[Teris]

Hi everyone. I'm very excited to say that my wife and I are about to take our first trip to Japan. We've always wanted to go, but we really never thought we'd make it there. We leave June 3 from Los Angeles, California (where we live) and arrive in the late afternoon on June 4 at Narita. We leave at 9PM on June 13 (also from Narita). We have nine full days including the day we leave.

This is a spur of the moment trip because we both have some time off and Delta was offering cheap fares. We ordered some DVDs on basic Japanese to get accustomed to the language and are now looking to plan our trip.

I'm looking for suggestions on things to see and places to go. We love scenic places and I am an avid photographer (especially wildlife, ocean, mountains, forests and cities). We're looking forward to seeing the beautiful temples. We will definitely go to Tokyo and Kyoto.

Because we leave from Narita, we're considering going straight from Narita to Kyoto and then heading back to Tokyo for the last few days of our trip rather than the first few (then returning again before we fly out). Does that make sense?

We're wondering if we should buy a 7-day JR pass. I'm not sure if it will make sense financially for us. If we go to Kyoto first, we will take the JR rail from Narita or Tokyo the next day and head back to Tokyo for the last of the 7 day rail pass. Once in Tokyo, we can take day trips, too, and will take a limo bus back to Narita.

As for hotels, we are looking at the Shimizu Ryokan (modern) in Kyoto and the Super Hotel Kyoto. We also are looking at the Sunroute Plaza hotel in Tokyo. Are these good decisions?

Any other suggestions would be great. Thanks so much!