hello

i will be traveling for my first time to Japan from July 29 to Sept 15

total trip is 7 weeks, however I will also visit Korea (Pusan and Seoul) and China (Beijing, Shanghai, and perhaps some small town) for about a week and a half each so that leaves me with about 4 weeks in Japan.

I need some help in making a itinerary that is not completely touristy... I know its impossible to avoid crowds of tourists in Japan but I would like to at least see some small towns and go where other tourists are rare (unless its backpackers; they are ok

Here are my main priorities:
I would like to spend a few nights in one or two small towns so that i experience a little of country life in japan.
I would also like to spend a night or two in a traditional Ryokan house.
also an onsen
I also obviously want to see some ancient temples and castles and I know those will be very touristy but what can you do.

I bought a week long JR pass and will be using that to visit all the 'touristy' places.

should also add that im on a limited budget thats why i need to make the most out of the JR pass

after two weeks in Japan is when I will make my Korea and China detour (around the time of Obon) and after 3 weeks there I will take a ferry from Shanghai to Osaka which should be around early sept

I have a friend who lives in Osaka so from this point he will be my guide and we will visit Kyoto, Koyasan, Nara together, but it is the first two weeks of my trip that I need help with orientation and making the most out of my JR pass

the first 4 nights i will spend in tokyo (and do day trips to Kamakura and maybe Nikko from there)

but from there on im not sure how to go about it.

i was thinking maybe taking the JR train to some small town in Hokkaido (preferably not too far from JR station) and after spending some time there (2 days) i will then go to Takayama for couple nights, then hiroshima, then end in Kagoshima which hopefully will get me there on the last day of my JR pass.
from there i plan to take a ferry to Yakushima where id like to camp for a couple of days before heading back and taking a night bus to Hakata from where I can catch the 'beetle' ferry to Korea.

is the above idea possible?
is there a small town (perhaps near Hakodate) where I can stay at a Ryokan house (thats hopefully not too expensive) and maybe visit an onsen?

thank you

You could check out the Toya Lake and Toya National Park area with fireworks at night and nice ryokans as well.

see my blog for more ideas:
http://smartjapantravel.wordpress.com

octeuron wrote (View Post): › hello i was thinking maybe taking the JR train to some small town in Hokkaido (preferably not too far from JR station) and after spending some time there (2 days) i will then go to Takayama for couple nights, then hiroshima, then end in Kagoshima which hopefully will get me there on the last day of my JR pass. from there i plan to take a ferry to Yakushima where id like to camp for a couple of days before heading back and taking a night bus to Hakata from where I can catch the 'beetle' ferry to Korea. is the above idea possible?

Everything is possible... but in this case it is not really recommendable!

Crossing half of Japan to stay 2 nights in Hokkaido, and then crossing again the country for the rest of your trip is not really interesting : transportation on Hokkaido are slow, and you would spend most of your time in trains for - in my opinion - little to see.

If you want to spend some time in remote part of Japan, there are nice options around Takayama in Gifu-ken. I would like in that direction. The area of Hida-Takayama has some of the best onsen of Japan and is pretty remote; although still attracting for Japanese tourists. But if you search a little, you will find something suitable for you in that prefecture.