Hi everyone!
I’m finally able to go to Japan through a university programm and could use some help figuring out my itinerary.

I’ll be in Japan during the first two weeks of November. The first 5 days I’ll be staying in Tokyo and the rest of the trip still needs planning.

Now, here’s what makes planning a little tricky: After that trip, I’ll be staying in Maebashi for 8 weeks (until mid-January), and then moving to Gifu for another 8 weeks (until mid-March). I’ll be busy on weekdays, but I plan to explore on weekends.

Just some thoughts from Maebashi:

• I’m thinking of doing weekend trips to places like the northern and eastern parts of Tokyo (stuff I won’t cover during my first days in Tokyo).
• Nagano (about 2 hours by train) and Toyama (about 3.5 hours), but these might be to far for a weekendtrip
• Generally I thought to explore areas along trian lines such as the Agatsuma Line or Joetsu Line, just hopping off at interesting places
• In Gunma are also nice spots for hiking, which I love. For this reason a car rental might be an option.

1. Would it make sense to rent a car for weekends (Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon) or should I just stick to train travel?
2. How safe/difficult is it to drive in winter in that area?

Some thoughts from Gifu:

• Generally the same ideas as before
• weekend trips to Nagoya or even Hamamatsu (about 2.5 hours by train), and especially Kyoto and Osaka (about 1.5 hours).
• places at the east coast of Lake Biwa.
• Again, since I love hiking and nature, a car might make more sense for some areas. Any thoughts on that?

I’m not trying to do too much in one go. I’ll definitely come back to Japan again and want to leave some areas for future trips.

Now back to the first 2 weeks in November:

As I’m sure many of you know, Japan has way too much to offer, there’s simply not enough time in a single trip (or even a lifetime!) to see and experience everything. So for these two weeks, I’d like to avoid places that I’ll be able to visit later during my stay. So I am thinking going west of Tokio and "skipping" Osaka and Kyotot since these are places I can go to for a weekend trip.

Here are a couple of ideas I’m considering:

• Exploring more of the Kansai region and Chugoku (like Okayama, Hiroshima, etc.) with the option to stay in Osaka for a couple of days
• Or flying from Tokio to Fukuoka and doing a trip through Kyushu and then back to Tokio

I’ll definitely come back to Japan , so I’d like to keep some areas for a future trip. What are you thouhgts and Opinions? Do you have any tips or recommendaions?

Sorry for the rather long post and thank you very much.