Hi,

we are leaving for japan in about 2 weeks and we need some help figuring out how to get around

I need to make the following train trips and I need to figure out how and when to book tickets and reservations. I will not be buyting a rail pass beacuse I don't think it is cost effiecnt

-Round trip tickets from toyko to hakone area
(hakone free pass?)
-One way from Toyko to Kyoto (shinkensen)
-Round trip from Kyoto to himeji castle
-round trip from Kyoto to Nara
-One way from Kyoto to Kansai (KIX) airport

I need to know when and where to make reservations if required - I don't want to stand on any of the train rides longer than 30 minutes

HI dgruzew. I'm sure you will get seasoned help. I've monitored questions like this and have seen many people make reference to using the www.hyperdia.com site for that kind of specific train info. It is apparently a trick to read the train schedules on that site, but if you search on here for hyperdia and go through the postings (it's not that many) you'll see that mrwunrfl and maybe others posted instructions on how to access and interpret the hyperdia site info.
I have been searching myself on the Hakone Free pass, and there have been posts in last few days on getting it at Shinjuku station, which seems to be the popular place to get it. But I have also found sites and heard from posters on here saying you can buy it at other stations, including Machida and Odwara right in Hakone. I found these sites helpful:
www.japan-guide.com/e/e5206.html
(which discusses how you can go to Hakone either on the Odakyu line, getting the free pass at Shinjuku when you deaprt, or by Shinkansen, getting free pass at Odawara station when you get off in Hakone area)
also: www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html
and: http://www.odakyu-group.co.jp/englis.../hakone_01.htm

I have alot of these transportation posts printed out and found some you might want to review. One by KimJapan and others that desribes the train reservation process (which says seats can apparently only be reserved inside Japan) and the types of train cars available, etc. Title of the post is: Tours in Japan - are there any?, and last post made was on 5/23/04. So if you search for KimJapan's posts, it will come up.
Some of mrwunrfl's hints on using hyperdia are in the post "transportation to/from Takayama" last post on that one was on 7/1/04; search for mrwunrfl and you'll see it.
Also other info in this post: Help Getting Around Japan, last post was on 7/2/04 (mrwunrfl, Florence, and I are on that one, so you can search for our posts and you'll find it)

emd - you are so helpful - thank you so much

Before deciding that a rail pass isn't cost effectvive, you might want to check your routings on hyperdia.com (they have english). Tokyo to Kyoto is 13,520 (one way); Kyoto to Himeji is 5,130 each way (a little less if don't use the shinkansen); Kyoto to Nara about 1,000 each way (loads of trains, varying prices); Kyoto to Kansai airport 3,490. An ordinary JR pass for one week is 28,300 yen.

With only the trips you have here, you'll spend the equivalent of the pass. With the pass, seat reservations can be made at any station in the same line as ticket sales.

Without the pass, you'll need to buy individual tickets. No problem at all...you can buy them from machines in many stations, but you may have a little trouble figuring out the fares and machines without reading Japanese. Tickets can also be bought at the ticket counter in advance or just before you go.

In either case, seat reservations should be made as soon as possible if you want non-smoking reserved seats, as they almosts always sell out of the non-smoking seats. If you can't get a reserved seat, there are also cars that have no reserved seats at all and you can try your luck for a seat in them. If your schedule is flexible, and there were no seats on your train of choice, you could select another train and try for seats on that one. The station staff is generally pretty helpful.

Alternatively, you can buy train tickets from travel agents. You can find travel agents all over the place. Just look for a shop with lots of Disney and Hawaii brochures out front.

dgruzew, of all the issues I have been researching for our trip, Japan transportation is the biggest challenge. You will see from one of those posts that hyperdia is a bit quirky. Let me know what you learn, as I have some of the same routes to deal with (Kyoto to Himeji, Kyoto to Nara) and am not yet sure a rail pass is the best for what I am doing over 14 days either.
I am getting excited for you, after following your recent posts. I hope others chime in on your post here. Also, I find the forum on www.japan-guide.com very helpful w/specific questions like this.

