I am taking my wife to Japan for Sakura this year, she is Japanese-American and has always wanted to go since she was a little kid and her grandmother told her stories about it. I got us a great deal on 2 ANA F tickets so we can travel comfortably and hit the ground running for the short period we could get away from our young children- we arrive in Narita on Monday afternoon March 28 and depart at the end of the day on Saturday April 2.

I booked a long time ago, was given advice from a Japanese colleague to aim for last week of March, plan to spend a couple days in Tokyo, get a JR pass and then pick one other city once the forecast came into focus. It now looks like there is some more sense of how things are set to go this year. Tokyo looks good and I have us booked for Mon/Tues nights there.

From the forecast, Kyoto looks good as well, but having waited, boy are things booked up. One friend suggested we look elsewhere, maybe Fukuoka, but that seems like a bit of a haul for such a short trip. I want to contrast 2 days in Tokyo (which we have both been to a few times) with a smaller more cultural experience (hence Kyoto). Any other suggestions for where I could spend Thurs/Fri nights for that week? If I have to, I will just break the bank for Kyoto, but wondering if anyone else has a suggestion or two I should consider before I do that.

Look for hotels in Osaka (30-minute train ride from Kyoto) or even as far as Kobe (45-50 minutes away).

Good luck finding accommodation in Osaka for your dates though looking at availability it's not as bad as the previous week when FT Japan Do #4 is in town. If you decide to go further ANA's Experience Japan fare is worth considering at 10,800 yen per segment.

My fall-back for hotels when Kyoto is booked up is Nara, which is a short local train ride from Kyoto Station. If sukura in a smaller city atmosphere is your goal, Nara is better than Kyoto anyway.