Thanks so much, abmj-jr!

I would like to travel in the fall, avoiding the scorching summer heat and beating the cold winter winds. I picture Kyoto in the autumn as a splash of color with all it's magnificent foliage decorated in sweeping shades of amber and burnt orange, auburn, flame red, golden yellow and sunglow, etc. This would be my ideal choice and we're aiming for August of next year!

As for the locations being scattered about the country, I was thinking we would begin with Tokyo and then continue along the route as listed above (ignoring the cities mentioned before).

The ryokans that I would be looking at are quite "luxurious" (Hiiragiya Ryokan in Kyoto, Miyajima Grand Hotel Arimoto in Hatsukaichi, and so on) but we would also be staying at the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo, the Ritz in Osaka, Sheraton in Hiroshima... so we'd be in Westernized hotels as well. I imagine we'll probably chose to spend a significant amount of time in Tokyo, so we should have our fix of luxury and romance in a top-floor club suite overlooking the city lights. I'd appreciate your suggestions on how many days for each location though, and which if any should probably be scratched off the above list, either in favor of other places or in the interest of making this itinerary possible within our 3.5 week timeframe.

Btw, jumping back to ryokans for a moment... could you please elaborate on your questioning of our decision to stay in them for the bulk of the trip? Do you feel that they aren't very intimate or is it a question of comfort; I'm just curious?

Thanks for the rail travel link -- I will definitely check it out and surely opt for the longer Rail Pass!

Oh and to answer your top question, we'd be flying out of SFO and I assume (most likely) directly into Tokyo to commence the trip. Our first destination city is still open to suggestion though, and I would be willing to rework things... I figured that Tokyo, Kyota, Nara, Osaka, Fukuyama-shi(?), Hiroshima, Hatsukaichi(?), Chikushino-shi, Yamaguchi, Nagasaki, Sapporo(?), Higashikawa-Chō(?), Himeji(?), etc. would be a good route though if that seems absurd, then Google Maps is to blame!