Folks,

We are a family of 4 with 2 teenagers. We are planning to visit Japan between October 15th till October 29th. We like seeing big cities, travel by bullet train, amusement parks, local culture, architecture and local festivals. In addition if we can throw in some nature activities like visting Mt. Fuji, hiking, cycling etc.

Please suggest an itinerary.

We are vegetarians.

Tokyo 5 days ?
Kyoto ?
Hokkaido ?

In Tokyo, are we better off in airbnb accommodations ?

Thanks.

<<In Tokyo, are we better off in airbnb accommodations>>

Better off than what? And how are you measuring that?

Look into Citadines (good luck with that, although it's an apartment hotel it tends to max out at less than 4 occupants per room in Japan but maybe you'll have better luck than we did).

Look into Oakwood residences, which are all over the place in Asia.

Kyoto is probably easier to interpret the airbnb/vrbo/tripkey listings than Tokyo. Tokyo abodes can be miniscule. And the people listing rental flats may just as easily claim a studio is a two-bedroom because it has two beds in it - thus making it a two-bed room. This is a translation ambiguity (same logic applies to one-bedroom and multi-bedroom flats).

You need to familiarize yourself with japan-guide.com and determine what you're interested in. Devising an itinerary is a personal choice and you know your personnel. There are plenty of big cities in Japan. And many options for the bullet trains.

Saying you're a veggo doesn't give much info either because you could be a pescatarian, pure rabbit, pollotarian, or some other variant. No matter which, as long as you're lacto-ovo of some form, you'll have plenty of options in Japan. Vegan has its own info sites for international travel, so if you're that far off the animal products, go googling.

cycling- Shimanami Kaido
hiking- Kiso Valley, Kumano Kodo, Nikko
amusement park- USJ
big city- Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka
Kyoto- you could look for guest houses on booking.com.

There are lots of opportunities here. Nearly 3/4 of Japan is mountains, so there is no shortage of hiking. Although not all of it has to be through the mountains. In fact you could catch the beautiful autumn colors and enjoy a spectacular hike seeing Lake Towada and walking the Oirare Stream in Aomori. Naruko Gorge in Miyagi and Urabandai in Fukushima might just fit the bill nicely as well.
You don't have to travel so far though - outside the concrete of Tokyo you can go to Takao, Mitake, Okutama, or on the Boso Peninsula there's Nokogiriyama. Near Kyoto there is Kurama, Kibune, and Takao - or even on either side of the city.
You could also browse
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2427.html

For cycling, the Shimanami Kaido was mentioned and can be very memorable; for something a bit less grueling, you could also cycle the Kibi Plain in Okayama near Kurashiki.

'Local culture' and 'architecture' can be found all over of course, so it's hard to pinpoint what you really want. But for some local festivals, try:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/special_events/eng/index.php
http://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese...stival-october

For the accommodations, the question is just too vague. What budget are looking at? What amenities? It would be a great experience if you stayed at a Japanese inn (ryokan) at least one night for the experience.
And for vegetarian food, you could look at shōjin ryōri or Buddhist vegetarian places, particularly in Kyoto or Koyasan.

For vegetarian shojin ryori, Zenkoji in Nagano is popular, too.

Folks,

Thanks for your replies.

For accomodation, my budget was around $100 USD per night for all 4 of us. Thus I assumed in places like Tokyo, I might find accomodations in airbnb in this budget compared to hotels.

By vegetarians I meant we can eat all dairy but no eggs and no meat.

Thanks.

Like BigRuss, I would strongly encourage you to spend some serious time with japan-guide.com. It is not perfect (as Adastra will undoubtedly assure you), but it is, IME, an excellent starting point.

FWIW, I think visiting Tokyo (or Kyoto!) on your stated budget will be a bit of a challenge.

Good luck!

I also think the Japan guide is a good place to start. The Citadines in Shinjuku is way over your budget and the apartments are much smaller than those in Europe. Two of us were cramped in one of the bigger apartments.Have no idea about Airnbnb. Cannot help you with food as I eat almost anything. Do you eat seafood? Consider a JR pass and also consider flying into Tokyo and out of Kansai or vice versa.

There are lots of spacious apartments in Tokyo in Airbnb for around $100 USD. Pics are also there. So I guess you can have a budget of $100 USD if you carefully select something on Airbnb.

Lacto/no-ovo veggo means you should look on the internet for resources about what to eat or what to avoid. The no-ovo means you're basically vegans who eat dairy and that limits your choices more than a "basic" veggo.

Yeah, you need to be REALLY careful for airbnb in Tokyo. Make sure you ask about the size of the place and get the host's best idea in square meters.

One square meter = 10.5625 square feet so if someone touts a "spacious" 30 sq/m flat, you're getting about 325 square feet or slightly larger than a decent-sized living room.