Been to Hiroshima and going back there this coming 3 day holiday hehehe..

the peace dome is a place to visit and see the destructive power of the bomb. its really devastating to see ..

yup the okomiyaki in Hiroshima is really different.. there is an okonomiyaki village within the city, its really tasty yumm..ill post the pic later once i get home :D

1/2 for Himeji?? The castle itself is a place of history.. believe it will take a day or maybe not if you are not that interested in historical items..

3 days in Kyoto?? are planning to see all the temples?? you are going to be sick of temples after that hehehehe..

Surely there's more to Kyoto than temples! =P I just haven't looked into it enough to find out yet... is it really worth less than three days for such a large city?

We're all interested in Himeji Castle so might end up spending a full day there. Will probably decide that one on the fly though! Our plan was to base ourselves in the main cities so we can sort of decide a bit as we go.

Are you living in Japan at the moment samokan?

It doesn't take a whole day to see Himeji castle, but it is a bit of a trek (though worth it).

Three days in Kyoto might be a little much...though if they are wanting to draw and take cool pictures, they can spend a bit of time in Kyoto Station. (VERY cool photo ops...wild architecture)

Okay, so here's my revised plan:

Days 1-5: Tokyo
Day 6: day trip to Karuizawa
Day 7: Hakone, spending the night there
Day 8: travel to Kyoto
Days 9-10: Kyoto
Day 11: travel to Osaka
Day 12: Osaka
Day 13: day trip to Himeji
Day 14: day trip to Nara
Day 15: day trip to Hiroshima
Day 16: travel back to Tokyo and fly out

We're gonna be sooo tired by the end of that XD That gives us 2 and a half days in Kyoto, almost two just for looking around Osaka, and staying in Osaka for the rest of the time and doing day trips from there. I think we'll be taking photos more than drawing, unless we get bored on the train. There's just too many other things to do!

Does that sound like a good idea? Thanks again for the help everyone.

I'd like to know about your trip after you return, mainly for ideas when I plan my trip with my friends to Japan. I don't have much of an idea what we'd do except bum around in Tokyo, which would get pretty boring and pointless after a week. Nor do I actually know much about travelling around and ..everything basically, I only followed my mum/teacher on the trips I've been on to Japan. Also my first time travelling overseas without an adult (Though I'll be 18) so yeah, alot of things I don't know.
None of my friends have been to Japan, nor do they speak any Japanese so they won't be of much help, so it'd probably be up to me :(.
Anyway, enjoy your trip (4 months from now) and be sure to tell us about it :).

Thanks, I'll be sure to ^_^ I don't know much about traveling either, and this is definitely the first where I've been involved extensively in the planning process. From what I've seen so far it seems that if you really can't be bothered looking up places and have a lot of money to burn you could do a tour, but it's generally better value for money to do some research and find things to do yourself. It's actually not too difficult to find information and if you ask for help in forums like this I've found people are very friendly and forthcoming with suggestions.

To be honest, I wasn't that impressed by Hiroshima. Miyajima Island, a 15 minute ferry ride off the coast of Hiroshima, was MUCH more interesting IMO. The floating torii, the deer and monkeys, the temples, etc. You could probably do a quick visit to the Peace Park in Hiroshima, and then head out to Miyajima Island for the rest of the day. This is Miyajima:



Also, I'd really recommend a day trip south of Osaka to Koya-san (Mt Koya). It has one of the oldest cemeteries in Japan, which is free to walk through, and contains incredible and unique beauty. The ancient, moss-covered graves and statues set in a forest is amazing, and there are so many stories behind the graves and shrines. For instance, one shrine has a tiny door with 2 large rocks inside. Legends say that if you can reach in and balance one rock on top of the other, you'll have good luck.

Here are just a few pictures I took at the cemetery in Koya-san:

Oh wow, those are some fantastic pictures! Those places look absolutely beautiful... damn, I'm going to have to figure out how to stick them in somewhere!

the deer in Nara is much better or cleaner than the deers in Miyajima. The torii is not actually floating, it just look like its floating during high tide :D

anyways.. you might want to check out the hyogo website

::::: Northern Awaji ::::: Hyogo International Tourism Guide --- Hyogo Prefecture ---

or you might want to try cycling around kyoto instead... that would be fun

Touring Kyoto by Bicycle Kyoto Cycling Tour Project

this are guided tours, but just use it as a reference..
Welcome to Mikan's Japan!


and yes I do live in Japan now :D Osaka to be exact :D

Thanks :) I just took a look at your blog - would you recommend the Iga ninja museum, seeing as my group is a bunch of anime geeks and half of us are martial artists? XD

Argh, there's just too much to see! After seeing samurai007's pictures I think I'd really love to see Koya-san too, although I might have to sacrifice something else to go there.