OhioRob

I leave for Japan in about 5 days and am getting nervous about my transportation. Most of what I read said long range reservations would not be needed if traveling outside of Golden Week and on weekdays I have used Navitime and feel comfortable with my available choices. My concern is it looks like there might not be seats available for some of the segments. The combination of buses and train lines outside of JR is confusing. Most of the other web sites are really just ads for buying a 7 or 14 day pass. Here are my transportation needs.
Monday-March 27 -morning- Shinjuko to Kawaguchiko --Highway bus is showing no seats JR Chuo showing no seats at least through 9:30 a.m.
I did involve a company recommended by Seat 61 named Baolau. Although they accepted my itinerary and charge card I do not have a confirmation that they purchased the tickets for me. Anyone ever used this outlet?

Tuesday-March 28-Morning Kawaguchiko to Osaka
Wednesday March 30 Osaka to Kyoto (Not too worried since the distance is short and plenty of trains)
Saturday April 1 Kyoto to Nara (Not worried since distance is short and plentiful trains)
Sunday April 2 Nara to ITM airport --- A dedicated bus so probably not a problem.

Using the ticket machines and/or the windows in the stations looks easy enough once I am in country. I am primarily concerned with seats available.
Any information or direction would sooth my nerves.

mrwunrfl

Don't worry about getting train tickets. Have you figured out your route from Kawaguchiko to Osaka?

You don't really want to use the highway bus to/from Shinjuku. There is a JR train and that could be sold out on the day (like it was for me). I would think you could get that ticket when you arrive in Japan, a few days before.

That limited express train on the Chuo Line will have seats. I hopped on without a reservation and had plenty of room. Take to the station where you transfer to the Fujikyu Railways. I bought a ticket and, I think, a reserved seat at the station. Lots of tourists.

Where were you looking for the highway bus and Chuo Line seats? I did take the bus from K-ko to Shinjuku, I think the Fuji-Q express trains were over or sold out. It was not pleasant. Would be good to get the onward tix when you arrive K-ko, at least.

OhioRob

Update-- I got bus tickets to Kawaguchiko from Shinjuku. Could they have perhaps added extra routes when they were sold out? Yippee Thank you Travel Gods
I also received a credit from Baolau because they could not purchase the train ticket I had purchased on their website.

Hope the rest of the logistics work out similar.

mrwunrfl

Leaving Kawaguchiko, an option is to take the Fujikyu Railways train to Otsuki and then you could connect to the the limited express on the Chuo Line and get a reserved seat (or go unreserved) on a train all the way from Otsuki to Tokyo station for the shinkansen. Those trains will run on time so it woud be easy enough to know which shinkansen to reserve.

That is a simpler connection than bus to Shinjuku, go over to the station, and get probably a Chuo Line local to Tokyo station to get to the shinkansen. The bus will be subject to traffic and you won't know how long to take to make the transfer. So you would have to wait to get the shinkansen ticket which actually is no big deal.

mrwunrfl

It will work out. All those JR trains are pretty frequent. You won't need a JR Pass, from what I can tell, so you could get any shinkansen to Osaka.

You could get the ITM bus ticket when you get to Nara or maybe sooner or maybe online.