Ron

Hi, please help:<BR><BR>4 of us will arrive Tokyo on 1 Nov 2002 (Friday) and intended on the following major itineraries. We intend to get all the train tickets reserved on the first day in Japan. <BR><BR>2 Nov (Sat): take JR/shinkansen to Yokohama; visit Disneyland and Sanrio Puroland<BR><BR>3 Nov (Sun - Culture Day): day trip to Mt Fuji / Lake Kawaguchi<BR><BR>4 Nov afternoon(Mon - public holiday): take Shinkansen to Osaka early afternoon.<BR><BR>5 Nov (Tues): day trip to Kyoto from Osaka<BR><BR>I just came across a brochure that advised tourists not to travel via trains during weekends and national/public holidays. <BR><BR>Can anyone advise me, based on your actual experiences, whether:<BR><BR>1) typically, do Japanese travel heavily on the day before Culture Day (ie Sat), Culture Day itself and the day after? <BR><BR>Will the trains be very crowded from Sat (2 Nov) to Mon (4 November)? <BR><BR>2) will we risk ticket sold-out since we can only get tickets on 1 Nov on arrival for the following 3 days. <BR><BR>3) can we pay for JR/shinkansen tickets at the counter using credit cards? <BR><BR>4) the theme parks I mentioned be very crowded? <BR><BR>5) Is there a downtown ticket office for Tokyo Disneyland? I vaguely recall there's one near Ginza? <BR><BR>Your advice much appreciated, as we are travelling free and easy and quite worried about the much publicised crowds, and not able to get the train tickets.<BR><BR>Thanks!!

Andrea

I'm sorry, I've never been outside the airport in Japan, so I can't help - but I just wanted to note that if you don't receive helpful responses to your question, you may want to repost it with Japan in the title. Sometimes people open messages with no country/city name in the title, sometimes no one will open them. <BR><BR>Good luck!

Ron

Hi Andrea<BR>Think I accidentally posted the message twice, which may have led you to think I resend the query due to no response.<BR><BR>Thnks anyway.

Tom

Returned from Japan visit in late June/early July. Visited Disneyland and Disneysea. Both parks limit the number of guests to accomodate their smaller size (relative to Disneyland in California and Disneyworld). So, shouldn't be overcrowded, but tickets could be a problem. But I'm not sure Disneyland will be a popular spot for holiday goers in November. I don't have any experience traveling on Culture Day, but 18 years ago I was in Japan on a national holiday in September. We planned to visit Mt. Fuji by bus as a day trip. The highways were absolutely packed. From Tokyo we were supposed to go and return before the evening meal. We didn't get to the mountain until sunset, got back to Tokyo at nearly midnight and almost missed the last train back to our lodgings. I think you are wise to be wary of holiday travel. Back home in the USA we have found some of the best time to visit big cities is when the locals flee during a holiday. With all due humility I might suggest that you reconsider your itinerary. If you will only be there 4 days you might want to spend less time traveling and more time in and around Tokyo. Have a great trip.

Florence

Bonjour Ron,<BR><BR>Yes, almost all of Japan will be travelling during any such holiday, the attractions will be packed, and so will the trains. The shinkansen will be full on Monday, since everybody will be returning home, and finding 4 seats at the last minute may prove rather hard. <BR><BR>Favorite destinations for this kind of holidays are hotsprings, and this means Mt Fuji area. <BR><BR>Should I have to travel by shinkansen on these dates, I'd pick Sunday, while most people will stay put at their destination.<BR><BR>

Ron

Thanks very much for the advice! We've decided to postpone our trip to 14 November. Would there still be coaches to bring us to Lake Kawaguchi at Mt Fuji area? Are we still allowed to the 5th station of Mt Fuji?<BR><BR>