15 days trip to Japan from Dec20-Jan3 (Kanazawa–>Osaka–>Kyoto–> Tokyo)

Hello all,

I have been a silent reader in this sub for a while to get all tips for my upcoming trip to Japan with my friends. There are three of us in our early 20’s travelling from India(Delhi) to Japan(Tokyo) on Dec 20th and returning back on Jan 4th.
Our main source of attraction to visit Japan are definitely anime, Japanese culture and food. So we have decided an itinerary keeping that in mind.
And since we are coming from a country where winter is not that prevalent, the weather is also a plus point. 😅
We have planned 2 nights in Kanazawa, 3 nights in Osaka, 3 nights in Kyoto and 7 nights in Tokyo.
There are some concerns we have regarding the trip as we are gonna be there during new year’s, so we don’t know how many shops will be open from Jan 1 to Jan 4. Please provide your advice regarding it.
Please note that all the hotel check in have been mentioned to be at 3pm in the evening. So we have prepared the itinerary taking that into account.
I am posting our itinerary below:

Dec 20th:
Reach Haneda Airport. Transfer our luggage to our hotel from the airport itself. Roam around Tokyo till afternoon. Take shinkansen to Kanazawa around 12.00.
The only place we are planning on visiting in the museum of contemporary arts. And just roam around the area near the hotel.(the jet lag is not much for us but still we don’t want to do much on this day as we might be tried.)

Dec 21st:
In the morning we are planning on going to shirakawa-go(mainly for the snowy village, but if there is anything else we can do here, please let me know.) Return around afternoon 15.00 to Kanazawa and explore omicho market and higashi chaya district.

Dec 22nd:
Explore Nagamachi samurai district, kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa castle.
Board shinkansen to Osaka around 13.30.
Visit/explore namba shopping street and shinsekai.

Dec 23rd:
USJ(most of the reviews were saying that USJ is better that tokyo Disney sea. Haven’t booked my tickets yet. Opinion?)
Umeda sky building. Christmas market/illuminations.

Dec 24th:
Osaka castle. Shinsaibashi. Denden town. Dottonbori. Donquijote. ( Did we miss out on anything? Any hidden spots for us to visit? I feel like this day is a bit packed. Opinion?)

Dec 25th:
Tennoji park, Osaka aquarium, Nintendo Centre. (Optional: Pokemon centre)
Board train to Kyoto around 16.30(local train is enough for this right? Or are the rates for shinkansen and local trains similar?)
After checking into hotel we are planning to roam around gion and pontocho. (Really close to our hotel.)

Dec 26th:
Arashiyama bamboo grove. Fushima Inari. Kiyomizu dera. Samurai and ninja museum.
Reservation at kichi kichi omurice.
Night at nishiki market.

Dec 27th:
Day trip to Nara. Todai ji shrine. Nara park. Isuein Garden. Nakatanidou(live mochi place. Hopefully I didn’t butcher the name. Iam typing from my memory.) Higashimuki shopping district.
We are planning to return to Kyoto by 17.00
So it is free time for us after this. Any places left to visit Kyoto? We are not really temple buffs. So kept it to bare minimum. If there are any other hidden gems or something we missed which could be filled on this day, let me know.

Dec 28th:
Kyoto imperial palace. Nijo castle.
Board shinkansen to Tokyo around 13.30.
Our hotel is close to Ueno. So we will be exploring that area.

Dec 29th:
We have planned a day trip to Mt.Fuji early morning. Near kawaguchiko lake. (Anything else to do around the Mt.fuji area?)
We have not planned anything for this day.

Dec 30th:
Explore Ueno and Asakusa
Meiji jingu shrine and Sensoji shrine.

Dec 31st:
Day trip to Yokohama. Gundam statue. Cup noodle Museum. China Town. Celebrate new year’s in Yokohama “Red brick warehouse”.(is the hanabi show still there in Yokohama? That’s why we planned the day trip to Yokohama on 31st.)
We are staying back in Yokohama and not going back to Tokyo. Please provide your suggestions regarding any karoake bars in which we could stay for the night.

Jan 1st:
Explore Ginza and Akihabara.

Jan 2nd:
We will be covering Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku.

Jan 3rd:
Again cover Shibuya, ebisu Town, Nakano Broadway.

As you guys will notice, We have kept tokyo with only places, we will be exploring Tokyo on the go. We don’t have any specific places planned per se. If you guys have any suggestions, please do let me know. I think we have covered most of the touristy places. This might be a bit tight scheduled. I tried to make it as free as possible.

Let me know your opinion regarding this itinerary and all suggestions are welcome :).