It's a no-brainer: you should buy a pass. As the research that KimJapan did for you shows, the cost of the 7-day pass is less than the cost of individually purchased reserved seat tickets. If you are definitely going to make those trips, then it is cost effective. If there is a chance that you might decide to skip going to Himeji, then you would be better off buying tickets (but I think it was a must-see for you, if I recall correctly).

I had no trouble getting non-smoking reserved seats in May. You can get them in advance.

Get the pass activated on October 13th and you can use it that day in Tokyo. You can then use it to get to Odawara for your day visit to Hakone. At Hakone, get the Hakone Free Pass to go around the tourist route. Return to Odawara to take the shinkansen to Shinagawa and then the JR Yamanote Line (both using your JR Pass) and subway to Roppongi.

At Odawara, get your reserved seats for your trip the next day to Kyoto. You could also get your seats for the Himeji, Nara, and KIX trips at that time (or get all of your reserved seats when you activate your pass). It is really easy and the thing is that the reserved seats are free. Since you got them with your JR Pass if you miss a train then just throw the reserved seat ticket away and get a new one for the next train.

If you decide to buy tickets, then you will need to find out what the change/refund policy is for the reserved seats. I don't know what that policy is because, to me, reserved seats are free with my JR Pass.

Great - thanks for the advice!!!!
I guess I will buy a pass !!!

Where should I buy it? the JTB office here wants 286 bucks for it? that it not the correct exchange rate - I should pay about 260 usd ? where can I buy one?
A couple other questions how do you activate the pass??

And also luggage - we will have backpacks and one large suitcase - should I send it to kyoto with a luggage service or carry it the train. If I send it - then how do I do so

Thanks - you guys are great

The Hyperdia site shows 2 fees for each ticket: a "Fare", and a "Charge". The Charge is almost as much as the Fare. Can anyone explain the difference between these fees? Is the Charge fee always required?

Someone else can fill you in on the pass (I am not to that stage of planning yet), but I have printed several posts that say that you can have your hotel in Tokyo (or whereever) arrange to send your luggage to your desitnation for a reasonable fee (I think mrwunrfl or Kim said like $20-24 per bag). Kim said it takes overnight to get the bags to the next hotel. That is what I am doing when we go from Yokohama to Kyoto, since we are stopping for a night or two in Hakone and even though we are both traveling w/only one 21" roll-on and a day pack, I don't want to be hauling it all over those busses and trains in the Hakone area. We will just travel w/day packs to Hakone and send the luggage to Kyoto. You can see the limited space on the trains for luggage on mrwunrfl's pictures at www.billk.org There has been alot of discussion about the limited luggage space on the trains- the buzz seems to be that if you have a small roll-on (like 21" or less) then you can perhaps fit it in the small space afforded at the back of the train car (again, see the pics), if that is available. Not much will fit in the limited overhead space; from the pics it looks like a daypack might fit. If you are lucky and have an empty seat next to you then you can put your luggage there. I am just relaying what I have read on here...

Actually, now that I looked again, there is more overhead space than I recalled on those pictures, and a note by mrwunrfl that thee shinkansen overhead storage is more accomodating than the one in the picture. But I still don't wnat to have to transfer my luggage from train to bus, etc. and we will be going straight from the train station at Odawara to the Yunessun resort, and I sure don't want to drag my luggage there. Are you stopping in Hakone for the day? I guess you may not want to be hauling those backpacks and suitcase around Hakone.

emd - we decided do a round trip day trip (no bags at all) to hakone from tokyo - so it won't be problem. I am going email my hotel to see if they transfer bags

The train ticket price is a bit hard to understand. There is the basic fare, like for Kanazawa to Osaka, it's 4,620 yen. You can pay only this fare if you use the slowest, stop at every stop, local trains - it would take all day to make the 3 hour trip though. The other amount of money, or the charge, is for the better, faster train with fewer stops and getting you there faster. From Kanazawa to Osaka, the charge is 2,820 yen. The total price you pay for riding that train is 7,440 yen.
If you don't need a seat reservation, it's 510 less. For such a small amount of money, I always buy the seat reservation and save myself the hassle of lining up for non-reserved seats 1/2 hour before the train comes (and then not even getting a seat sometimes).

