Hi,

After almost 25 years with my company, I am being made redundant in mid march ( I'm reasonably ok with it -though will be sad to leave my colleagues). I am fortunate that I will get a reasonable payoff and have a reasonable pension ( pension might not cover frequent trip to Japan in the future )
I have a lot of Hilton points in my account ( was saving them to take my mother away but she is less interested in travel these days so whilst I have Hilton Diamond status this year, probably a good time to use maybe a third of them and visit places in Japan that I like and a few new places.
Not that interested in Sakura so was thinking of 5/6 weeks in May/first week in June ( appreciating that the first week of May will be golden week.) Planning on less time in Tokyo on this trip ( probably come back in Dec for autumn colours/winter illuminations

My initial basic plan would be something like this
3 nights Narita airport hilton ( inc arrival night) with 1 day exploring Narita town and 1 day taking the skyliner to ueno station and visit the park ( if i end up flying into Haneda, I'll switch to either odaiba or yokohama
Narita express to Yokohama ( Hilton)- visit the Sankeien garden and day trip to Kamakura. 3 nights in yokohama
2 nights Hilton Nagoya - visit the castle and garden- never been to Nagoya
5 or 7 nights in Kyoto ( 2nd visit to kyoto but would like to explore it in more detail and visit sites i missed in May 2024 ( ie Nijojo castle and imperial palace as well as the kiyomizu dera area at night ). Day trip to Nara. Probably at Doubletree kyoto station ( would like to try the new Hilton Kyoto but it is a bit pricey points rise ( ie 95k pn on some nights -would rather spend 5k extra per night for the Conrad or WA osaka
2 nights Himeji ( visit the castle and garden ) -probably the nikko hotel
5 or 6 nights in Hiroshima ( Hilton -love the hotel) . Use hiroshima as a base for daytrips to Iwakuni, Kure, Sankeien garden at the Airport, Okayama, Onomichi ( for the temples ) plus mitakidera in Hiroshima and explore parts of hiroshima I have not visited
1 night on Miyajima island for the experience at night time without a lot of day trippers
5 nights in Nagasaki ( hilton) .Explore Nagasaki, relaxing time at the hotel ( do laundry also) and maybe some day trips. I do like the hilton nagaski hotel
Possibly 1 night at the Nikko Huis ten bosch park ( hopefully less rain than in April 2024)
5 nights in Osaka ( conrad or waldorf astoria on points ( get 5 nights for 4 nights of points at hilton hotels) .Maybe 1 or 2 days at the Expo,some osaka sightseeing and some relaxing
2 or 3 nights either in Odaiba or Tokyo bay for Disney


Had considered a few days in okinawa ( naha ) or sapporo but probably not on this trip
some reasonable fares from the UK on Cathay ( could visit HKG for a few days on the way back) or Qatar ( few days in Doha on the way back)

Regards

TBS