7 Free Days in Japan - ideas?

Hi There

I know there are loads of posts about ideas for travel on this website but me and my boyfriend are a bit "different" we travel to Japan next summer and have 4 nights in Kyoto. We then have 7 free days ... before we spend 10 nights in tokyo.

Any advice for where we should go? We have a 7 day Japan rail pass ... we love alternative culture, shopping, but would also like to stay in a traditional hot spring resort ... we dont really have to travel "towards" Tokyo we can dot backwards and forwards - and we will visit Mt Fuji once we are based in Tokyo. ..

Thanks :)

Lucy

what do u mean by alternative culture

do you speak Japanese? hard to explore their alternative culture (Goths? skaters? Elvis Presley clones? otakus?) if you don't speak the language.

By alternative I guess we are not your average tourist. I love cultural stuff but my boyfriend will not visit temple after temple or admire the scenery (unfortunately for me ... ) He loves shopping, Manga, Music, films & gadgets - and yes I guess underground culture (punk, goth, electro, Cosplay). We both wear pretty outlandish clothes & wont change in Japan (will probably get worse cos i LOVE the Harajuku scene) I dont mind if we stick out .. but I would just like to visit places where there is a happy medium of things to do .. hope that makes more sense ...

Akihabara and Harajuku (but cosplay is on Sundays only)are the most likely places,even thought they are overrun by tourists, including Japanese ones. I would also suggest the Zoshigaya and Yanaka neighborhoods as they are some of the few places where you can see the old fashioned Tokyo from the 1950s or even before. No giant video screens and bright lights on huge buildings there, something that is getting to be pretty alternative too!! but there isn't enough alternative or unusual stuff for 7 days in Tokyo...