14 day pass or 21 day pass

Hello there,

To start with question 2.) The route to Hakuba is rather long, even with the JR Pass it takes 450 minutes. My recommendation would be to split the route in two and stay the night somewhere in the middle. This way you get to see a little more of Japan and don't have to spend a full day in the train. Great places to stop at directly on the route are Nagoya and Matsumoto make for good stops. Here is the full route in Hyperdia.

Now the other questions :)

1.) I think that a 14 day JR Pass for work best if used between the 23rd - 8th or 24th - 9th. This would allow you to cover all (otherwise) pricey travel and put the JR Pass to great use.

3.) I've always found plenty on every station, bigger stations as Tokyo and Kyoto also tend to have cloakrooms.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Hello Daniel!

Great advise! Very helpful. Thank you so much! I will do more research along the lines of your recommendations :)
It will be my first trip to Japan and I'm so excited.

Best wishes to you!