Originally Posted by
shuigao
Personally, for a ~1 week trip I would do the Tokyo area or Kyoto/Osaka/Nara/Kobe/etc area, but not both. Especially since you've said that you are planning future trips anyway.
As your trip is in January I would do 5n Tokyo and 2n in one of the ski resorts up in Nagano or Yamagata. If you're not the ski'ing type then maybe Hakone or Kawaguchiko, etc?
Alternately 5n Kyoto, 2n Osaka, Kobe, Nara, etc.
If you insist on touching both areas then it depends whether you want more of the cultural/traditional side of Japan, or more of the pop culture side.
Thank you Shuigao. We certainly wanting to experience the more cultural side of Japan which is why we are leaning towards Kyoto for the majority of our stay. I certainly want to see a few sights in Tokyo, but we've never considered ourselves metropolitan travelers by any means. We are actually thinking about adding an 8th night in our trip; I personally love skiing but my girlfriend has never tried. Would it be reasonable to stay a night or two in Nagano or Yamagata on the way to/from Tokyo/Kyoto and get a full day of skiing in? I'd have to find some full-day activities for the gf though since she wouldn't join me. Thanks again for your input, its much appreciated.