@ MinnBeef – thank you so much for weighing in! I will take your words under advisement, and will give particular consideration to the idea of fitting Hakone in at the start of my trip (rather than the end). Fair warning though: I’m currently inclined to skip Hakone on this trip.

I didn’t give Hakone serious consideration when planning my earlier time in Japan — everything I had read made it seem like a great place for romantic moments, but not so great for singles. I only became interested years later, in part because of your trip report – and I sincerely thank you for that! :-) It is, most assuredly, on my wishlist for my next visit to Japan.

In planning for Indonesia, my primary goal in considering a stop in Japan is just to give myself a break from the otherwise 24-hour-plus trip to the eastern US, and since I want to maximize my time in Java and Bali (to which I do not currently expect to return), a complicated option that I might enjoy more on a subsequent trip to Japan is not all that appealing an option. And I think I might enjoy some of my options in Narita, at which I think I can stop just overnight….

But nothing is yet writ in stone, so feel free to offer further considerations. Thanks again!

(marmot and kja, I got a chuckle out of the idea that our travel photos were responsible for the crowd at Penataran.)

I've posted a possible plan -- see
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...-bali-plus.cfm