Thanks to everyone who has replied to me, its been really helpful! After reading non stop about travel ideas, I have come up with this itinerary:
This will be my first time traveling to Japan. Both I and my gf (both mid 20's) as well as my mom (almost 50) will be traveling. We will be there from early march 29 to early april 13 2016. I still haven't decided exactly what to do with all the days in tokyo, but I'm sure ill figure something out
[Tokyo]
{when} march 29- early april1:
{where} stay somewhere near tokyo station, possibly around here:
https://www.google.com.mx/maps/plac...2!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0xc0cb3994d27227df
{what} akihabara, emperial palace, some more central tokyo stuff
depart early april 1 to a ryokan onsen near/around mt fuji or hokone. It seems to be a bigger hassle to get to the ryokan onsen around mt fuji as apposed to hakone which are on the shinkansen route. Any tips if its worth it? Im looking at these 2 ryokan onsen right now. mt fuji ryokan is about 20,000 JPY more expensive:
1- near hakone)
http://www.japanican.com/en/hotel/detail/4306017/?ar=A31&ryokan=1
2- near mt fuji)
http://www.japanican.com/en/hotel/detail/4258025/?ar=A32&ryokan=1
*Activate 7 day JR pass*
depart april 2 after breakfast to osaka
[Osaka]
{when} april 2-6
{where} very,very near the shinkansen station
{what}
april 2: explore osaka
april 3: hiroshima and mijami -> back to osaka
april 4: nara -> back to osaka
april 5: himeji, then to kobe around 6 pm for some kobe beef dinner -> back to osaka
depart early april 6 to kyoto
[Kyoto]
{when} early april 6 - late april 8
{what} philosophers walk, kinkakuji, more...
{where} somewhere at most 30 min walk from shinkansen station.
depart late april 8 to tokyo
*7 day JR pass ends*
[Tokyo]
{when} late april 8 - early april 13
{where} somewhere in shinjuku close to the train station. plan b is in shibuya
{what} explore shibuya,shinjuku, more...
depart early april 13 to narita airport
Would it be better to pay more for the 14 day pass and also use it for the narita-tokyo train as well as letting me stay a couple more days in kyoto and for the travel from tokyo to the ryokan onsen?
Also, I picked osaka as home base for the day trips because its cheaper and easier to get a place near the shinkansen station than in kyoto.
Any suggestions? Thanks a lot for your input!