Background: I had planned for Sanrio Puroland on Thursday, but it is closed on Wed & Thu for the rest of May. So, I moved that to another day when I will be visiting Shinjuku, and this has freed up an entire day for me (Thursday, May 22) when I will be travelling to Kyoto.

I've shifted my itinerary such that I now want to check out of the hotel, do a day trip to Mt Fuji & surrounding area, end the tour at Odawara and then catch the Shinkansen to reach Kyoto on the same day.

1. Can I do this on my own, without a guided "tour". If so, what are the steps? Where do I store my luggage?

2. I would prefer a guided tour. Will the tour bus store my luggage? And I will need the tour to end for me with the tour bus dropping of passengers at Odawara. What are the recommend options/tours for this?

3. Since I won't know when the tour ends, is it safe to say that once the tour ends at Odawara, I can be guaranteed a seat on the Shinkansen, with the worse case being "unreserved" seats for which presumably there are unlimited tickets, right?

I apologize in advance if I asked this information before but now it is a reality. By the way, is there anyway to predict the weather for May 22 for Mt Fuji? Is it forecast to be a clear day that it would even make this worthwhile?

Many thanks.