Hey guys,
First of all Thank you so much for the help/suggestions you guys have given me thus far. Greatly appreciate it!
I just want to run my itinerary with you guys to see how it fairs. This is a budget(-ish) trip. Your opinions are very very welcome.
I arrive in Osaka around 10pm on the 2nd Dec.
02/12/2014 Osaka
03/12/2014 Osaka-Kyoto
04/12/2014 Kyoto -> side trip: Nara
05/12/2014 Kyoto
06/12/2014 Kyoto
07/12/2014 Kyoto-Osaka
08/12/2014 Osaka
09/12/2014 Osaka-Korea (Seoul)
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15/12/2014 (Seoul) Korea-Osaka-Nagano
16/12/2014 Nagano -> side trip: Jigokudani
17/12/2014 Nagano-Takayama
18/12/2014 Takayama
19/12/2014 Takayama-Shirakawago
20/12/2014 Shirakawago-Takayama-Tokyo
21/12/2014 Tokyo
22/12/2014 Tokyo
23/12/2014 Tokyo -> depart back to Australia at 5pm
Note: I decided to do something weird and inefficient by going from Nagano -> Takayama -> Shirakawago because I thought it be safer to move Shirakawago as late as possible as to get a higher chance of more snow.
Also the trip to Korea has been thrown in the middle(rather than at the beginning) because I'm hoping that the Autumn leaves will still be hanging around early December.
Thanks guys
I think it looks good, you definitely need more than 1 day in Kyoto, I missed out on seeing a few things there due to only visiting for the day and also underestimating the time it took to get around on the bus and the time spent at certain locations. Next time I'll go for more than a day and not try to fit too much in each day.
Some things you can do on a budget(you might already have them planned). If you can get to Osaka Castle well before the 9am opening you can basically have it to yourself from the outside for photos, there are only a few people jogging or walking dogs, but just before 9 hundreds of noisy tourists turn up out of nowhere. I think it cost 500Yen to go inside the Castle/museum.
You can book in for a free tour of Asahi beer factory in Suita, Osaka, at the end you can drink some free beer.
http://www.asahibeer.co.jp/brewery/suita/tour/
The Korean War Memorial in Itaewon is free(closed mondays). This was the favourite part of my trip. They have lots of interesting things inside, including uniforms and weapons from many other nations, a Turtle Ship replica which is very cool, but the coolest part of all is outside they have an area full of tanks, planes etc, from various countries. You can get close, touch them and there is a great view of Namsan tower in the distance. http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid…
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7227/7278461338_dfdd036ea2_o.j…
You'll be in Tokyo on a Sunday which means you can be in Harajuku Takeshita street and Yoyogi Park on a Sunday arvo and catch all the funny people. And my favourite burger place is just down the road, it's so good! http://tbbjapan.co.jp/ Home of this badboy! http://buzz-plus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/bb4.jpg
I'd recommend a trip from Tokyo to Enoshima Island which would be a bit over an hour by train. But it might not fit in well with only 2-3 days in Tokyo, but if you were to do it maybe you could get there first thing in the morning, enjoy the view from the tower and check out the shops on the way back down, then go check out Yokohama.
http://www.themarkeworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Brid…
You can do a free tour of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo if you book early online but maybe just seeing it from the outside and enjoying the east gardens is better.
I believe Toyota Mega Web(car theme park/museum?) in Odaiba is free(maybe you can pay to do certain things once inside) and is a place I really want to visit. I believe you can test drive the latest cars and see see Toyota's old and new technologies. http://www.megaweb.gr.jp/index.html Plus heaps more things to see and do Odaiba: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html
Unless of course you've been to these places before and I have probably just annoyed you with my post, lol.