Japan trip – points of interest

Currently I'm completely enthralled by my new Rough Guide for Japan. I'm planning on going there this October, maybe with my brother (who's a big Japan fan), but definitely at least part of the time alone.

My dream would be to spend four weeks traveling the country and one week or so on a stop-over somewhere else in Asia, maybe Bangkok or Singapur. The problem is money – according to XE.com, 1000 yen are a bit over 11 Swiss francs at the moment, which would make it very expensive. I'm not sure yet I can afford it, actually, since even the cheapest youth hostel is about 3000JPY/night. We'll see, I guess.

But I thought I'd keep track of my 'must-see' destinations here, just so I get an idea how much time is realistic… This will be edited/updated as I learn more.

Attractions are listed from North to South, as you can see on the Lonely Planet map:

Hokkaido
- Sapporo
- Historical Village of Hokkaido
- Nibutani (Ainu village)
- Daisetsu-zan National Park (Sounkyo)

Northern Honshu
- Kakunodate (samurai town)
- Tono valley
- Hiraizumi (Motsu-ji temple)

Tokyo area
- Nikko
- Kawagoe
- Mitaka (Ghibli museum)
- Mount Fuji

Tokyo