Thanks HT, good to know. Well I have extended my stay in Kyoto as D thought it a good idea also. Still plan to do a day trip somewhere though.

Bob, who knows but I'll be sure to google it and find out ;)

I'm here, Smeags. I'm following along (in the very little time that the crazy work schedule allows.) But I echo HT's sentiments. DON'T give up Hakone...and I would add DON'T give up Osaka.

We're going to Osaka for one night and, IMHO, it's worth it for the food alone. The way I see it is: we'll all be back. So why not get a taste for a few places and then use that to inform a future trip to Japan?

So, hey, I'm biased, because you're my traveling buddy and...wherever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna go through it together! (Sorry, couldn't help but go there.)

mmmm ok MORE food for thought from FW, well i have my booking for the extra night (but it is cancelable!) so i will do some more research.....

one final question (for now) what is the fastest train from Tokyo to Hakone? (assume its not the Romance car?)

Romance Car 82-85 min direct from Shinjuku. Shinkansen from Tokyo to Odawara 34-35 min, 27 from Shinagawa. Then 12-15 local train.

If you're starting from Shinjuku, it may be as fast taking the Romance Car.

Fastest way and by far easiest way from your hotel(10 minute walk or quick taxi ride)in Shinjuku is the Romance Car. To get to the shinkansen you would have to go to that same JR Shinjuku Station to catch either the JR Chuo Express to Tokyo station to transfer to a shinkansen that would take you to Odawara Station (gateway to Hakone) or a JR express train bound for Shinagawa on the Loop line where you can connect to a shinkansen to Odawara.

The PH concierge should be able to get you all your train reservations. The Romance train and all travel within Hakone region are on Odakyu Rail Line vehicles while all your other travel will be mainly on JR Rail Lines. I don't remember if there is a travel agent in the PH or in the immediate building but that would be an easy way to get train tickets also.

filmwill, what does your itinerary look like now? Inquiring minds want to know ;)

Aloha!

The Odakyu train gets you from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto with no change of trains. At Hakone-Yumoto, you get the Hakone Tozan Railway train to Gora.

The only reason to take JR would be if you had a JR Pass. Taking JR to Odawara will cost 2000 yen more and save about 15 minutes using the shinkansen. Or same cost and time without using shinkansen. In both cases, JR would require a change of trains before Odawara. At Odawara you would get the Tozan train go Gora, stopping at Hakone-Yumoto on the way.

Going to chime into/hijack my good friend's thread here for a question of my own re: having a JR Pass. Now that I have about 2 minutes between now and November to actually start planning I'm sure I'll have a bombardment of questions...but this is definitely one I need to act on soon as I was going to go pick one up next weekend.

I think, HT, you had previously told me that, yes, I do need the 7 day JR Pass given our planned schedule, but to recap, here's the plan:

Nov 14 Arrive Tokyo
Nov 15 Tokyo
Nov 16 Tokyo
Nov 17 Tokyo
Nov 18 Hakone
Nov 19 Kyoto
Nov 20 Kyoto
Nov 21 Kyoto / Nara
Nov 22 Kyoto
Nov 23 Hiroshima
Nov 24 Miyajima
Nov 25 Osaka
Nov 26 Depart back to LA

I figure I'll be buying my tix (Romance Car) to Hakone and would activate the pass on the trip from Hakone to Kyoto.

That sound right to you all?

Odawara-Kyoto 11,750
Kyoto-Hiroshima 11,000
Hiroshima-Miyajimaguchi 400
Miyajimaguchi-Osaka 10,500
Kyoto-Nara-Kyoto 1,400
add in the Miyajima ferry cost

So, yes, a 7-day pass activated for Nov 19 for Odawara-Kyoto, would save at least 6,000 JPY each.

There is an JR Pass exchange office at Odawara, so you could do it there. I would probably do the exchange at Shinjuku on the 18th (or earlier) before hopping on the Odakyu train. Just make it clear that the activation date is the 19th.

Office hours at Odawara 5:45-22:30

The link for info: http://japanrailpass.net/eng/en009.html

Thanks mrwunrfl! That's what I figured. Just double-checking.

