Proposed Japan Itinerary (18 days)

I posted this on the MT board, but I figured I would look for some insight on this board as well, especially after running a search and seeing that quite a few of you have spent significant amounts of time in Japan.

Anyway, this is my current rough draft of an itinerary for November. I would particularly like insight on the itinerary itself (length of stay in each place, whether travel between two locations is untenable or difficult, whether I should substitute a different city for something I currently have scheduled, etc), but I'm obviously happy to receive any lodging or food recommendations as well.

Nov 1 Tokyo 2:25pm (Tokyo) - Hyatt Regency 17k *
Nov 2 Tokyo (Tokyo) - 17k *
Nov 3 Side trip from Tokyo to Kamakura (Tokyo) - 17k (Total Tokyo 51k) ***
Nov 4 Leave Tokyo for Nikko (Nikko) ???
Nov 5 Leave Nikko for Hakone (Hakone) - Hyatt Regency Hakone Resort and Spa 25k *
Nov 6 Hakone (Hakone) - 25k (Total Hakone 50k) ***
Nov 7 Leave Hakone for Kyoto (Kyoto) - Hyatt Regency Kyoto 20k *
Nov 8 Kyoto (Kyoto) - 20k *
Nov 9 Kyoto (Kyoto) - 20k *
Nov 10 Kyoto (Kyoto) - 20k xxx
Nov 11 Side trip from Kyoto to Nara (Kyoto) - 20k (Total Kyoto 120k) xxx
Nov 12 Leave Kyoto for Miyajima via Himeji Castle (Miyajima) ???
Nov 13 Leave Miyajima for Kanazawa via Hiroshima (Kanazawa) ???
Nov 14 Kanazawa (Kanazawa) ???
Nov 15 Leave Kanazawa for Shirakawago (Shirakawago) ???
Nov 16 Leave Shirakawago for Takayama (Takayama) ???
Nov 17 Leave Takayama for Tokyo (Tokyo) - Hyatt Regency 17k *
Nov 18 Leave Tokyo for US 6:25pm

Note: the Hyatts are already booked, but I can cancel them for months still, so don't consider anything written in stone except for the arrival and departures themselves. Also, the parentheticals are which city we would be sleeping in for that night.