I use a backpack that is 12 inches deep when it is full, 17 inches wide when bulging, and 26 inches tall from the bottom of the wheels to the top of the top handle. There is a smaller backpack, 6 inches deep, that zips onto the back of it. When the small backpack is unzipped, the big pack fits in the overhead on the shinkansen and on an airplane, and it fits in the lockers at the JR stations.

All about the JR Pass:
http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en05.html

I will have a camera bag , backpack and we will have a decent size suitcase approx 12deep 20wide 32high. What is the best way to carry this? Should I ship luggage? This might work fine for my Tokyo to Kyoto Leg - but I also need to take a train (with my baggage) to KIX from Kyoto?

any ideas? will my suitcase really not fit on the trains?

The train from Kyoto to Kansai airport (Haruka) has a baggage compartment at the end of each car that is almost always empty (because everyone ships their luggage ahead) so you'll be fine there. A suitcase of that size may fit behind the end row of seats in each car too. I'd imagine your biggest trouble might be getting it up and down the stairs everywhere. Most stations have up escalators, but down escalators are more rare. Elevators are for disabled use in most stations, and require calling an attendant to use them.

Bonjour KimJapan,

The platform for train from Kyoto to Kansai airport (Haruka) is on the ground floor in Kyoto (no stairs involved) and there are escalators and elevators in the Kansai station.

Yes...the airport train isn't trouble. I wasn't clear in my post. It's other stations and trains that might be probematic. Like to enter Osaka station, you need to go down 3 or 4 steps to get in, or else walk around the side...not marked either...to get into the station. the to get to the platforms there are escalators, but only up. In Kanazawa, there are up escalators, but no down. What I meant to convey was that it is more the norm for train stations to be a challenge to carry baggage through than for it to be easy like the Kansai airport Haruka line's stations.

Even with more and more stations becoming compliant with barrier free access, that access is often itself a challenge, involving calling attendants to unlock the elevator and operate it for you, or not having an elevator or escalator at all but having a stair-climbing wheelchair lift, again involving calling the attendant to come unlock and operate it. These things aren't for general passenger use, baggage or not.

I've been through many stations with backpacks, suitcases on wheels, child in a stroller...and learned quickly, many years ago, to minimize what I needed to carry, both because of the stairs and distance to the tracks, and also because of the crowds making it difficult to even pull a suitcase on wheels behind me.

The baggage delivery services are so efficient and affordable that unless we drive ourselves, we always send our bags ahead. That may not be feasible for travellers in the middle of a trip who need everything in their bags, though...so packing lightly and anticipating having to carry it up and down stairs might be a good idea.

Hi just arrived after spending a month travelling around Japan. It was fantastic!! We used a JR railpass for two weeks. I organised our itinerary based around the hyperedia site beforehand and printed off schedules etc which turned out to be a good move. A question regarding your luggage? Do you have health problems carrying the luggage? I ask this because we had two large suitcases admittedly with wheels but we took our luggage with us all the time. There is a small amount of space at the end of each carriage and stored our cases there. We went to Osaka for one day and stored our luggage for the day for about 800yen- every major train station has what they call coin lockers so in response to luggage and what to do for the day while you sight see that is an option. By the way I would thoroughly recommend visiting Nara! Any other queries I will be happy to respond to.

albaaust: Your trip sounds great. I have a question about hyperdia. You found it to be reliable then, right? Sometimes their routings seem so convoluted, and then when I put in a time a half hour later I can get a much better routing. Because of this, and because I do not want to box us into taking trains at certain times before we go and having to print out all the options, I am thinking I am going to bite the bullet and take a laptop (a very thin one and the most light weight one I can buy) so that I will have it to check train schedules on hyperdia as we want to go and as our plans change. Our hotels have high speend internet access so I think this will give us maximum flexibility, although I hate the thought of taking a laptop.