Amanda

Well I've got the plane tickets, and the hotels booked. Now I need to figure out our train itinerary.
My green JR pass apparently doesn't work on "Nozomi" shinkansen! I have to get from Hiroshima to Tokyo on our last day, and our plane leaves Narita at 9.30pm. They were perfect!
I've looked up a few sites: http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae is a bit tedious - have to put in each hour or half hour to depart, but there are trains called Hikari that I would have to change at either Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe or Himeji with only 5 or 6 minutes to change!

http://www.world.eki-net.com/e_Train...ble/index.html and http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi won't appear!
Maybe it's not the right site?

Amanda

Must have been something wrong with the sites earlier - I now have hyperdia.com.
Do you have a favourite site - hyperdia seems to be very informative?

BigFeat

I used Hyperdia today. Here was the exact link:

http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi.

I have to say my itinerary has changed from day to day. Luckly I found a couple route mapping software for my pocket pc that really came in handy. I got lost a few times, but I just punched in the closest station that I saw and the station I wanted to head to and it gave me me my route with animations and all. If you have a pda/pocket pc it might be a good idea to invest in keeping an electronic backup of your itinerary. Hard copies can not be revised on the fly where the software has given me flexibility to make imperative changes. I even have the entire japan-guide.com website saved as a cached site on there so I don't have to carry a 500 page guide book. Good luck on your trip.

nickn

Amanda,
I had to deal with same issue.

First you have to choose which station to change the train.
Hikari trains via Tokyo usually leaves either Shin Osaka or Okayama. If you choose the one that leaves Okayama, you have more choices of stations, Shin-Kobe, for example, instead of large Shin-Osaka. I used both hyperdia and JTB thick time table book. Shin-Osaka is a large station. Basically you have to know exactly which platform you have to goto and waste no time getting there.

If you choose to change the train at Shin Osaka, you will note that the Hikari that runs Hiroshima-Shin Osaka are usually Hikari Railstar trains. In March when we were there, Railstar trains only had ordinary cars, so green pass would have been wasted on this section.

nickn

I meant to add that even though Railstar cars were ordinary seat trains, the seats were 2 by 2 instead of 2 by 3 on long distance Hikari trains.

Amanda

Nickn - I want to go from Hiroshima to Tokyo, and I can go via Shin-Osaka with 35 minutes to change trains, or via Himeji with 5 minutes to change, or via Shin-Kobe with 6 minutes to change. I guess the easiest one would be via Shin-Osaka with that length of time? The himeji connection leaves Hiroshima and arrives in Tokyo at the best times, so I would prefer that one, but is 5 minutes enough time? (with suitcases)

Alec

No problems changing trains at Himeji. They only have one platform for each direction (trains that don't stop use a different track), so all you nned to do is to wait on the same platform for the next train (but check the board carefully so you don't board the wrong train - like Nozomi on which JR Pass isn't valid).