1) We're flying to Beijing through NRT in early April. As the flight in and the flight out are both in terminal 2, I hope we can just walk between gates, rather than go through immigration, etc. Is this right?

2) We're flying back to NRT later in April and want to continue on to Kyoto on the bullet train. Is NRT express to bullet train through Tokyo the best way to go?

3) If plane is scheduled to land in NRT at 1pm, how much time should it take to get to the NRT express to Tokyo? How much time from scheduled Tokyo arrival to Tokaido&Sanyo Shinkansen departure for Kyoto?

4) It seems train reservations can not be made more than a month in advance. Is this right?

1. If you are simply transitting (going from one international flight to another) you do not go through immigration. However, you will go through another security check.

1) Yes, this is true even if you have to change terminals, as there's an airside bus shuttle between the two.
2) Yes. Alternative would be a connecting flight to Kansai and train, but connections aren't particularly good as there are only a few flights to KIX from NRT.
3) This depends. Immigration line can be horribly long at times, and buggage delay is by no means uncommon. I'd alow about an hour to clear immigration and customs (you are always seen individually; no walking through green channel unstopped). N'Express runs roughly every 30 min and takes about an hour. From 3 pm onwards I'd have thought.
4. N'Express is all-reservation service. You can normally buy a ticket for a reserved seat just before departure. There's usually no need to reserve seats for Shinkansen starting at Tokyo, as each train has plenty of unreserved coaches. If you are getting JR Pass, you should remember you cannot ride super-fast Nozomi trains. Fastest you can travel on is Hikari, which leaves about twice an hour to Shin-Osaka.

For getting to Osaka, you could look into the "Visit Japan Fares" at www.fly-ana.com and/or the "Welcome to Japan Fare" at www.japanair.com for discounted domestic airline travel. You could fly from NRT to KIX.

A Japan Rail pass might be what you need, but we would need to know more about your time in Japan. When you get your seat's for the N'Ex at NRT you will be able to get your reserved seats for the Shinkansen to Kyoto.

Anothr option is use to Kansai Airort, not Narita if your travel plan allows it. JAL, ANA and some Chinese air lines fly between KIX and PEK.

Also remember that the period from April 29 to May 5 is called Golden Week in Japan and is a big vacation time. Planes and trains are fully booked, highway is jammed, Narita and KIX will be packed.

We're leaving April 26 - hope that's early enough to avoid Golden Week.

We'll try to change Shanghai-NRT to Shanghai-KIX. With luck AA/JAL will let us make the change. There are two JAL flights which would work for us.

thanks