2-ish weeks in Japen

Hi!
you were all so helpful with my last question, I thought I would ask for opinions on our itinerary.

As I said last time, my sister and I are going to be spending around 2 weeks in Japan in May/June. We shall have a 14-day JR pass. We shall be arriving in Japan on the 24th (into Fukuoka, if I can change our tickets!) and out of Tokyo on the 10th June

So the outlined itinerary is

24th - stay at Fukuoka

25th/26th - stay at a ryokan at Beppo. see the hells, and also Mt Aso

27th Hiroshima, Miyajima

28th/29th/30th/31st see Himejij on way to Kyoto

1st/2nd Osaka - day trip to Nara

3rd Mt Koya (stay at a Buddhist temple)

4th Nikko

5th/6th/7th/8th/9th Tokyo (a day trip to Hakone)

this is a very basic outline though.

Is there anywhere spectacular we are missing? we can play around with dates, but want to be in Tokyo by the 7th June.

I am very excited about this upcoming trip, so perhaps am going over board on the planning!

thanks everyone.

I am a bit puzzled by the following:
3rd Mt Koya (stay at a Buddhist temple)
4th Nikko
do you mean that you will go from Osaka to Mt Koya on the 3rd and stay for the night then leave early on the 4th and go from Mt Koya to Nikko?
Nikko is north of Tokyo while Osaka is way south of Tokyo. it takes about 5hrs by train from Mt Koya to Tokyo,with several changes of vehicles, then you have to change trains at Tokyo station and take 2 more trains to go to Nikko.Add 2 hrs. To see the major temples in Nikko takes a good 3-4 hrs then you have to go back to Tokyo...quite a long day..

I am a bit puzzled by the following:
3rd Mt Koya (stay at a Buddhist temple)
4th Nikko
do you mean that you will go from Osaka to Mt Koya on the 3rd and stay for the night then leave early on the 4th and go from Mt Koya to Nikko?

hey monkey see,
yes! that is exactly what I thought of doing, but based on what you said that doesn't seem very feasible. We are planning on staying the night in Nikko, but somehow I thought there was a more direct - and quicker - route there.

Sounds like it would be more sensible to spend a night in Tokyo before heading off to Nikko for a night.

I found a previous post:
" From Osaka to Koyasan, I recommend to use the following ticket. It is cheaper and more convenient than single tickets:
http://japan-guide.com/e/e2358_012.html"
you will see on the map on that page that you need to take the Nankai railway from Namba station (in Osaka) then a cable car then a bus to the area where the temples are. On the way back once you are in Namba take the Mido-suji subway to Shin-Osaka to get on the Shinkansen to Tokyo. It is not hard but there are several changes of vehicles, as you can see, and the Namba subway station is fairly big, so you will have to check the signs (in English)carefully. I would suggest that you arrive in Koya-san early afternoon to have a look around and leave the following morning by 9 am to miss the rush hour.If you have 1 big suitcases or 2 small ones you may wish to leave them in a locker at shin-Osaka or Nankai namba and travel to Koya-san with a small bag and a minimum of clothes and toiletries. As for Nikko you definitely need a whole day and you may not even have time to see the lake, the waterfall etc. I saw the 4 main temples and there is much to see(lots of very intricate carvings everywhere) not to mention a fair bit of walking from/to the rail station and from one temple to the other.

Mt Aso requires a full day from Beppu. I also recommend to allocate 2 days to Hiroshima and Miyajima (and the long travel time between Beppu, Hiroshima and Kyoto). As others pointed out, it seems you also underestimate the travel time from Koyasan to Nikko. It takes about 8 hours.

I strongly recommend going to Kamakura and visiting Yokohama while you're in Tokyo.
Yokohama is only 30 min train ride from Shibuya, and I find it nicer than Tokyo, but then I grew up there ;)
Kamakura is beautiful and historic town (very first Shogun started his government there in medieval Japan), as nice as Kyoto I think and the Buddha is worth a visit.
Also in Tokyo, O-daiba area is definitely worth half a day's visit at least.

thankyou everyone!

I think that we shall stay in Koyasan inbetween our stay in Okinawa, and spend a night in Nikko after we get to Japan. It seems like the best in terms of enjoyment.

And thankyou Fiona! we are alwys after personal recommendations for things to do and see ^_^