Hi all! Here's my first stab at my Japan itinerary. Do you see any glaring issues? Any advise you can offer would be most appreciated!

Oct 2: Arr Tokyo 1 pm; Limo Bus to Haneda; Dep 8:30 pm - Arrive Okinawa late.
Oct 3-7: Okinawa (I've got this part figured out - lots of family there and I want to visit WWII sites)
Oct 7: dep Okinawa am, arr Tokyo around noon. Train from Haneda to Kyoto. (due to FF miles, I must fly in/out of Tokyo)
Oct 7-8: Kyoto
Oct 9: Kyoto to Hiroshima (train), ferry to Miyajima, stay overnight on Miyajima
Oct 10: Miyajima to Himeji Castle (am) on way to Kyoto (pm); stay overnight in Kyoto
Oct 11: Kyoto to Shirakawa-go on way to Tokyo
Oct 11-13: Tokyo
Oct 14: depart

I will be travelling fairly light and am in good health so walking isn't an issue.

Is 4-5 hours enough for Hiroshima? I would love to stay in a ryokan on Miyajima, and I know they often serve dinners early evening.

Is Shirakawa-go a nice village to stopover on my way to TOkyo? I am interested in seeing the architecture, but not sure if I should stay overnight in a gassho-style inn.

Any advise you can offer is very welcome! Thank you very much!

If your goals in Hiroshima are primarily the Peace Museum and Peace Park, then 4 or 5 hours should be enough. Depending on the pace you prefer, you might be able to see those sights in 3 hours (from arrival to departure). And IMHO, Miyajima is a lovely place to spend the night in a ryokan.

If I'm reading your itinerary correctly, you'll only have 1 full day in Kyoto - the 8th. Is that correct? How long to spend there depends on your interests, but there is so much to see there that I must admit thinking it isn't enough.

Hope that helps!

Tell us more about your award. I gather that you are flying to Okinawa on the award and your permitted enroute stopover is Tokyo, on the return. You'll be on JAL or ANA from HND to Okinawa, what airline from ORD?

Your itinerary involves quite a bit of ground travel. In particular, Oct 11, Kyoto to S-go to Tokyo in one day is not very realistic. I think that amounts to 12 hours of traveling. Maybe 10. From Kyoto station to Tokyo station that day would involve train, bus, bus, train, train, and probably a bus in Kyoto and a subway or two in Tokyo.

Fly from Haneda airport to Hiroshima. That will save you some time. When you get to Hiroshima airport take the bus into town (even if you have a JR Pass).

If your FF award ticket is like I described then you could make it an open jaw: outbound to Okinawa via Tokyo. Return from Tokyo. That is, don't fly back to Tokyo on the award ticket. Just by a Yokoso fare, or Welcome to Japan Fare (10,000 or 12,500 yen) and fly from Okinawa to either Osaka or Hiroshima.

Your itinerary is jumping too much north-south/west. Looks like you have two rather brief-ish stay in Kyoto (Oct 7-8 and then again on 11). As mrwunrfl pointed out, try to fly from Naha (Okinawa) to either Osaka (closest to Kyoto) or Hiroshima and work northward to Kyoto, Shirakawa, Tokyo. That Oct 7 travel from Naha-Tokyo-Kyoto just doesn't make sense!

Also I believe there was some king of national holiday around mid-Oct. Make sure you book Kyoto accomodations early.

That's a good warning to check the holiday schedule for that time period. It reminds me that there is a fall festival in Takayama and it looks like it is held Oct 10-11. Takayama is enroute from S-go to Tokyo, unless the bus from S-go to Nagoya is running then.

The fall festival is not as busy as the spring festival, but I would be concerned that buses and trains could be booked full from Oct 9 to 12.

Thank you all for your feedback. I think I will try to buy a ticket from Okinawa to Hiroshima or Osaka - but I worry about not getting on my scheduled flight from Naha to TOkyo. I think if you miss the first leg of the journey, the airline may cancel the final leg (from Tokyo to Chicago). Must call American and see what they say.

And thanks for the advise about Kyoto hotels - many of the Fodorites' favorites are already sold out.

Will post a revised itinerary and hope for more of your most valuable feedback!

Thanks again!!

I was suggesting an open jaw ticket, different from your itinerary, hoping that you hadn't booked it yet. You are right, they would probably cancel your res for the flight from Tokyo if you were ticketed to fly from Naha to Tokyo.

If you've already booked the roundtrip then there might be a change fee at this point.

ChgoGal,

If you're flying from Naha to either Hiroshima or Osaka, there's no need to fly from Naha to Tokyo. That was the gist of my previous recommendation to restructure the routing a bit... I assume you can use discount fares (welcome japan or yokoso japan fare?) on local routes.

I think the situation now is that she already ticketed the award out to Naha and back with a stopover in Tokyo. She can't just throw away the Naha->Tokyo ticket and expect to get on NRT->home.

Yeah, that's the gist of it. I've already booked Naha to TOkyo with a 7 day layover before my Tokyo - Chicago flight. Was difficult to book using FF miles all the way to Okinawa.

The other issue is that I MUST travel to Kyoto because I'm scheduled to meet family there. It's all very messy.

But thank you all for the information. I hope to re-post and gather more valuable information from you all.

Thanks very much!