Hello reddit, my two friends and I will be finishing our final high school exams at the end of November, hooray! To celebrate this, we are planning a 3-week (23D22N) trip to Japan from 26th of november to the 18th of december, visiting the following places: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, along with Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Matsumoto, Suwa, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Himeji castle and Takayama. Since this is our first time planning an overseas trip, we are not completely sure that our guide is possible/appropriate. From what we have heard however, Kyushu is a highly underrated destination, so we are looking to experience the most of Japan and diverging from the Tokyo Osaka Kyoto golden route that many travelers follow. We are not too fussed with visiting the most popular landmarks and attractions, so recommendations from experts/natives are very much welcome! As none of us will have our driver’s license by the time we will be traveling, our main method of transport will be public transport. We have all learnt basic Japanese. We can read most signs, know the most useful phrases and can make basic sentences whilst also being able to understand local speech to some extent. Please note that we have already booked almost all hotels and flight tickets, so the timeline cannot be adapted except for what happens during each day. Most importantly, we would like to know if our current itinerary is plausible and seek recommendations on locations which will enrich our experience of the country.

DAILY GUIDE

TOKYO day 1: (26th)

• Land at Haneda airport at 9:15pm. Use Visit Japan website to submit details prior and scan QR code to get through customs faster. Exit terminal 3.
• 10-11pm take the Keikyu airport line. Board the train bound for Shinagawa.
• Get off at Omorikaigan station and walk to hotel
• Check into the hotel, find the room and go to sleep.

TOKYO day 2: (Nov 27th)

• Walk to Omori station and board the express train, bound for Sakuragichō station
• Get off at Sakuragichō station (Yokohama day trip yet to be decided. Looking for suggestions as none of the popular attractions such as cup noodle museum and red brick warehouse really appeal to us)
• Nissan global headquarters gallery (I’m into cars)
• Leave Yokohama at 6:00pm
• Arrive at Kawasaki station at 6:30pm
• Classical piano concert start at 7:00pm at MUZA Kawasaki Symphony Hall (1 hour 45 minutes approx for concert duration)
• Finish at 8:45pm. Take the train back to Omori and arrive at the hotel.
• Sleep at 11:00pm. Explore the area if there is still time.

TOKYO day 3: (Nov 28th)

• Wake up at 8:30 am.
• Leave the hotel at 9:30am or earlier.
• Day trip up for debate
• Go to the imperial palace first, then to Akihabara and then the Nezu shrine. Sensoji temple after 5pm
• Make sure to eat lunch in a foody location, no tourist traps
• Eat at an izakaya for dinner
• Go up to the Shibuya sky for city views. This could also be done at the end of our trip when we return to tokyo.
• Return to the hotel by 9pm.
• Pack luggage in preparation for Tokyo to Nagasaki flight
• Lights off at 10pm and NO YAPPING

TOKYO morning day 4 (Nov 29th)

• Wake up at 5:30am
• Checkout of hotel by 7am
• Take hotel shuttle bus (7:20am free cost) or train to the Haneda station (30 minutes +/- 10 minutes) 
• Arrive at Haneda station at ～7:30
• Flight departing either terminal 1 or 2
• Board plane for nagasaki airport (2 hour flight)

NAGASAKI morning day 4 (Nov 29th)

• Touch down at nagasaki airport at 1pm
• Go to hotel first via bus platform 5 (40 minutes)
• Check into hotel at approx. 11:15am
• Walk around chinatown as long as needed until around 12pm
• Eat chanpon and sara udon at chinatown
• Tram up to the one legged torii
• Tram up to the bomb hypocenter. See the memorial hall
• Go to the peace park
• Bus and then ropeway up to mount Inasayama observatory (30 minute journey)
• Mount Inasayama observatory at night (approx 9pm) after 6pm
• Have dinner somewhere north of the river
• Return to hotel by 9pm
• Lights out at 11-12

NAGASAKI day 5 (Nov 30th)

• Explore Shinchi Chinatown, Dejima and all the other attractions around there, Sofukuji temple, Suwa shrine, etc.
• Mt Nabenkamuri park at night for another great view of the city (could be done during the day since we are already seeing the city at night from Inasayama)
• Bedtime at 10:30pm

NAGASAKI day 6 (Dec 1st)

