Howdy. My wife has been asked to give a talk in early September at a conference in Tokushima (TKS) on the island of Shikoku.

My 9 year-old son and I are thinking of going and extending the trip to maybe a week or ten days.

We are experienced at traveling through Europe and the US, but have never been to Japan. Would be flying from ORD to, I guess, KIX (since tickets to TKS start at $1784), but the best price right now is about $1000, which seems steep to me. We might do an AA Platinum Challenge if it would qualify.

Or we have enough AA or DL miles to get FF tickets. Also lots of HHilton (I an Hilton Gold) and Starwood points, should they be usable somehow.

Would very much appreciate any tips or ideas of things to do, what in the area is especially worth visiting, hotels, restaurants, side trips, trains/passes, etc.

Thank you very much.