Guys im planning a 16 day itinerary for Japan during the end of this year/early next year. Travel dates are 28 December to 13 January.

Im planning to go skiing either in Nagano prefecture or Niseko in Hokkaido. I have 3 options and i need some advice on my choices. Onsen is also a must for all 3 options.
Port of arrival and departure will be NRT.

Option 1 - Tohoku - Hokkaido (Jr East Tohoku Pass will be purchased) Total days spent (12-13 days)
Will be using Jr east rail pass if going to Hokkaido and planning to stop by in Tohoku area namely miyagi(sendai) & aomori before continuing in Hokkaido.
Will spend the remaining days in tokyo area before coming back to Malaysia.

Option 2 - Nagano, Toyama, Kanazawa, maybe Chiba? Niigata? Nagoya? (Jr East Niigata & Nagano pass MAY be purchased if its beneficial financially) Total Days spend (12-13days)
Will be focusing around Central Japan and going for Ski & Onsen at Hakuba/Shiga Kogen/Nozawa Onsen. Will be going for snow monkeys etc. Will visit Shirakawa Go.

Option 3 - Hakata(Fukuoka), Hiroshima, Himeji, Kanazawa, Nagano - Tokyo. (Jr West Sanyo SanIn pass will be purchased) Total Days spent around 12-13 days.
This option would be utilising my airmiles to fly to Hakata and travel back to Nagano area within 7 days hence using the Sanyo SanIn area pass and then going to Nagano area for Ski before heading back to Tokyo for departure. Will visit Shirakawa Go.

Would like to allocate around 2-4 days in tokyo for some food and minor shopping.

Is there any other recommended sites that i should be going ? Are my options feasible ?

These are only preliminary and would further elaborate on the plan after selecting 1 of my possible options. I have also excluded Hakone, Kobe, Nara, Kyoto and Osaka from trip (unless for transit) because I've been there and would like to visit other places.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by lazarus7247: Mar 26 2018, 07:27 PM

Wow thanks for the feedback! I just saw your trip and its kinda what i had in mind. It would be really helpful for the planning of my trip.

Will probably skip hokkaido and do Nagano + Tohoku. Skiing is definitely my main focus but the snow monkeys and foxes were also part of my plan.

Was there anything about your trip that u didn't like ?

Im going to Japan for 16days. Any recommended wifi device to rent ?