After Air France/Flying Blue announced the devaluation of their Frequent Flyer program last month, I decided to burn most of my remaining FB miles for a summer trip to Asia. My wife’s parents are available to babysit our children then (since the boys are out of school). Of all the possible destinations, Japan seemed like the best blend of someplace new, exotic and interesting. We will arrive in mid-July for an eight night stay. I would love some feedback from the people in this forum to see if I am thinking in the right direction. I have read a lot of the posts in this forum as well as other things on the web and will continue to read, so for now my questions are generally general.

We were thinking of four nights in Tokyo followed by three nights in Kyoto. Is this an OK schedule? There seem to be lots of threads on things to see and do in Tokyo and also days trips from Tokyo, so I will peruse those for further information. For transportation we wanted to go with a JR pass. We thought that we could use the JR pass starting on our second or third day in Tokyo to do a day trip to the Nikko or Hakone. Then to Kyoto. And maybe from there a day trip to Hiroshima. Is that worth seeing or is it too ambitious. In Kyoto we wanted to see if we could stay one night in a ryokan (my guess is that this would probably necessitate skipping Hiroshima). Finally, on the last afternoon we would go Kyoto-Narita and then stay overnight at Narita (our flight back to Paris leaves at 1145 on a weekday). Again, I want input on whether the schedule is too ambitious or if it’s more or less balanced.

We planned to use cash & points to stay at Starwood properties (the Westin Tokyo and the Westin Kyoto) except for one night at a ryokan in/near Kyoto and the Hilton Narita (also on points) the last night. From what I have read on the Starwood forum, the Westin Tokyo is a good hotel (perhaps the best choice/value in the Tokyo area for Starwood). The Kyoto property gets mixed reviews and seems to depend on whether or not one gets an upgraded room. I will pursue those issues further in the Starwood forum. But does anyone have any warings about the location of the Tokyo Westin as a base for sightseeing (using mostly the metro but also JR trains).

As to ryokans, they seem to be all over the map in terms of price and quality. There is a sharp website called ryokancollection.com that has some really nice properties, but they are well over 30,000 yen per person which means over $650 a night for two (half board). We really wanted a nice ryokan with a hot springs (which tends to mean suburban Kyoto and not the center) or at least nice baths but I don’t think I want to spend that much for just one night. There is one place that got good reviews on Trip Advisor that seems affordable and fairly close—the Kurama Onsen. Anybody have a good recommendation for maybe 15,000-20,000 yen person near Kyoto?

I have more questions, but I think that is enough for now, Thanks in advance to anyone who can help with advice.