My next trip to Tokyo is only a couple of weeks away and I'm starting to try and fit a few little one day side-trips into my schedule. I've had three ideas, and wondered if anyone had any comments or suggestions about the feasibility of them, or indeed if there's something else I should be doing on the way.

1. Kyoto. I've spent a fair amount of time here on past visits, but there's still things I haven't seen. This time, I plan on visiting the Fushimi Inari shrine, then Kiyomizudera and then walking north via Gion, Yasaka Shrine towards the Heian Shrine. If there's time, I'll probably go via the Teramachi shopping street back towards the station.
   
2. Matsumoto, Nagano and Karuizawa. Taking an early Super Azusa train to Matsumoto to watch the scenery on the way past. Once I get there, go see Matsumoto Castle then off into Nagano. Eventually hop on the Shinkansen around to Karuizawa for a little bit of evening shopping at the outlet stores (that I only know are there thanks to other posts in this forum) before returning to Tokyo.
   
3. Sendai and Yamadera. Shinkansen to Sendai then on the Senzan line to Yamadera. Hopefully reach the top by lunchtime, then back down and into Sendai itself to enjoy the city. If I can get the days right, the Pageant of Starlight should just be starting for a look around before heading back to Tokyo.

I've been light on the details because if I make detailed plans I tend not to stick to them! Any comments, additions or alternatives would be greatly recieved.

Rather than three day-trips to these places, I'd opt for one overnight trip. Or a three day outing that takes in Kyoto and Matsumoto, for example.

All of these ideas seem WAY far for day trips and WAY many things to do in one day. At the very least, I would try to go to wherever-it-is the night before, so you can start early in the morning.

I would think that winter weather would be a pretty big factor in both Matsumoto and Yamadera--have you checked that out yet?

KYOTO: If you've been there before, I guess you know how far it is, but that's a lot of stuff for one day. Fushimi Inari Shrine really needs about 3 hours. It's a little short train ride to get there and back from Kyoto. The main part of the experience is hiking through the long paths of torii gates and you need to spend a chunk of time doing that to get the essence of that shrine. It takes about 2 hours to hike out to the far end where you get a view of kyoto. The rest of your itinerary can be a continuous walk except for getting to the beginning and back to the station, but it sounds like about 6 hours of time at least (and of course, there are heaps of stores and restaurants and little shrines all along the way).

MATSUMOTO: I think that Matsumoto is worth a whole day. To me, Nagano is more a place to go to other places from, although it's a nice city. The Matsumoto castle is quite nice--allow plenty of time. Matsumoto has a couple small historic areas, a great downtown shopping area, a big mall on the outskirts, and a lot of rather specialized museums and historic sites (such as a woodblock museum, a folkcraft museum, and one of the first elementary schools in Japan that's now a museum). You can also go from there to Narai, an old post town, by local train if you want something more than just one city for your day trip.

By the way, Matsumoto can be reached more quickly and MUCH more cheaply by bus--about 3 hours and 3900 yen with reserved seat. Buses are comfortable. They leave from the Shinjuku station area. There are 2 lines operating cooperatively (Keiho and ???) and they leave about every 20 minutes. (However, the last bus back to Tokyo is about 8 p.m., I think.)

SENDAI/YAMADERA--I haven't been to Yamadera, but it sounds like an all-day project, with the local train only running once an hour and all the climbing to get there. I guess it depends on how early you start but me, I wouldn't count on getting to the top by noon. (I'm going to put it on my "Next Time" list--it looks interesting.) Sendai's a nice "regular" city for shopping, eating, and night activities--it's not picturesque or tourist-oriented.

I would think day trips from Tokyo would be to:

1. Nikko
2. Kamakura, Enoshima
3. Mito

or somewhere near such as these.

One advantage of the last two of your (all very long) day trips is they can be done on JR East so you might be eligible for the outstanding 3 day JR East Y10,000 pass deal.

I agree with the general sentiment above--a decent "day trip" from Tokyo is probably limited to other cities within the metropolitan area, unless you're a really fast tourist.

There is a lot to see within spitting distance though: Kamakura, Nikko, Yokohama, Nokogiriyama, Okutama, etc. All of these are very viable day trips, and you won't be rushing yourself to make the last train back to Tokyo.

i liked nikko quite a scenic train ride out there and relaxing. a day trip to kyoto sounds like a stretch and tiring.

Many thanks for your thoughts, folks. I was wondering if it was all a bit too much for one day, and it looks like it is.

I'll keep a trip to Matsumoto in my plans, since I really do want to see the castle and ginnyfsf has given me so other ideas for the area.

I'm still giving some consideration to Yamadera. It interests me, but over 1000 steps are giving me some cause for concern. The general "wisdom of the Internet" suggests it only takes an hour to reach the top - I suspect it would take me longer!

Again, many thanks.

If you've exhausted all the usual day trips from Tokyo, Kawagoe is not a bad little town to check out (although it's officially a city).

Easy to reach ... some quaint old buildings to look at ... and at the end of the day you feel pleasantly reassured that you've really seen everything there is to see.

The round trip to Matsumoto alone is significantly more expensive than the entire cost of the JR East 3 day pass.

But you can go to Matsumoto with the JR East pass.
(I'd also suggest the Super Azusa from Shinjuku if there's any light - the Shinkansen Nagano route is much less scenic)

Yes, I know that, it was the reason for my post, sorry if that wasn't clear. That 3 non-continguous day pass is the best deal I've ever seen in Japan, sure would be wonderful if it was extended or re-appeared.

While Yamadera is a bit of a hike, it's not nearly as bad as "1000 steps" makes it sound: the temple is spread out all over the hill, so there are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore before you get to the (rather anticlimactic) main temple. I'm not sure I'd want to go there in mid-winter though (is it even open?), since ice on those stairs could get hairy...