• Wake up at 8am
• Go see Kazagashira park
• Check out latest at 11am
• Get to nagasaki station via taxi (time tbd)
• Buy a bento for the train ride (no Ekiben brand they aren’t good apparently)
• Board shinkansen to Takeo onsen station, then switch onto the express train to Shintosu station
• Switch from express train to shinkansen and take the shinkansen to kumamoto station (whole trip roughly 2.5 hours)

KUMAMOTO afternoon day 6 (Dec 1st)

• Arrive at kumamoto around 2-3pm
• Check in at hotel at 3pm
• Chill or go to the park
• Visit Suizenji park and luffy statue
• Early dinner. Try sashimi horse meat which is famous in Kumamoto
• Sleep at 9:30pm

KUMAMOTO day 7 (Dec 2nd)

• Wake up at 6am. Check out of hotel at 7am
• Get to Kumamoto station at 7:45am. Put luggage in lockers
• Train to higo-ozu by 9am
• Meet tour guide, go in car to Takachiho gorge and mount aso
• Finish at higo-ozu around 5:30pm
• Go back to Kumamoto station by 6:15-30pm.
• Get on shinkansen at approx 7:15

FUKUOKA evening day 7 (Dec 2nd)

• Arrive at Hakata station at 8pm
• Check into hotel at around 8:20pm
• Check out yatai stands but do not eat by the river as it is expensive. Go find dinner in a non tourist trap location (Tenjin district?)
• Go to sleep early

FUKUOKA day 8 (Dec 3rd)

• No strict times
• Ohori park and fukuoka castle ruins
• Shofukuji temple
• Visit lalaport gundam base
• Canal city
• Hakata ramen
• Nagahama Fish Market
• Go to bed at 10pm
• Alternatively, should we do a Dazaifu day trip?

FUKUOKA day 9 (Dec 4th)

• 6am wake up 
• Check out at 7am
• Arrive at Hakata station at 7:30
• Shinkansen to Hiroshima

HIROSHIMA day 9 (Dec 4th)

• Arrive at Hiroshima station (~9:30am)
• Leave our luggage at the hotel
• Walk to Hiroshima station and board train to Miyajimaguchi station (30 minute train ride)
• Ferry to Miyajima island (200 yen 12 minutes)
• Explore Miyajima until maybe 4pm (last ferry is at 10pm)
• Explore Hiroshima at night, try Okonomiyaki
• Return to hotel by any time
• Bedtime at 11pm

HIROSHIMA + Himeji castle stopover – morning day 10 (Dec 5th)

• Wake up at 8am 
• Check out the atomic dome, peace park, hiroshima castle and memorial museums
• Return to hotel and check out by 11:00am
• Board the Shinkansen to Kyoto at 12pm (2 hours 40 minutes)
• Stopover at HIMEJI castle for 2 hours approx, leaving our luggage at the station lockers

KYOTO day 10 (Dec 5th)

• Switch line bound for Umekoji-kyotonishi station
• Get off at Umekoji-kyotonishi station
• Check into hotel around 6pm
• Explore the unexplored parts of Kyoto (low tourist rates)
• Visit some of the popular places during the evening when visitations are low
• Eat dinner
• Early sleep at 10:30pm

KYOTO day 11 (Dec 6th)

• Wake up early at 6:30am
• Visit Arashiyama bamboo forest and Otagi nenbutsu-ji temple in the morning before tourists arrive
• Rest of the day up for debate. Recommendations welcome.

KYOTO day 12 (Dec 7th)

• To be decided. Recommendations welcome. 
• We have the following landmarks listed to visit. The famous ones we would like to visit earlier/later in the day to avoid tourists. They include: Tower of Yasaka, Kiyomizu-dera temple, and Higashiyama district, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Adashino Nenbutsuji bamboo forest, Okochi sanso villa, Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple.

KYOTO day 13 (Dec 8th)

• To be decided. Recommendations welcome

KYOTO morning day 14 (Dec 9th)

• Wake up at 8am
• Maybe explore the immediate area for a bit before checking out
• Arrive at kyoto station by 11am
• Take the shinkansen down to osaka 

OSAKA day 14 (Dec 9th)

• Arrive at osaka station (~11-12pm)
• Walk to hotel (only a few minutes)
• Check in and get luggage dropped off at hotel room
• Go shopping in amerika-mura, shinsaibashi and namba
• Not sure here about what more to see so recommendations needed
• Return to hotel by 10pm
• Lights out by 11pm

OSAKA day 15 (Dec 10th)

• Wake up at 8am
• Take train to osaka aquarium (~45 minutes)
• Enter the aquarium at 10am (earliest opening time) to beat the other sightseers
• Finish up in the aquarium no later than 1pm
• Find lunch in any of the listed areas (Hozenji-Yokocho, Tenma, Ura-namba, Tenroku, Tsuruhashi, Kitahama)
• Eat early dinner away from said locations as most are not fairly priced in favor of charging tourists (~5pm)
• Find way to Osaka Jo Hall to watch Back Number concert (J-rock band) (finishing time unannounced)
• Return to hotel and be in bed by 11pm
• (if we cant get concert tickets then should we do a daytrip to Kobe instead?)

