Originally Posted by
adschnei
We are intending to stay in Kyoto, which I know is a hike. I think we might actually look at flying into Kyoto/Osaka on the front end of the trip to alleviate any concerns about transport back to Tokyo on the travel day home.
Perhaps you would be better off flying from ITM to NRT.
ITM = Itami (Osaka airport).
Still requires an early start but not quite so bad.