Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo. There's tons of stuff to do there.

If you're into ramen, I'd definitely recommend the ramen museum. Yum! :)

Second that, Ramen museum is great. It also has tones of shopping and sight to see.... Yokohama isn't something that will last you more than 2 days, but its definitely something that will give you a great experieince in the 2 days

If you had a day in Yokohama, what would you see/do?

- Ramen museum
- Chinatown
- Minato Mirai (cosmo world amusement park, Landmark tower etc)

I recommend the Sankei-en, the beautiful Japanese garden. With the three places you mentioned, it will make your day complete.

You should be able to do all 3 in one day:

- Half of your morning in China Town, second half and part of your afternoon at the museum, Minator mirai late afternoon, landmark tower at night :)

Thank you all for your input so far.

I've been working on my itinerary and have come up with a few more questions.

I mentioned that my cousin and I want to leave Tokyo once we both arrive and head south to begin our trip around Hiroshima. This is a potential outline of our itinerary:

March 26
Arrival in Japan during evening.

March 27
Tokyo by myself until my cousin arrives in the evening.

March 28
Leave Tokyo on the shinkansen in the morning, we'll probably arrive in Hiroshima during the early afternoon (4-5 hour train ride). Take train and ferry to Miyajima island and spend the night.

March 29
Leave Miyajima and head to Hiroshima, see the atomic bomb memorial and then take the train to Iwakuni and then back to Hiroshima to spend the night?

March 30
Leave Hiroshima and take the train to Himeji, spend half a day there, take the train to Kobe for an authentic Kobe beef meal (any recommendations of a place in town?) and re-board the train to Osaka to spend the night?

March 31
Spend the day in Osaka. Sights to see (recommendations please):
Umeda sky building (view during day or night?)
Spa world
Dotombori (clubs you recommend?)
Aquarium (worth a visit?)

April 1
Leave Osaka in the morning and…
Is it possible to see The ISE shrines/Futamigaura beach as well as travel back to Osaka and from there to Mount Koya (spend the night) in one day or is it too much?

April 2
Mount Koya and travel to Nara (spend night)

April 3
Leave Nara and travel to Inari Fushimi shrine. From there, continue on train to Kyoto.

April 4
Day in Kyoto (sleep)

April 5
Day in Kyoto (Sleep)

April 6
Leave Kyoto and travel to Hakone. Spend night in Hakone. Is there a direct train to Hakone from Kyoto?

April 7
Spend most of the day in Hakone and travel to Tokyo

April 8 – April 12
Tokyo sightseeing

April 13
Kamakura and back to Tokyo

April 14
Yokohama and back to Tokyo

April 15
Tokyo and then travel to Nikko (sleep)

April 16
Nikko and travel back to Tokyo later in the day

April 17
Tokyo until time to leave for airport and end of first trip to Japan as an adult.

Is this a good itinerary? Too many days in Tokyo? Would you add subtract days in some of these places or add another sight at the expense of a certain place?

I'm also in the process of checking out places to stay in. Any recommendations for:

- Osaka
- Mount Koya
- Nara
- Kyoto
- Hakone
- Nikko

If you want to stay overnight on Miyajima Island, you might want to book ahead. There are limited spaces and it's often full.

As for seeing Ise and the beach in Mie prefecture and then going to Koya-san, it should be doable, but you shouldn't need to head all the way back to Osaka. According to some maps I found online, there are buses from Mie prefecture to Gojo in Nara prefecture, which is 1 stop away from Hashimoto in Wakayama prefecture, which is at the base of Koya-san. Just change trains in Hashimoto and from there you'll be in Koya-san in about 35-40 minutes. You can also take a train to Nara, and from there go through the Yoshino valley to Hashimoto.

http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/transport...tion-Times.pdf

http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/transport...cess-chart.pdf

Finally, if you want to take a while longer to explore the Kii peninsula, from Mie prefecture you could take the scenic train ride around the whole thing. There are lots of places to stop if you are interested, from the tallest continually flowing waterfall in Japan at Nachi Katsura, to the whaling museum at Taiji, to the white sand beach at Shirahama, to the rocks marching into the ocean at Kushimoto, etc. The area is famous for its produce and in the right seasons you can get fresh mikan oranges, homemade soy sauce, Japanese ume plums, ume wine, and salted umeboshi, etc. Ride all the way up the line to Wakayama City, and then head east to Hashimoto from there.

Oh, definitely stay at a temple while you're in Koya-san, there are many to choose from.

For the first 2 days after arriving in Japan/Tokyo, I'll try and find a mid range hotel that is vey easily accessible from the Narita express train since I'll be dead tired and don't want to start changing multiple trains/long walks/Taxis to the hotel. Some options are:

- Sunroute plaza Shinjuku
- Sunroute Asakusa
- Ginza Capital hotel Tokyo
- Monterey Akasaka
- Comfort Hotel Tokyo Higashi Nihombashi
- Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka

Any other possible recommendations for hotels that I can book online, are close to the Narita express train line, are easily accessible to the Shinkansen to Kyoto?

With regard to more budget options (most of my days in Tokyo will have to be in a hotel in this range):
- Tokyo hostel
- Toyoko Inn hotel chain

Any other recommendations?

I also would like to spend 1 night in a 5 star hotel. I want it to be super modern, not old/classic and with a great view. Some options are:
- Park Hyatt
- The Peninsula
- The Conrad

Any other ecommendations?

The Keio Plaza Hotel is very nice, it's where the JETs are put up for Tokyo Orientation

You had mentioned a ryokan a few posts back - have you found one in which you wanted to stay? My little sister stayed in one called Ikeda in Atamai, so I was trying to do some research on it. Which ones do you have in mind?