OSAKA morning day 16 (Dec 11th)

• Wake up at 6:30am
• Be at Osaka station by 8:30am
• Board shinkansen for Kanazawa station (takes 2.5-3.5 hours depending on what schedule)

KANAZAWA day 16 (Dec 11th)

• Arrive at Kanazawa station by 11-12pm
• Drop off luggage at hotel at around the same time (note that check in time is after 3pm but they can hold luggage)
• Free bikes supplied by hotel
• Omicho market
• Higashi-chaya and Kazue-machi districts
• Kanazawa castle park

KANAZAWA day 17 (Dec 12th)

• Nagamachi samurai district
• Nishi chaya district
• Kenrokuen garden
• 21st century contemporary art museum
• DT suzuki zen museum (optional)

(none of these are in any specific order since they're all reasonably close together, along with us having access to bikes. Other suggestions outside of this area also welcome)

KANAZAWA + shirakawa go day trip – day 18 (Dec 13th)

• Wake up at 6:30am
• Check out of hotel by 8:00am
• Walk to kanazawa station (20 mins)
• Be on the bus at Kanazawa station at 8:40
• Get to Shirakawa-go at 10:05am
• Get on the bus to Takayama by 1:30pm

TAKAYAMA afternoon day 19 (Dec 13th)

• Arrive at takayama at 2:20pm
• Arrive at ryokan and greet the owners. Drop off luggage.
• Heritage Houses: Yoshijima Heritage House and the Kusakabe Folk Crafts Museum
• Walk around the Sakurayama-Hachimangu area including the shrine and the Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall
• Return to ryokan for dinner (6pm)
• Room for some night time exploration if we feel up to it.
• Sleep by 10:30pm

TAKAYAMA day 19 (Dec 14th)

• Eat breakfast at the ryokan
• Walk around the old town (Sanmachi-suji district) at 9am
• Takayama Jinya
• Move from the Ryokan to a different accommodation
• Higashiyama Walkway
• Catch a taxi to visit Hida no Sato

TAKAYAMA day 20 (Dec 15th)

• Wake up at 7am
• Be at takayama station by 8:30am
• Board bus to matsumoto castle (2 hours 40 minutes)
• We will be utilizing the luggage lockers at the stations in this day

MATSUMOTO DAY TRIP day 20 (Dec 15th)

• Explore the area including Matsumoto castle. More research needed for this town. Recommendations appreciated!
• Eat lunch at Matsumoto
• Board train at Matsumoto station by 4:00pm to Kami-Suwa
• Stop at Kami-Suwa station (~4:30pm) and head to Tateishi park (half an hour walk with some elevation)
• Witness the sunset at Tateishi park (praying for good clear weather!) (~5:30-6pm)
• Return to Kami-Suwa station by 7pm
• Take the limited express train to Shinjuku station in tokyo (~2 hours 30 minutes – 3 hours)

TOKYO night day 20 (Dec 15th)

• Arrive at Shinjuku station at approx 9:30-10:30pm
• Check into hotel or hostel (not yet decided on one, we will stay somewhere near Shinjuku/Shibuya)
• Get dinner somewhere
• Sleep by 11pm

TOKYO day 21 (Dec 16th)

• To be decided (suggestions appreciated! We were thinking about visiting an area per day and going to the popular tourist locations at less busy hours. Our biggest interest in Tokyo is mainly just enjoying the food.
• Should we go to Nikko or Mount Fuji at Hakone or Fujikawaguchiko? weather?

TOKYO day 22 (Dec 17th)

• To be decided

TOKYO day 23 (Dec 18th)

• To be decided
• Check out of hotel at (time undecided) and take the train to Haneda airport
• Arrive at Haneda airport terminal 3 at 1pm and fly out at 4:05pm