Judging from the look of it, the Park Hyatt is only a hop/skip/jump away from Shinjuku Station, so could easily hop on down there one of our first few days in Tokyo for the exchange.

How do you recommend handling train reservations as a rule of thumb (for JR Pass trains we'll be taking)? Reserve each segment before we travel it? Or reserve all segments in the beginning at Shinjuku?

Any basic guidance through that process would be rather appreciated!

Your hotel has a shuttle to Shinjuku station. Otherwise a 12-minute walk.

Odawara is not a major station so I would get seat reservations for that leg in advance - when you do the exchange for the pass. I would use this timetable: http://tinyurl.com/ltk87ob to choose a Hikari train that goes all the way to Kyoto. Don't take any of the Kodama trains on that timetable. You have other options involving a change of trains (e.g. Hikari to Nagoya, then change) that would better than those Kodama trains.

I would get the seats for the 23rd in advance because it is a holiday. Here is a query that shows the three Hikari trains that go from Kyoto to Hiroshima: http://tinyurl.com/k29k7eg but you have many more options that involve a change of trains.

This page http://japanrailpass.net/eng/en007.html shows the sign that you want to look for. That page mentions that seats can be obtained at travel agencies - am guessing that sign would be on their windows. I've only gotten reserved seats at a JR station.

For the 25th, I would get a shinkansen timetable to know my options. Probably want to take my time that morning. Then you have to get to the ferry, ride the ferry, walk a couple of blocks to the JR station maybe with a stop on the way at the drug store or whatever, then the JR local to Hiroshima station. Then decide what to do: go straight to Osaka or make a stop along the way or get seats for a later train and spend some time in Hiroshima.

How do you recommend handling train reservations as a rule of thumb (for JR Pass trains we'll be taking)? Reserve each segment before we travel it? Or reserve all segments in the beginning at Shinjuku?>>

Hi FW
For our last trip, I'd already used Hyperdia to list out every train trip we wanted to take. I made a little spreadsheet which showed date, the departure time of train we wanted (and name), platform it left from and came into (and time), repeated for each train where we had to change.
On our arrival in Japan, when we went to collect our JRPass, I gave them the sheet and asked if they could make seat reservations for all of them in one go, to save time.
It took them maybe 20 minutes or so, there were quite a few there.
Only once did we decide on the day to take an earlier train, and we just popped into the JR office at the station, gave them our seat reservations to be cancelled and asked if they could make new ones for us on earlier or train or we should just go unreserved. They made new ones.
:-)

<i>Judging from the look of it, the Park Hyatt is only a hop/skip/jump away from Shinjuku Station, so could easily hop on down there one of our first few days in Tokyo for the exchange</i>
You forget about Shinjuku Station being the behemoth that it is. I know of two places within the station to get your JR voucher turned into the JR Pass and I always now use the JR office at the East Ticket gate entry. Easier to find. Just tell the doorman at the Park Hyatt you want the east entrance to Shinjuku station. You can walk but then you will get lost, lol

Aloha!

that should read tell the doorman to get you a taxi and have him tell taxi where to take you

Smeagol

You are getting very good advice from very experienced Japanophiles.

Everything on your list is worth seeing. The thing is, you are traveling from Hakone to Kyoto for your first night in Kyoto, so that's less than a full day in Kyoto, maybe at best a half day. You then have only 2 full days in Kyoto if you go on to Osaka for your last night.

Personally I'd swap the last night in Osaka for one in Kyoto, and decide when you get there if you want to spend another full day in Kyoto or do a day trip to Osaka (it is only 30 minutes away by regular train, although closer to an hour at least to get to any specific destination.) Then spend your last day in Kyoto and take transport as someone detailed above.

****

"You forget about Shinjuku Station being the behemoth that it is."

Hawaiian does not exaggerate. We needed a flipping compass to try to find our way around Shinjuku station. Remember to think of Tokyo as a collection of cities, with Shinjuku being one such city.

From Shinjuku eki you go right, then left, left again, another left, then right.

Hope this helps!