Japan: Locations ... check. Route ... check.

Here it is ... the final line up.

After pinpointing the locations that I want to visit during my trip,  I've managed to figure out a route that means I can maximise my time in each city and hopefully give me quite a enough time to explore my top 3 - Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka:

The map above shows the route I'm hopefully going to take. The route includes the following places:

1. Tokyo
2. Hakone
3. Kyoto
4. Nara
5. Ise
6. Osaka
7. Kurashiki
8. Hiroshima
9. Miyajima Island
10. Kanazawa
11. Takayama
12. Tokyo

Now I have to work out the quickest mode of transport between each location and the activities I want to do in each city, which should then make it easy to figure out how many days I should spend at each place.
I do have a budget to try and work to so that will obviously have to factor in ... but this is a once in a lifetime trip so I'm going all out ... right!?!

Next ... the number of days per city and an idea of what I want to see and do in each place.