Hi,
good to see that you are forming an idea of what to do. It's exciting i'll bet.
One major suggestion is that you don't bother with the night in Nagoya. I'm sure the Toyota thing could be done by popping in on your way through on the train. You'd be better having more time in Kyoto and seeing the masses of stuff there. One day in Kyoto is probably not going to be enough (unless you are not a big fan of temples and such). If you are a fan, I'd be tempted to have an extra day there rather than Osaka as well.
While in Kyoto, you can use the JR buses with your rail pass. There are routes that go up to the Golden Pavillion and the other temple up there with the famous Zen rock garden (sorry I can't remember the name Ryoan ji or similar).
Your schedule doesn't sound that hectic so I wouldn't worry about that. And for the train times, you can download the shinkansen timetables off the JR web site before you go. I'll dig up the link and send it to you later. From memory, it's 4 hours from Okayama to Tokyo on the Hikari rail star (fastest you can use with the rail pass).
i agree that himeji is well worth seeing, as are the gardens adjacent to the main castle. you can get entry to both on a combi ticket that saves money. Also, when you go to the castle, keep an eye open for any of the free goodwill gides. These friendly and informative locals give you a guided tour, well worth it.
Make sure you take the right ferry to miyajima island as there is one run by JR and another run by someone else who won't accept your rail pass. It would also be worth finding out what time the high tide is at so that you see the water underneath the temple and the Tori gate out to sea. i went at low tide and I think the view was probably not as good.
Hope this helps!
Amos
One place I forogt - in Tokyo I absolutely love the National Museum in Ueno Park.
It seems like few people ever recommend going to Touhoku or Hokkaido.. Why is that? I've never been there myself either, but I saw some interesting documentaries about those regions and I wish to go there at least a couple of times before I die.
Maybe off-topic, but I just had to ask.
This looks like a pretty good plan. My only suggestions would be to consider trying to add another day to your stay in Kyoto. There is just so much to see there that you'd really be missing a lot if you only budgeted one day there. I would consider skipping either Osaka or Nagoya, there isn't a lot to see in those cities and you already have several days budgeted for Yokohama and Tokyo, which is where you will get the best experience of modern Japanese urban city life. Not that I have anything against Osaka or Nagoya, they are both really great cities for a variety of reasons, but I think that from the perspective of someone with only two weeks to spend you'd be better off sticking to a Hiroshima - Kyoto - Yokohama/Tokyo itinerary.thanks for the answer..
I made a small plan already, based on what I read on the internet and my preferences. and also some things suggested here..
day 1 / Hiroshima. visit to peace park + museum. sleeping at hiroshima.
day 2 / Hiroshima. with ferry (free thanks to rail pass !) visiting Miyajima.
Itsukushima shrine and the mountain Misen. Also hoping to see some animals there like monkeys. sleeping at hiroshima.
day 3 / Hiroshima. taking shinkansen to Osaka but getting of at Himeji.
visiting castle + gardens. taking shinkansen further to Osaka and sleeping there.
day 4 / Osaka. kinda rest day, visiting the city and relax. visiting minami part. Sleeping in Osaka.
day 5 / Osaka. shinkansen to Kyoto. visiting sanjusangendo building with all the statues + golden kinkakuji temple. Sleeping at Kyoto.
day 6 / Kyoto. shinkansen to Nagoya. visiting the city + toyota museum (for friend). Sleeping at Nagoya.
day 7 / Nagoya. shinkansen to Yokohama (kinda long trip). looking out of the train window to mount fuji hehe. relaxing in Yokohama when arriving there. Sleeping at Yokohama.
day 8 / Yokohama. visiting the minato mirai 21 part. visiting landmark tower for a great sight over the city. sleeping at Yokohama.
day 9 / Yokohama. going to Tokyo. having fun in the shinjuku part of the city. sleeping at Tokyo.
day 10 / Tokyo. visiting the tsukiji market + shibuya part. sleeping at Tokyo.
day 11 / Tokyo. visiting some more hehe, looking for some gifts if theres still money left ! sleeping at Tokyo.
day 12 / Tokyo. going back home.
hmm the first week will be kinda hectic but as I will take a rail pass for only 7 days, I will need to hurry. I havent really calculated the time that the shinkansen takes to go from one city to another so I may have made a big miscalculation ! Anyway does this look like a nice and overall cheap schedule ?
in total it would cost me 1170 euros or 1,524 americain dollars for tickets, accomodation and tourist place prices which is barely nothing. So I will still have enough left for food and some gifts..
Anyway this would be more or less my travel program IF I really want to visit as much as cities in Japan. As its my first travel to Japan, and im planning more in the next years, I may decide to visit lets say Tokyo + Yokohama for 2 weeks. I wont have to buy a rail pass then. But I feel its a shame to spoil so much money on fly tickets, if only you are visiting a small part of that country. But then again visiting a lot of cities with just seeing a small part may not be smart either.
Any suggestions are much appreciated !
Personally, I would leave out Osaka and spend a day in Nara instead. There's plenty to see round Nara park.
Also, there's no need to take the Shinkansen between Osaka and Kyoto.