No scaffolding yet at Himeji

http://livejapan.org/kansai.html

Two comments/recommendations on accomodation. We stayed at Eko in last year and loved it - great food and I am a confirmed meat eater. Didn't find the lack of ensuite a problem as there seeme to be plenty of facilities. Great location for Okonuin.

In Takayama we stayed at Sumiyoshi Ryokan definitely the best palce we stayed on our year long trip.

Here is a link to our blog for some photos and further info:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...tml#ENTRY_LIST

Fodorites going above and beyond as usual, thank you all so much. Will definitely report back. I know its an aggressive itinerary but you know the adage- so much world, so little time. Will do the best we can. Reassuring to know about Eko-in, Iwaso is fully booked so am glad Kinsuikan seems popular. Gora Kadan is just beyond budget in these times of fiscal discipline, so hopefully we will not be disappointed at Taiseikan. Thanks also regarding all the info on Himeji, it does seem contradictory, maybe I will be able to confirm back one way or the other.
I am going to be putting up one final post with all the questions on niggling details and I know this is where I will find the answers, so thank you all very very much.

If you are spending the night in Shirakawago (I recommend the Koemon gassho zukuri minshuku) then I think your best route from Kurashiki would be by train to Kanazawa and then bus.

It is possible to go from Shirakawago to Tokyo via Matsumoto. That would involve taking the bus to Takayama and then another bus over the mountains (via Kamikochi) to Matsumoto. Then back to Tokyo on JR.

The other way would be bus to Takayama then JR to Nagoya and on to Tokyo.

The buses are not JR, so you pay extra for those.

It sounds like a busy, but wonderful trip, Dyscover. I look forward to hearing about it when you get back. I, too, will report when I return...but our trip isn't until mid-April.

a few more places in Hakone to confuse you,lol

http://www.kanagawa-ryokan.com/english/hakone.htm

It sounds a really good itinerary. It is actually fairly similar to my trip six months ago. I might suggest training from Kurashiki to Kanazawa, bus to Shirakawa, bus to Takayama, bus trip over the mountains (absolutely wonderful scenery - amongst the best of the trip) to Matsumoto then train to Hakone/Tokyo. We found this to work really well.

Kanazawa was an actual stop for us but you could simply pass straight through. The buses for Shirakawa/Takayama leave from the train station. One word of warning though, if you decide to consider this, the the bus trips Kanazawa/Shirakawa and Shirakawa/Takayama need to be pre-booked.

We stayed at the Rickshaw Inn and were very happy with it. Also the one time we used a Toyoko Inn (in Kanazawa) we were also very pleased. It has to be better than the place we stayed at in Kurashiki. Kurashiki itself is delightful.