yes, I think hyperdia is the best overall too, I guess I got caught up in the words DEFINITIVE and Japan Guide dot com. I also dis like the Jourdan site.

I haven't figured out how to use the hyperdia interval timetable section yet and I have seen it used on the JG forum site before. It will give all interval times of trains in a given route. Maybe mrw can figure or has used it before.....

http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi/en/intervaltime.html

Aloha!

I wonder if its because I turned off my Java last month?

Oh, I just figured it out. Inside the hyperdia link there is a link for interval timetables next to station link. Live and learn.

Aloha!

Maybe we are talking about two different things, ht. I mean the interval timetable you can click on underneath the train listed in the results that a hyperdia search gives you....and next to it is train timetable that gives you all the stations and times for that particular train.....clicking on them open another window with my Firefox browser....I think I turned off my Java as well after some warning I got on cnet or somewhere...lol...

The 4:43 PM departure suggestion is mostly about getting to Matsumoto before the restaurants close while spending as much time in Nikko as possible.

Actually, I would consider leaving Nikko earlier. The route has a connection in Nagano. That provides an opportunity to visit the wonderful, (your adjective here), Zenkoji:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6001.html

One day I was leaving Matsumoto and headed to Tokyo. I decided to go via Nagano. The L'ex ride from Matsumoto to Nagano had some nice scenery, it goes along a ridge and has a great view of Nagano below in a broad valley. I easily found a bus headed to Zenkoji - it is just a few minutes ride. I walked back to Nagano station.

>>kja-Going to Nikko the night before is an option as there is a 5:08 train that gets in at 6;48. Leaving Tokyo that night would put us outside our 7 day JR pass, but I could just pay the one way fare to Nikko which is about 5500Y<<

You could do the trip for half that price and 15-50 minutes more time by using Tobu instead of JR. As low as 1400 yen from Asakusa.

You can, of course, leave Tokyo earlier than 5PM.

Or a day trip. Or skip Nikko. Check the "Interval timetable" of the Shinjuku-Matsumoto Ltd Exp to see why you might prefer the Super Axusa to the Azusa.

I was thinking of leaving for Nikko from Shinjuko stationfor 2 reasons. 1-So that the our Shinjuko hotel could hold our luggage while we did a little last minute sightseeing and 2- So we would not have to spend the time traveling to the Tobu Asukasa station from Shinjuku. I know I would be paying a premium of about $50 for this convenience.

However, if I wanted to leave for Nikko from the Tobu Asukasa station after doing some sightseeing in the Ueno/Asukasa area, where would a good place be to store our small overnight rollie (I will be sending our big one ahead to a future hotel). I would not want to drag it around with me to the Asukasa temple and the Tokyo Edo Museum which I plan to visit.

And I should add, I would not want to go back to our Shinjuko hotel to retrieve our overnight rollie.

they would have lockers available at the train stations either Shinjuku or Tobu Asukasa

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2274.html

HT, Mara and kja-

Thanks for the info re. hyperdia. I'll have to check that out as I finish planning my November itinerary. I'll certainly plan to post it as I get the draft finalized. I cannot wait for November to get here.

shelleyk-thanks for letting me take your thread off on a slight, temporary detour.

MB

No problem. The more information we can all gather, the better our trips will be.