Need your help with a one-day trip to Tokyo
 

We will be near Nagahama and would like to day-trip to Tokyo for a day. A couple of questions for Japan experts.
1. Would it make sense to take the bullet train? How long will it take and how much will it cost? Would it be better to fly or is the Tokyo airport outside of town?
2. What highlights would you cram into a single day?
Thanks for your help.

1) Not sure where Nagahama is located, but Narita is 40 miles outside Tokyo. Haneda is in Tokyo. Tokyo is a very big city.

without knowing you or you taste, i couldn't possibly design a day of Highlights! Try this:

http://www.fodors.com/world/asia/japan/tokyo/

1. It would cost you about 12,680 yen for a Nozomi shinkansen ticket and it would take you about 2 hours and 40 minutes which imho is a much better option than flying. Check www.hyperdia.com for prices and details

2. Depends on when you are going and what your tastes are as lcuy says. Here are more ideas for you.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

Aloha!

Is Nagahama the one by the Lake Biwa (長浜市 Nagahama-shi) on the farther side from Kyoto? In any case, as said above, no sense to fly. It's costly for a day trip but Shinkansen is the way to go considering your time restriction.

There are three (3) Nagahama cities in Japan, but, if you are staying at the one near lake Biwa, the Shinkansen is the best option to get to Tokyo. The NOZOMI does not stop at MAIBARA, which is the closest Shinkansen station to you.
You would have to start very early, as it would be a very long day. Back in 2004, I was doing some work at KUSATSU, and had to go to Tokyo for the day. That involved taking the JR train to KYOTO, and taking a NOZOMI from there.

Sure, you could take a train to KYOTO to pick up the NOZOMI, but, the extra travelling time from Nagahama to Kyoto may not be off set by the time savings with the NOZOMI.

In my opinion, you would need to stay in Tokyo for the night to make the whole journey worthwhile.

gs,I would love to know where the other two Nagahama's are

Aloha!

> Sure, you could take a train to KYOTO to pick up the NOZOMI, but, the extra travelling time from Nagahama to Kyoto may not be off set by the time savings with the NOZOMI.

Good point. I remember Hikari (or Kodama?) Shinkansen stops at Maibara.

> There are three (3) Nagahama cities in Japan

Nagahama (a long beach) is a common sounding name to a Japanese ear (me) so I wouldn't be surporsed to find more than one Nagahama but by googling and checking Japanese map search, I found only one Nagahama-shi (City) and that's in Shiga Pref. All the others were like Hiroshima-shi, Nagahama-cho, with Nagahama as a sub devision below Shi. So if you found 3 Nagahama cities, I am curious to know what are the other 2.

Thank you all for your input. This is the Nagahama near Lake Biwa. We are sponsors for a student exchange and we have an extra day so we thought we would research the possibilites while we are there. Sounds like Tokyo might be a little far and a little expensive for the time allowed. We will be seeing Kyota on a different day. Out interests are seeing the culture and some of the famous sights. I think we will probably skip the museums this time.

From that location, I'd either do a second day in Kyoto (you'll want to go back after only one day) or perhaps Osaka or Nara.

To Hawaiiantraveller and Kappa1

The other NAGAHAMAS are in AKITA Prefecture in the North Weat of Honshu, and the other one is in EHIME Prefecture, on the island of SHIKOKU. I use a Microsoft Encart Interactive World Atlas on my computer to get the information. Its a 2000 version, and is now not available for sale. Great tool for information.

Something that is actually useful from Microsoft, and they discontinue it.

Some HIKARI Shinkansens and naturally, all KODOMA Shinkansens dtop at Miabara, but,there would not be that many HIKARIs stopping there, and of course, a KODOMA is so slow,that one could take all day,just to get to Tokyo.
Taking a KODOMA to Nagoya and then changing to a NOZOMI is an options as well.

Thanks gearsau!