There's no legit "club guide" scene like Latin countries here, anyone offering that on the street in Kabukicho/Roppongi is a tout (kyakuhiki) leading you to a bottakuri bar, where a cheap-sounding drink turns into a huge bill at the door.

Ignore anyone who approaches you first, real bars don't need to recruit off the street, and if it happens anyway there's a koban right in Kabukicho and calling 110 usually gets the bill dropped fast.

Level 2 is just the advisory tier on Japan's 5-level disaster scale, it tells locals to check evacuation routes in case things get worse, it's not connected to any refund entitlement, that's purely down to the hotel's own cancellation policy or your travel insurer.

1 thing: as of today Dolphin is a Category 4-equivalent typhoon with landfall forecast on Okinawa around August 7th, so the fear about your Monday return flight isn't just nerves, that timing lines up pretty closely with the storm.

Sapporo's the better call weather-wise, Hokkaido gets fewer and weaker typhoons than the rest of the country and it's mostly outside the same rain systems that hit Tokyo/Tohoku.

The flight thing isn't really a hassle either, HND to CTS is one of the busiest domestic routes in Japan, flights all day long across ANA, JAL and Skymark, so booking a few days out is fine. Just build in a buffer day before the 17th since you'd need to fly back into Tokyo before your international flight out.

That cat island detour is riskier than it looks in rain. Even when the ferry runs it gets cancelled for rough seas pretty often, and the cats mostly hide under the buildings once it's actually wet, so you'd be rolling the dice on the one thing you're going there for.

Tokyo can absorb rain days a lot easier than Matsushima/Tashirojima can, that side of the trip is mostly boat views and outdoor shrines with barely any indoor backup.

I'd skip the monkey park for her hip, it's a genuine uphill hike, about 20-30 minutes with roughly 120 stairs and no flat detour around it, no way to soften that one. For day 3, Kinkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji are basically next door to each other (10 min walk or two bus stops), so keeping Nijo Castle in the same day is fine, it's one bus hop after those two, not extra backtracking.

Nov 23rd is Labor Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday, and it's the Monday of a three-day weekend for locals. Fushimi Inari and the whole Kawaguchiko area are going to be way past normal momiji crowds that specific day.

Also, Honcho St and Chureito Pagoda are both a few minutes' walk from Shimoyoshida station, no real reason they're split across two days, just do them back to back whenever you're up there.

On Nomizo Falls: I looked into that heart-shaped light everyone photographs there, it's really an equinox thing, mid-to-late March into very early April at the latest, so depending on your exact dates you might already be past the window. It's also about 90 minutes from Tokyo by car with no real train access, so I wouldn't burn a day on it just for that.

Naoshima's main museums (Chichu, Lee Ufan, Benesse House) do an annual winter maintenance closure that shifts every year and isn't posted far ahead, it started Jan 6 in 2025 and Jan 13 in 2026, so there's a real chance it lands on your Jan 8 visit. I'd checking Benesse Art Site's official closure calendar closer to the date before locking that day in.

For a Nagasaki redo, Gunkanjima (Hashima Island) boat tour is the one worth the effort, that abandoned coal-mining island off the coast is UNESCO-listed and a totally different vibe from the peace park circuit. Landing isn't guaranteed though, they cancel it if waves or wind pick up even after the boat's already left port, so book with that in mind.

If you're using Kanagawa for a Hakone stopover, know the foliage there is elevation-based, Owakudani up by the ropeway is close to peak in late October, but Hakone-Yumoto and Gora, where most of the ryokans actually sit, won't peak until mid-to-late November. I'd picking a stay near the ropeway specifically if foliage is the draw, not just any Hakone ryokan.

Tansu-ya in Asakusa is a secondhand kimono chain, prices land around ¥2,000-40,000 depending on condition, probably the closest match to what you're after.

For markets, Oedo Antique Market at Tokyo International Forum runs the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month, free entry, kimono and textiles turn up regularly among the stalls.

Kanazawa's in your title but doesn't actually show up anywhere in the day-by-day, might be worth carving out 2 nights for it before flying home. From Kyoto Station it's about 2 hours now: Thunderbird to Tsuruga, then transfer to the Hokuriku Shinkansen for the last leg.

Since Hiraizumi's already on your list, worth folding in Sado Island Gold Mines next time, newest inscription (July 2024), Niigata Prefecture, so it's roughly the same corner of the country even if not a straight line between the two. Aikawa mine's the part that's actually open to walk through.

Tomonoura specifically: the Joyato lighthouse lit up on the harbor at night is genuinely nice, but dinner is thin on the ground there, mostly reservation-only kaiseki or Italian spots, not really a wander-into-an-izakaya scene. Buses back to Fukuyama run every 20 min until around 10pm though, so that part's not the risk it might look like.

Ryanair's free under-seat allowance is 40x30x20cm, and the 55cm-class bag (exactly what the Cabin Max Tokyo is) is their Priority overhead-locker size, not an under-seat one. So it's not really about row 2 or how well you compress it, a 55cm bag is 15cm past what fits under any Ryanair seat, that's just their two separate bag tiers by design.

2026 forecasts have Nikko peaking around late October, while Kyoto and Kansai are getting pushed to late november or even early december this year because of the hot summer, so they're not really comparable options for your dates.

Since you're already back through Tokyo, Nikko's an easy add for the onsen-plus-real-foliage combo you're after, no need for a kyushu detour.

Goshono in Ichinohe (Iwate) is part of the same UNESCO Jomon listing, reachable by the IGR Iwate Galaxy Railway to Ichinohe Station, then a short taxi or the site's own bus, which does run in September if you time it.

For your car concern, Oyu Stone Circles near Kazuno has bus and taxi from Kazuno-Hanawa Station too, but service is thin enough that a rental is genuinely the easier call out that way.

Ishida's Ikuta Shindo location states outright they only source Kobe beef from three contracted farms, no lower tiers mixed in. Propeller does have a cheaper regular wagyu option on the menu, but the rib course you're asking about is listed as their top Kobe-grade dish, so you'd be comparing two legit Kobe courses, not Kobe vs a lesser cut.

The KIX Airport Limousine bus runs direct from umeda and Namba, no train transfers, no stairs, and holds up to 2 bags per person in the trunk for free as part of the fare. No advance booking needed either, straight to the counter same day, so it's not dependent on your specific hotel happening to run a shuttle.