[biwako]

great info guys,
so il have plenty of time to see these things and more, thats great.
i think i know what you mean about the temples, i know when i was in thailand it was great to see the temples but i wouldnt spend too much time there and would probably see a few in a day,
my question is, how big a place is kyoto and how easy is it to get around,
obviously all of the sights i want to see are not going to be right next to each other, so will it take a long time to get around and what is the best way one would do this, i will have a JR pass but wasnt sure if this would be applicable.

Kiyomizudera looks awesome, this is a definate.
I mentioned the Monkey Park at Iwatayama, has anyone here seen this,
i was looking at going to Nagano (mainly to see the bathing monkeys) but also to see the japanese alps. Do you think it is worth trying to squeeze this in or will the Iwatayama do the trick. I mean id love to see the mountains of nagano but hey will they even have any snow at that time of the year (start of april)

Once again i must thankyou all,
its been a great help in compiling my itinery.
hopefully i can put up great big trip report with plenty of pics when i get home for you all to see.

Thanks again,

Ben