that you pack too many things in your itinerary.. I understand that you are eager to show your parents as much as possible but this may be too much of a sensory overload for them, not to mention the fatigue of moving from one place to another so many times. As it is everything in Japan is different and exciting, even the "mundane" things like vending machines, automated parkings, big bike lots, pachinko parlors, never mind shrines, castles, trains and
subways.. I have learned long ago that staying in one place for at least a couple of days, getting really familiar with the streets, the stores and their staff, around the hotel, helps you remember a town years hence. Both in Japan and Europe I now usually stay in a hotel for 4 days to a week at a time and, thanks to the wonder of fast trains, explore sights on a day trip. not many sights,just one a day. If your parents can still visualize in details, years from now, a certain place because they and you took time to explore it leisurely this will mean a lot to them. One of my friends best souvenir of Japan is not the day she and her husband spent with a guide rushing around madly to see 5 "must see" temples but the couple of hours they spent every morning having cakes and coffee with their ryokan owner in her private garden.