JoyceL

I will be arriving in Japan at the new Central Internation Airport (CENTRAIR). Does anyone know if Centrair will have a JR Pass Exchange Office? I checked the Centrair Web site, but it has no information about this. The JR Pass Web site does not list Centrair as having an Exchange Office, but maybe this is because the airport is new.

The closest Exchange Office is Nagoya, but the Nagoya Exchange Office will be closed by the time I arrive, making it impossible for me to take a JR train early the next morning. (The Nagoya Exchange office does not open until 10am, and closes by 6:30pm.)

emd

Joyce: This has been discussed on a recent thread (thread title is "no room in Nagoya&quot. The thought was that there probably won't be an excange office at that new airport because there is no train service to/from the airport- it is accessible by bus.
You can call the JR office in NYC and ask them to be sure. I have called them before to ask questions like this.

Alec

The nearest exchange point that opens early morning at 0530 to 2300 is Hamamatsu JR station. There is a direct bus from Centrair on Entetsu Bus to Hamamatsu costing 3,000 yen and taking 2 hours. Departs every hour on 00 from 0900 to 1500, then on 45 from 1545 to 1945, finally at 2030, 2115 and 2200. From the arrival lounge, descend one floor on escalator and buy ticket on automated machine. There are plenty of business hotels near Hamamatsu station.

JoyceL

There is a train from Centrair Airport to Nagoya. The Meitetsu Railway is spuposed to go from Centrair to Nagoya. I found a map on this Web site: http://www.centrair.jp/en/access/ac-from/ac-in-train/ . I think the entire trip from Centrair to Nagoya takes an hour.

Going to Hamamatsu is not workable for my plans. My ultimate destination is Tokyo, and Hamamatsu is a long distance in the opposite direction. I plan to spend the night in Nagoya, and then (with my JR Pass) go to Tokyo early the next morning, assuming I can get the pass by then!

JoyceL

Just an add-on to my previous entry: According to the Web link I sent before, the Centrair Airport will have a JR office, but this does not mean the office issues Exchange Orders (not all JR offices do this), and whether the office will be open during the evening.

emd

If I were you, I would call JR in NYC. 212-332-8686. If you can't get through at that number, repost and I will give you the direct number of the travel info manager who I met last fall when I went to that office to get a JR english paper train schedule.

JoyceL

Thanks for the phone number. I just called. The person I spoke with said there will definitely NOT be a JR Exchange office at Centrair airport. However, he did say the Nagoya JR office closes at 8 pm, which is later than the officially posted time of 6 pm. If this is true, I should arrive at Nagoya in time to do the exchange.

emd

Good, glad you got through. Now we are all hoping he is correct, right? He should be, he is the JR man.
When are you going? Will you please repost afterwards w/your experience on this and how it turns out? Many people on here (perhaps including me) are going to be going into that new airport w/this same problem.

JoyceL

I'll post a report when I return. My trip is in May, so it will be awhile before I send any information.

A warning for anyone planning spring or summer travel to Nagoya: It is extremely difficult getting a hotel room there. I contacted at least a dozen hotels before finding one with a vacant room. Nagoya does not seem to have enough hotel rooms to handle both a Worlds Fair and an international airport.

KimJapan

The problem with Nagoya's hotels for the Expo time (starting March 25) is that the Japanese travel agencies have blocked all the rooms for Expo packages. We are going to see a Cirque du Soleil show in June in Nagoya, and for months I couldn't get a room. We always stay at the Hilton in Nagoya, and when I called Hilton reserations in Japan, they told me that they weren't allowed to take direct reservations for the hotel due to Expo. I then called the hotel directly and was able to reserve at an incredibly high rate, which I did for a just in case room for us. A few weeks ago, I checked on the internet just to check, and there was tons of availability at quite reasonable rates...more than 12,000 yen less per room than the rate I had originally gotten...so I called back and changed the rate, no problem.

There are still some dates which show no availability, like March 24, the night before the opening ceremony. I would guess that about 30 days out rooms will open up - at least that's what the person at the Hilton Nagoya told me on the phone. Expo isn't such a big deal here in Japan...there are posters and publicity around, but really, every single person I've talked to about it says they aren't interested and aren't going.