Hello.
Curious if anyone has experience or thoughts on arriving in Tokyo (Haneda) in the mid-afternoon on a Friday and heading straight to Kyoto via high speed train. I believe the trip would entail a train from the airport to a Tokyo train station, then taking the high speed train to Kyoto, all in about 2.5-3 hours. Is this a feasible (ie not too difficult) plan? It is a direct flight to Japan and I train with carry on backpack only, so no large luggage. I would prefer to go straight to Kyoto, vs staying 1 night in Tokyo then going to Kyoto. Any advice or experience shared is greatly appreciated...thanks!

You can go from HND Terminal 3 on the Keikyu Airport Line to Shinagawa Station in about 20 minutes. Then from Shinagawa to Kyoto Station by Shinkansen in a little over two hours....very easy.....particularly if you just have carry-on luggage!

Thank you Mara! I've read a little about Shinkansen and seat reservations. Would you recommend getting reservations? I'm unsure if we could purchase tickets before we fly to Japan, or if it's necessary (is the train usually full at Shinagawa Station, on a Friday afternoon?). I would worry if our flight was early/delayed and how that would affect getting to our reserved train time. Any thoughts are appreciated...thanks again!

Trains run several times an hour from Tokyo/Shinagawa to Kyoto. Since you can't be sure of your arrival time at Shinagawa, reservations probably wouldn't work. Plus depending on where you live and what type of credit card you use, sometimes it's hard or impossible to buy the ticket online. The only issue is if you have a very large suitcase - see the link below:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2274.html
Otherwise, no problem....

Smart-ex.jp is a good site to make reservations up to 30 days in advance. It also allows changes to be made. We were delayed over an hour by a track repair and would have missed our connection in Kyoto to Shinagawa. I changed to a later train using my phone while we waited, quick and easy.

Sorry, abs004 - didn't re-read beginning where you said you only had a carry-on....my bad!

Yes, if you can make a Smart-ex account - but it is difficult as has been discussed ad infinitum on the tripadvisor forum...

While I wasn’t aware of difficulties mentioned on TripAdvisor, I can only relate my experience. As a 70+ traveler using an older iPhone I had no issues, so I would imagine a younger more tech savvy person would have no problems. JMHO.

It's not an age or tech savvy issue - it's that Smart-ex seems to work only with Amex - at least that is what a large number of posters said....

My account from last year has a Master Card attached to it and when I logged in this year it still worked when I bought my ticket...,lucky for me as I don't have Amex...

Thank you both! I'll look into Smart-ex (though I don't have AMEX), but it sounds like it won't be too difficult to get seats on the Shinkansen without reservation, especially if I don't need a large luggage seat. I don't have data and rely on free/hotel wifi, but if I did have a reservation and was delayed, perhaps I could switch to another train while on the airport wifi.

Or perhaps I could purchase reservations at the airport once I clear customs and know approximately what time I'll arrive at Tokyo/Shinagawa? I guess I'm wondering if a reservation is even needed for a normal seat on a Friday afternoon from Shinagawa?

Thanks again!

>> could purchase reservations at the airport
yes. you would look for the midori no madoguch seat reservation sign at the airport or buy the fare and seat tickets. JR EAST Travel Service Center (Haneda) | Travel Service Centers & Accessibility | JR-EAST

>> if a reservation is even needed for a normal seat on a Friday afternoon from Shinagawa
if it is just a normal Frriday then no. you can probably just go in an unreserved car. If that is full then you can wait in the same line for the next train. All the shinkansen stop at Shinagawa, just be sure not to board a Kodama shinkansen. But a reserved seat is going to cost you less than five bucks, so why not.

>> ... wait in the same line for the next train ...
call that a worst-case, unlikely, option