Hello!

I am going to Tokyo in a few weeks and have made plans to meet up with some friends of mine on Thursday evening in Nagoya.

I will either be coming directly from Tokyo, or from Hakone. Can anyone help me figure out what the possible train schedules are? My friends have to work, which is why I don't want to arrive in Nagoya until around 5 PM on Thu 3/26.

I guess my main question is if the train schedule will even allow me to arrive that late in the day.

Thank you!

I use the following web site to look at train schedules:
http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi

Enter the name of the starting station, and the destination station. Click Search. Then, put in the date and approximate time you want to depart. De-select Airlines at the bottom (and Limited Express if you just want to use the Shinkansen). It'll give you five options. You can go back and change your inputs if need be. Very useful site.

Tokyo to Nagoya is on the main Tokaido Shinkansen line. Trains depart every few minutes during the day.

First one departs 6am, arriving Nagoya 7:39a; and the last one you can get departs Tokyo at 10pm, arriving Nagoya at 11:49pm. There are 200 trains a day in between.

I should say they are "probably" 200 trains a day, though maybe a little bit less.

try this EXCELLENT train web site
www.seat61.com

Thanks!

It's looking more and more likely that we'll be heading to Kyoto from Hakone.

In that case, do we have to go back to Tokyo to catch the Shinkansen?

You can switch to the Shinkansen at Odawara. Doesn't need to go back to Tokyo.

If going to Kyoto from Odawara you might backtrack(15 minutes) to Shin-Yokohama then catch a Nozomi shinkansen to Kyoto.

If you are traveling on a JR pass you can't take the Nozomi so you must catch a Hikari shinkansen from Odawara to Kyoto direct or catch the Kodama shinkansen to Nagoya then transfer to a Hikari shinkansen to Kyoto for the fastest route. See the www.hyperdia.com website listed above for specific time and station details

Aloha!