Finding train schedules in Japan
 

I am stopping off at Narita airport on June 2 for several days with the intention of visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki, arriving at 2:00pm. My departure time is 4:00pm (once I schedule it with Delta).

I am having difficulty using the Hyperdia site to find out train schedules. I input the day and time and specify all the train types, specify all of the options (e.g., Hiroshima Station, Hiroshima Airport, Hiroshima Port), hit “search” and get “Route is not found”. I don’t understand what “Route Outputs” means (the default is 5). Same experience if I type in Nagasaki.

I would appreciate any assistance as to how to find a train schedule (Hyperdia gives me a schedule if I include "air" as a category, but one-way airfare costs the same as a seven-day JR pass.)

Thanks!

I did find a URL that has the JR Shinkansen timetable at http://www.shinkansen.co.jp/jikoku_hyo/en but it is not at all clear as to how to find out the timetable between Narita airport and Nagaski or Narita airport and Hiroshima. It has occurred to me that it does not stop at Narita. If so, how do you find the way from Narita to a station where the bullet train stops?

Have you tried the website seat61? Great information on train travel for all over the world. Not sure if it covers Japan but take a look. It helped me get round the quirks of the Italian train website.

You are correct that the shinkansen does not go to Narita but Hyperdia should still give you the connections. You would need to input Narita Terminal 1, not Narita city. The default is that everything is selected; you just uncheck Airplane, Nozomi etc.

Hyperdia tells me to catch the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori, a JR local train to Tokyo and shinkansen to Hiroshima. If you are getting a seven day JR pass (and if this is to be a return journey, it will easily pay for itself) you would get the JR Narita Express to Tokyo or Shinagawa and get a shinkansen from there. I would make the change at Shinagawa as it's much easier than at Tokyo eki. With a JR pass you can't take the Nozomi so you'd probably have to change to a JR West train at Shin Osaka.

If Hyperdia won't co-operate, try Jorudan

http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/

Under the train name on Hyperdia there's a blue link - interval timetable, that will tell you the times for all the trains of that type for that day so you can see how often they run. Under train timetable it tells the stations that train will stop at.

From Hiroshima you will change trains to a Kagome limited express at Hakata.

Route outputs is just the number of entries it gives you for your route. Usually fastest is first but not always the one you want, especially if you are on a JR Pass.

Here's the trick to using Hyperdia: type in the first few letters of your origin or destination rather than the full name. Then select the city/station name from the list that Hyperdia shows. That way, you'll get the exact match that Hyperdia requires.

Good advice given above.

Since you only have a few days you might want to consider flying onward to Nagasaki from Narita to save time utilizing the discounted air tickets afforded to the foreign visitors explained in detail here:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

If you take the train from Narita then as explained above you would need to take the Narita Express train into Tokyo Station and more preferrably to Shinagawa Station to link with the shinkansens onward to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If you are still having problems with the hyperdia site after the explanations above let us know and will try to explain again.

On the Hyperdia site route outputs are the number of routes(in descending time order)you want to see. They give you an option of 5 to 10. You should click on the search/details button and click off the airplane and airport bus along with the nozomi(if you have a JR pass). The search will always give you the shortest route in time first so if you don't click off the air option hyperdia will give you a plane option as that would be the shortest timed option from Narita to Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

Aloha!

About the "route is not found": you have to select the station name from the dropdown list.

Type in "Narita" and see the dropdown list. Select "NARITA AIRPORT TERMINAL 1" from that list and it will be set in the From box.

For Hiroshima, type in "Hiroshima" and select "HIROSHIMA" from that dropdown list. Do NOT select the airport, port, or station options.

Select the date and, especially, the time of your departure.

Next, click on "Search Details" and scroll down.

Uncheck "Airplane", uncheck "Private Railway" and uncheck "Ordinary Train".

If you will be using a JR Pass, then also uncheck "NOZOMI ...".

Click on the Search button.

On the Search Result page, be sure to look at the "Take time" for each routing option. The first option will probably be the shortest travel time. Should be about 373 minutes.

But you would probably be better off flying. Follow the link that ht gave to peruse the air pass options.

Another option is to use frequent flier miles for travel in Japan. I don't know if you can get domestic Japan flight awards using Delta miles. But it would only cost 6000 United miles with zero tax.

6000 miles per one-way. And you might have to travel between Narita Aiport and Haneda Airport to connect your international and Japan domestic flights.

are you there James? Any more questions? Do you understand?