1

What do you mean by "any of the bus passes"? I only know of the Japan Bus Pass by Willer express.

However for your route it would not work as Willer does not go into the Alps, so you could use the pass only on at most two days and the three day pass (which is the shortest you can get) would likely not pay off.

As for itinerary, days 2 and 3 seem rather rushed, 4-6 rather relaxed. You might want to rearrange itinerary a bit. Also, Fujigoko to Takayama is not really straightforward on public transport and it might in fact be cheaper and more convenient to return to Tokyo after Mt Fuji. Also, perhaps Tokyo/Fuji - Tateyama/Kurobe - Takayama - Kyoto is more straightforward and perhaps cheaper.

As for cheap transportation, there is hitchhiking, seishun 18 and highway buses. With that amount of time in Japan and that amount of places, I would only consider highway buses. You'd still need to take some trains to get to (and through) the Tateyama Kurobe route, but other connections could be done by buses. If possible I'd use night buses in order to maximize sightseeing time.

Also you've picked a rather expensive route (the Tateyama Kurobe route alone is 10,000 yen), so if you are willing to see some other places, you could save quite a bit on transportation costs.

2

Did you mean to hike TO Mt. Fuji or NEAR it, or actually to CLIMB it? You aren't giving yourself enough time to climb, IMO.

Also, to do that a day after landing seems extremely tiring. You haven't said where you are flying in from, but I would suspect that you'd want a couple of days rest before climbing Fuji.

3

Mt. Fuji definitely not a walk :/

4

Thanks for your feedback everyone, I plan to start from the fifth station for the mt fuji hike. I don't expect it to be a stroll in the park, however from what I have read it's not technically difficult and only 1.500 meters height difference. Based on your comments I will spend an extra day there.

I would like to do some hiking in the Japan Alps as well, considering that the Tateyama-Kurobe route is rather expensive could you recommend a town from which it is easy to do some hikes and which is easy to reach? From what I have read Kamikochi might be interesting.

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks in advance!

5

Yes, Kamikochi! In fact if you like hiking, I would skip Fuji as it is not particularly scenic or pretty unless of course you want to say that you've been on top of Mt Fuji.

In Kamikochi I did the fantastic 3 day Yarigadake Daikiretto hike, but there are shorter options available as well. Easy to get to from Takayama or you could travel Tokyo-Matsumoto (castle) - Kamikochi - Takayama - Kyoto

6

just back from Tateyama-Kurobe, Hakuba & Kamikochi...like #6, i suggest Kamikochi...for amazing views (of course in fine weather), you can hike up to Karasawa, & also to Maruyama (& further on to Nishiho Doppyo - but i didn't have the time for it on this trip) near Nishiho-sanso.

not been to Mt Fuji, but the Japanese climbers i met at Tateyama, Hakuba & Kamikochi all agreed that it was 'enough' that i had seen it from the plane...they said it's beautiful to look at but 'not interesting' & 'not beautiful' to climb.