Trust Don more than me. I only went one time and did other direction. Italy, I know, Japan I just went once and fell in love with. Don, what would you suggest? I would go to San Francisco, West Marin, ocean near Monterey (Point Lobos/aquarium), Big Sur, down coast to LA, but maybe staying in Venice before flying out of LAX.

I was kinda serious with my Nov 19 reply on this thread. Except that on another thread you wanted to "do" Hiroshima/Miyajima with a 1-night Miyajima stay.

jgg, your plan might be a good one, but I can't really comment on it knowing only that it is "Fly into Kansai - Kyoto - Hiroshima/Miyajima - Tokyo - Hakone - fly out of Narita".