At the end of this year I will be going on a Japan trip with some friends (late November through all of December and a bit of early January). We are each arriving in the country via our own separate routes, and then eventually meeting up at our shared accommodation in Tokyo at the very end of November. This leaves me with probably about 5-ish days of solo travel before heading to Tokyo for the main bulk of the trip throughout December.
We will be spending about two weeks in Tokyo together before making our way down to Kansai to spend another two or so weeks i.e. in Kyoto, Osaka, Nara etc. We will be in Osaka for Christmas, then will travel further south to Hiroshima for New Years and spend a few days around Hiroshima and Okayama before heading back home.
My question for you guys is: where do you reckon would be best for me to spend the 5-day pre-Tokyo period on my own?
For the longest time I thought I wanted to spend it in Hokkaido, especially in and around Sapporo, but I'm having serious doubts about that given (a) how long the travel time to Tokyo would be and, more importantly (b) the extremely cold temperature, given that I'll be there in winter. Tbh the region that I'm personally most interested in visiting is Okinawa but again, given that it'll be winter, that seems like a pretty obvious write-off.
For the time being Nagano seems like the best fit (keen to visit some onsens and see some snow monkeys) BUT I'd like to make sure I cover all my bases and am absolutely settled on Nagano before I book anything.
Not picky but I would definitely prefer to not spend the solo period somewhere which I'll already be going to later in the trip – so please no Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima or Okayama. Down for any daytrips, so fire away with whatever you've got. Ease of access/transportation to and from Australia and then domestically into Tokyo is also a factor to please take into consideration before recommending anything.
Any and all suggestions welcome. Cheers
(Btw, no clue if this is relevant, but I'm 22M from Sydney, Australia and I've been to Japan once before when I was about 16, but only Tokyo)
by throwawaaay1302