What am I missing?

I'm at the exact same situation

Though apart from my list. I still want to find other tourist attractions. I am very interested in the history part of Japan.

>>1210379
I'd point you to the japan general thread to begin with guys. But even then, since TRV is slow i'll placate you, going on my fifth trip to japan in november so I guess I have the experience.

>you don't really need japanese (I have conversational level, can talk to people on topical issues and smalltalk easily, as well as talk to bartenders and stuff since I brew beer in japanese) Most/All stations have english signs/directions due to corporations, you might be more hard pressed out in bumfuck nowhere. Just point at things and say please or kudasai and you'll survive.
>A trainpass is 30000 yen for 7 days, 45000 for 14 and 60000 for 21 and it'll allow you to use almost(JR east has restrictions, from memory you're only allowed on the Kodama Shinkansen and not the others? The passes come with booklets and the station staff will remind you) any shinkansen/train in the country, can also include buses and ferries depending on the area. For a 7 day to 'break even' a return trip from tokyo to osaka/kyoto will suffice
>If you're staying at a regular hotel/ryokan its easier to state that, immigration tend to pipe up if you say you're staying in an airbnb as its a legal grey area but there aren't any repercussions i've experienced because of it, all of my experiences in airbnb have been pleasant though.
>without a duration of stay this figure is useless, if its a month you're overestimating way too much, I can do less than $500 for a week with accommodation pretty comfortably.
>A bunch of people offer data sims that give you a month's data for about 3000 yen, B Mobile is one of these companies, you can buy these sims at Yodobashi Camera stores in Japan.
>Ok?

feel free to ask more, or relocate to the general if you want.

>>1210396
I went to Kamakura last trip and really enjoyed it, otherwise if you spend a decent amount of time in Kyoto and do a day trip to Nara you'll be pretty sick of history by the end of that unless you're a fanatic.

Just fyi I'm going in may as well. Bought a roundtrip ticket from united airlines for $480. Should buy that ticket asap because they usually go for 700+

>>1210379
>$5000
It seems a bit much, but over budgeting is really not a problem

I would just say that it's really easy to spend money when traveling alone,

>>1210379
I went in August for 2 weeks from Alberta. Altogether I spent about 4500 with my plane ticket (850) but I also ate out a lot. Can't travel to another country and not eat out at a different restaurant every night amirite?
There are sites that sell shikansen (For the sake of writing out everything I'm gonna skip the subtleties of trying to get every word spelled right) tickets at reduced rates for tourists. Look into something like that. Also the airports have temporary sim cards you can buy. I think mine was 50 bucks for two weeks? It didn't give me any minutes or texting, but 300mb of data a day which was more than enough for what I needed. Google maps will help you out a lot with the trains and whatnot, and unless you go to some obscure places like Onomichi (Where it happened to me) all terminals will have english menu's

I didn't try Airbnb, but hostels were godsends for me. Some were kinda shitty, but on average you're looking at about 40-60 a night depending on where you stay.

Also a big mistake I made was overpacking. I took a camping back pack with me and stuffed about 3-4 days worth of clothing in it. Don't do that. I was too tall to buy most clothes (Rip 6'2) but every place you stay should have washing machines. It's a lot better to just take 3 days (1 you'd be wearing on the plane) of clothes with you and just wash them every second day. By the time you're nearing the end of your trip, walking around with your life on your back will start to wear down on you

BRING DEODORANT
LOTS
JAPAN DOES NOT SELL FUCKING DEODORANT HOLY SHIT

Make sure you get yourself a draw string bag or something to carry with you while you leave your shit at a hostel / airbnb
Also forget style, wear running shoes. I made the mistake of going for form over function and my legs and back were killing me from all the walking around I did

Hope my ramblings helped a little. If you're still open to suggestions on locations, fushimi inari and Umeda Sky gardens...holy shit

FUCK THE FOREST
realy, it's a pain to get there and sure it's a creepy forest where people kill themselves, but it's still just a boring forest.

That said, you shouldn't fully aim for the main tourist attractions I think. When I was in Japan I visited a bunch of important castles and temples and I stayed mostly in the main areas of tokyo, but I had the most fun wandering around places that are lesser know. Shinjuku and Shibuya have awesome 'secret' alleyways with small shops and restaurants and some smaller cities can be way more fun than all the bigger ones like tokyo, kyoto and osaka.

I recommend visiting Fukuoka, still a big city, but with a way chiller vibe. I also visited yamaguchi, there's really nothing to do there, but it's such a pretty, peacefull place, away from all the busy stuff.