Hi, I am going to tokyo,Japan the end of May. I noticed on the japan train website that they no longer take seat assignments. So How can you be sure you have a way to get to your hotel via the train. My hotel will be near roppangi hills.
thank you. Also anyone do the geisha picture thing I read about? Where they do your makeup, clothing like a geisha and take photos?

Hello maimu,

If your hotel is near Roppongi Hills,
i strongly recommend you to take shuttle bus called limousine bus (don't worry its not luxury but normal bus),
coz Roppongi can be accessable only by Metro from hub-train stations to which trains from airport come, except taxi.
The bus brings you to Grand Haytt Tokyo which is besides Roppongi Hills.

Time-table is;
7h25, 8h35, 9h40, 10h35, 13h35, 14h30, 15h30,
16h30, 17h35, 18h30, 19h30, 20h30, 21h30

It takes you approximately 1.5-2hours.
Fare is JPY3,000/person icld tax.
You can easily find limousine bus counter in front as soon as you go out thru customs.
You should say to the counter only that
you want to go to Akasaka Area/Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

Hoping this info helps you.
Happy travels!
cigdem

To answer the OP's question, if no seats are available on the train you want to take, you have the following options:

- buy a standing room ticket for that train (if you're willing to stand for the app. 1-hr trip)

- buy a ticket for the train with the next available seat. The information board at the ticket dispenser will provide information about which train has the next available seating.

When I stayed at the Gr Hyatt, I found that the train to Tokyo station and then taxi to the hotel worked very well. The bus can be painfully slow, and both the train and taxi are extremely comfortable. Certainly the bus does offer the convenience of not having to change from the train to the taxi (or vv), but Tokyo station is extremely well signed (in English and/or pictograms).

I am sorry, but I don't understand why one would pre-book an airport train, let alone worry about seat assignments. You flight may be late, it may be early; your bags may come out late, may be early. Because the train is pretty frequent, most people would simply go to the station and buy the ticket for the next train.

To get them early is over-planning your trip, in my opinion.

Now, for heading back to the airport, it may make more sense.

> they no longer take seat assignments ..

It maybe be true but I'd rather be surprised. Where did you read it? Are ou talking about JR Narita Expess or maybe Keisei Skyliner?

You can buy your ticket WITH seat reservation when you land at Narita. JR Ticket office get you seat reservation even for the departure in 5 minutes. But maimu, in your partcular case, cigdem's advice to the Limousine Bus seems to make more sense than taking a train. And an extra advantage is you get a better view from those high decker busses than from the trains.

I didn't read rkkwan's preference on trains (+taxi) before my last post. Well each has its advantage/disadvantage. I have many good experiences with bus (on time or even earlier than expected + as I said I like the bettter view) but it's true the busses can be slow. If you find it painful (because you are in a hurry or so), maybe you prefer train+taxi combo.

Sorry, it was rizzuto who prefers train.

If you're referring to the Narita Express then you shouldn't have any trouble getting a reserved seat on the next train from the airport. If not, you'll get a seat on the next one a half hour later. It is an all-reserved seat train.

Get your return ticket (and seat) at least a day in advance.

Better to take the limo bus, though.

OP is referring to the former advance seat reservation service that JR provided. You could get seat reservations on the NEX and shinkansen before you left home.

I didn't need to say to get the return seat reservation "at least" a day in advance. It's ok to get it the day before, even 10PM for a 6AM departure. I wouldn't wait until I got to the station for the train.

Being based on my more than 50 times of experience of trip from/to ariport to Roppongi area coz I'm living near to Roppong Hills, what I can definitely say is that limousine bus is the best way.
I've ever taken trains several times, but it took me much much more time than buses. And also train sometimes gets full when there are many arrival flights. I've been faced neither with trouble of full-booking nor of delay when using limousine buses.
Believe me, limo is much easier, faster and cozier than any other trains.

Happy travels!
cigdem

> OP is referring to the former advance seat reservation service that JR provided. You could get seat reservations on the NEX and shinkansen before you left home.

"Before left home", I suppose you mean home "outside Japan". OK, I get it. That's something I would never do anyway.

mrwnrfl is right about the all reservation NEX train.

We changed our plans at the last minute and didn't reserve the NEX train when we were leaving.
We took the train (rather than a limo) as we were at the station and had just gotten off the shikansen.

Anyway, we freaked out when we saw that all the cars said "reserved". We got on anyway and the guy just looked at our JR passes and nodded. I think we got away with it because he knew we didn't know better (very nice of the Japanese to reward our ignorance!)
Next time I will reserve!

Hi and thank you all for all your great info. We would also like to take a train on a day trip from tokyo to kyoto. How to get there? can you make train reservations and or do you need to ?Recommendations on what to see and or where to eat? thank you so much,
maimu

Kyoto is not really a day trip. I'd stay at least one or two nights. If you can only do it as a day trip you'll need to take the shinkansen.
Our train trip from Tokyo to Kyoto (traveling with a studen pass - so probably longer) was 9 hours.

> Our train trip from Tokyo to Kyoto (traveling with a studen pass - so probably longer) was 9 hours

I'm curious. Did YOU do a day trip to Kyoto so 9hrs include round train trip + your stay in Kyoto? Because ordinary train trip by shinkasen Tokyo/Kyoto is about 2,5 hrs.

No, we were traveling with our son, who had a student pass. He couldn't take any express trains. It took 9 hours to get from Tokyo to Kyoto.
It took 5 hours to get from Kyoto to Hiroshima.
Needless to say, we took the shinkansen back from Hiroshima to Tokyo!

My daughter lives in Roppongi Hills and we are travelling to Tokyo this May, she told us to take the limo bus from the airport, but the one that goes to the ANA hotel. Did she make a mistake or are there two seperate limo buses, one going to the Hyatt and the other to the ANA.

The official site shows different departure times for the Grand Hyatt and the ANA. So, they are seperate buses:

http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/e/index.html

Actually, kappa, I think that you might have been able to use it even if home was in Japan. it was world.eki-net.com and I think that it must have been more trouble for JR than it was worth. You paid in advance but you still had to pick up the reserved seat ticket, and if you got a JR Pass you would get a refund.