JJapan Trips

Is this early-February itinerary realistic? (Tokyo → Akita/Yokote Festival → Ginzan Onsen → Kanazawa → Kyoto → Osaka → Hiroshima → Tokyo)

  • October 20, 2025

Hi everyone,
I’d love to get some honest feedback on the first part of a Japan trip I’m planning with my two siblings next February. We’ve been reading a lot and are getting a bit nervous about the logistics in the northern part, especially right after arriving from a long international flight.

We’ll be in Japan from February 14 to March 9, flying into and out of Tokyo. The idea is to combine winter festivals and onsen experiences at the start of the trip, and then head south for the more classic route afterwards.

Here’s what we’re currently thinking for the first section:

Feb 14 (Fri): Arrive in Tokyo in the afternoon (after about 30 hours of travel from Argentina). Just rest, buy warm clothes (Heattech, etc.), and sleep early.

Feb 15 (Sat): Earlymorning Shinkansen to Akita, visit the Our Lady of Akita convent, then head to Yokote in the afternoon for the Yokote Kamakura Snow Festival (snow huts/iglús). Overnight in Yokote.

Feb 16 (Sun): Morning train/bus combo to Ginzan Onsen, spend the afternoon and night there (walk around, soak, dinner, stay overnight).

Feb 17 (Mon): Leave Ginzan in the morning and travel to Kanazawa, starting the “Alpine Route” part of the trip (Kanazawa → Shirakawa-go → Takayama → Kyoto → Osaka → Hiroshima → back to Tokyo).

We’re structuring it this way mainly because the Yokote Snow Festival only happens on February 15-16, so it naturally locks the northern segment at the very start of the trip.

Our main worries:

  • Whether this is too many long transfers too early, especially right after a long-haul flight.

  • The connections between Akita, Yokote, and Ginzan Onsen. We’ve read that buses to Ginzan have low frequency and we don’t want to risk missing one.

We love the idea of starting the trip with something unique before heading south to more urban/cultural areas, but we don’t want to burn ourselves out or rely on risky connections in snowy areas.

Yokote festival seems like a really cool experience (and one that's very "local"). And Ginzan Onsen is not a must, but we did want to have a night in a Ryokan somewhere in the trip, and it seemed like a good alternative.

Also I think it's important to clarify that neither of us knows Japanese, so that's also a bit worrisome in the case we miss a connection on some of these transfers.

Thanks a lot for any input!

by fedukox