21 days, 20 nights itinerary check + suggestions, 14 days or 21 days pass?

Would probably prefer to fill these 4 days with non-touristy smaller spots, maybe exploring the area around Kyoto/Hiroshima or Tokyo more... Any suggestions? Is it worth it?

Hi Bara,

I see that you your plan has changed a lot since your last post. I checked your every part of your planned route and it all looks good! Something I think would be nice is to add a little more time to your visit to Kanazawa, the city has lots to offers and it can be pleasant to have some extra time to explore it all.

First let me answer your questions about the Grand Shrine in Izumo, Izumo Taisha was indeed under construction, however this was concluded in May 2013 and the Shrine is restored to its former glory. So be sure to visit if you have time!

As for Himeji, the renovation will take place until spring 2014, however much of the castle has been restored and I think it is still worth a visit. You can easily reach the city from Kyoto/Osaka and makes for a good day trip if you have time to spare. You can find more information about the renovation here.

So what to do with your 4 days remaining? You write that you wish to visit some of the less touristy areas, in that case: Go to Shikoku this is by far the least traveled part of Japan and offers many beautiful places that offer solitude and beautiful nature scenes. Why not make a visit to Takamatsu this is a great city not visited by many foreign tourists. You can take a ferry from here to one of the many small islands around Shikoku. You could also do part of the 88 Sacred Sites of Kūkai. Shikoku is not too far from Kansai and would not require a lot of time to travel to, of course its covered by the JR Pass :)

Alternatively I would visit Nagasaki with a stop @ Fukuoka.

Now the big question 14 or 21 days. I think a 21 day JR Pass could be worth it for you, this because you are planning a lot of travel and the extra time/flexibility could be very nice. The upgrade cost from the 14 day pass to the 21 day JR Pass is just 12,600Yen which can easily be traveled. You are correct about the extra charges to Fuji and Koya, these however are rather minor 1,100Yen and about 700Yen respectively.

Couch Serving is indeed a great way to get to know other people in Japan, you could also look into a house stay but I don't have any experience with that myself. An other great way is to make (penpal) friends from Japan on the internet. I have done so myself via sites as the Japan-Guide Classifieds and been invited to stay with people multiple times. It's also a great way to make friends for the long term.

Have a great time in Japan!
-Daniel

PS: Sorry for the late replay, your questions needed some extra research time.

Thanks a lot for your reply :). I still have nearly a month till my departure, so your reply wasn't late at all...
There is one more question that I would like to ask you - is it a good idea to travel to Japan and having booked accommodation just for about 4 days and book other later on? I would like to have more freedom in deciding if I want to stay at the place longer or not, so this would be good for me...

From what I have read, not booking a place in JR trains in advance is ok, right?

Japan is a wonderful country for just traveling somewhere and booking a hotel when you arrive. Every bigger station has a tourist information, where you can go to and ask for a hotel. The tourist information will than ring all local hotels for you and make a reservation for you. I have done this many times myself and never had any trouble finding a reasanable accommodation.

Do note that this may sometimes not be possible if there's a big festival for instance and all rooms are booked in advance. However this should be no problem at all during normal days/weekends.

The same applies to trains, it is almost always possible to make reservations up to 5 minutes before departure.

Hope this helps,
Daniel