Hello, We are a couple planning our first time trip to Japan from 21st to 30th Nov 2024. Being first timers and on budget, our goal is to experience autumn (reason for choosing November) and the major tourist attractions. We plan to make use of public transport throughout the trip. Haven't figured out which JR/rail passes to take yet.

Please skip to the last questions section if you dont have energy to read a long post. 😃

Need help with planning certain days of our trip.

21st Nov Thursday Tokyo:
* Arrive in Tokyo
* Set things up – rail passes etc
* Check in to hotel at Akabane
* Explore shibuya sky, shinjuku, golden gai

22nd Nov Friday Tokyo:
* Day trip to Mt. Fuji
* Back to Tokyo and Explore night life/shopping if we have energy

23rd Nov Saturday Tokyo:
Initial plan is a day trip to Nikko for autumn foilage but got to know after some research that it would be post peak and might not be as beautiful as early november. Considering crowds and a whole day would be dedicated to it, do you recommend visting Nikko around this time? If not, can you suggest alternate day trips around tokyo/kyoto/osaka, preferably onsen villages or places with good autumn views. I also have Hakone in mind.

24th Nov Sunday Tokyo:
* Sensoji temple and Asakusa area
* Team lab planets
* Please suggest places to spot cool cars or car meetups within Tokyo city (not daikoku as it doesn't have Transport feasibility and meetups seem expensive)

25th Nov Monday Tokyo:
* Disney sea

26th Nov Tuesday kyoto:
* Start to osaka (flight) -> kyoto via train
* Store luggage at station/Check in hotel around kyoto station
* Fushimi Inari shrine
* Tofukuji
* Daigo ji
* Nshiki market at night
* Samurai meuseum same day/next day

27th Nov Wednesday kyoto:
* Kiyomizu dera and Ninenzaka street – Starbucks/cafes
* Kodaiji
* Yasaka shrine
* All of the above are in same area. So can we manage to visit kifune shrine in the evening of same day? else please suggest which day out of the 3 days is good to cover kifune

28th Nov Thursday Kyoto:
* Arashiyama bamboo forest via sagano romantic train and parks around the area
* Start to osaka later in the evening
* Check in osaka hotel
* shinsakai/dotonburi at night

29th Nov Friday Osaka:
* Osaka castle
* Dotonbori

30th Nov Saturday:
Osaka to tokyo via flight and board return flight to home country

Need help with below!

• As already asked above, would like to know if Nikko is recommended around this time and if not, alternative suggestions
• Areas/places to spot cool cars in Tokyo
• Do we get to see Mt Fuji with autumn leaves in forefront around 22nd Nov (like the typical postcard pictures)?
• Is this a good time to catch fall foilage in Kyoto? Need not be peak but even a mix of colors is fine.
• Is the itinerary practical or are we jamming too much? We are first timers and won't be revisiting any time in a few years. Hence covering as many places as possible.

Thanks for taking time to read, suggestions are very much welcome.