Japan - Early Sunday morning travel from Kyoto to KIX

I'm a frequent lurker, but rare poster. However, I can't find the answer I need despite looking all over the web.

I'm going to be in Kyoto for a conference in early December with 2 colleagues. Our flight leaves KIX at 8:15am on a Sunday morning. We'll be travelling KIX-NRT-ORD, so we should probably be at the airport by 6:15am. Unfortunately, looking the JR Haruka Airport Express and the Kansai Airport Limo timetables, the earliest train leaves Kyoto Station at 5:15am or 5:50am, getting into KIX by 7:15am.

That's going to be cutting it close. Would taking a taxi be the best option? That seems to be a prohibitively expensive choice. Or, would I be taking several trains overnight ... starting around midnight?

The Haruka 1 arrives at 07:11, which might be a bit tight. There is a local train option at 5:04 am but it involves several train changes and only gets you in 12 minutes earlier.

Rather than an expensive cab, you might actually be money ahead to shift to an airport area hotel the night before. I've never actually had to do this since all my flights from KIX have been in the afternoons.

I also support the idea of overnight stay at a hotel in Osaka. If you can check in the hotel in the evening, you can have some fun (adult or otherwise) in Osaka.

The Haruka 1 arrives at 07:11, which might be a bit tight.
That would work for me. The KIX-NRT leg is domestic, right?

That would work for me. The KIX-NRT leg is domestic, right?You'd think so, in which case it would almost certainly be enough time.
OP FYI, ANA don't do Kansai to Narita but when you do Itami to Narita to international on ANA you check-in at Itami and clear immigration at Narita. The international through check-in area at Itami for ANA is a special area off to the side of the main domestic check-in area. I wonder if JAL has a similar arrangement at Kansai. Might be worth checking.

Thanks for the brillant suggestion to stay in Osaka o/n! That should solve the problem and give us a chance to explore Osaka a bit.

And thank you, valve bouncer, for the tip to look for international check-in at Kansai for JAL.

You guys are the best!

Err. Actually, the suggestion was to stay at an airport area hotel, not Osaka. That first Haruka from Kyoto is also the first Haruka from Shin-Osaka and won't get to KIX any earlier. You can certainly depart from Osaka Station (not Shin-Osaka where the Haruka stops) and get to KIX on time but you will be on local trains with at least one change.

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=OSAKA&arv_node=KANSAI%20AIRPORT&via_node01=&via_node02=&via_node03=&year=2011&month=11&day=16&hour=04&minute=00&search_type=0&search_way=&transtime=undefined&sort=0&max_route=5&ship=off&lmlimit=null&search_target=route&facility=reserved&sum_target=7

Yes, even though airline personnel sometimes refer to KIX as "flying into Osaka," the airport is actually quite a way to the south of the city proper.

However, if you stay in the Namba area of Osaka, an express train leaves from Nankai Namba at 5:30AM and arrives at KIX at 6:17AM.

If that timing works for you, you can take your pick of hotels in all price ranges in the Namba area.

Yes, even though airline personnel sometimes refer to KIX as "flying into Osaka," the airport is actually quite a way to the south of the city proper.

However, if you stay in the Namba area of Osaka, an express train leaves from Nankai Namba at 5:30AM and arrives at KIX at 6:17AM.

If that timing works for you, you can take your pick of hotels in all price ranges in the Namba area.

+1 on staying in the southern part of Osaka, off of either the Nankai Main line or JR Hanwa line. Namba area or western Sakai are your best bets. You can stay off-airport too in Rinku town, but there isn't much to do around there.

In my excitement, I didn't realize that the airport was so far away from Osaka. Thanks for the tips for southern Osaka, Namba, etc. I hope I'll find some hotels at a decent price either there or near the airport.

Yes, even though airline personnel sometimes refer to KIX as "flying into Osaka," the airport is actually quite a way to the south of the city proper.

If you go around to Sennan and tell the people they're not in Osaka, they'll tell you you're incorrect (and that's before Hashimoto's plans).　They'll certainly agree that they're not in Osaka city though.

There are a fair number of business hotels by the airport or in Nanba. For the most part, you want to stay near ones for the Nankai main line. I'd recommend avoiding anything near the JR Hanwa line unless you want to run the risk of being delayed.

There are a number of hotels near the Nankai Namba station (as I recall, there's even one on top of it), and that's your best bet for rapid access to KIX early in the morning.

Just as a follow-up, I ended up just staying in Kyoto (due to lack of affordable hotels near the train station in Osaka). I took the the JR Express on Sunday morning, leaving Kyoto at 5:46am and arriving at Kansai at 7:11am. The line at the JAL counter was very short, even for non-elites. They checked our bags through to ORD. And we even had time for breakfast!

Only difficulty was in finding the non-shinkansen JR ticket counter, which was on the 3rd floor of Kyoto station. Thankfully, a staff member took pity on us and walked us up to the correct office.

Only difficulty was in finding the non-shinkansen JR ticket counter, which was on the 3rd floor of Kyoto station. Thankfully, a staff member took pity on us and walked us up to the correct office.

Hmmm. I've never found it challenging to get tickets at Kyoto station. Not sure what happened to you there. Were you at the Hachijo entrance? http://www.kyoto-station-building.co.jp/map_en/index.html

.... Were you at the Hachijo entrance? http://www.kyoto-station-building.co.jp/map_en/index.html
I've gotta think this is the case. The main ticket office on the Karasuma side is just inside the main street entrance on the ground floor, very difficult to miss.

Hmmm, after looking at the station map, I think we were at the Karasuma gate. The taxi dropped us off and there looked like there were a lot of shops along that walkway, next to a set of outdoor escalators. At 5:30am though, the JR office there wasn't open. We went up 2 flights of escalators to get to the ?JR West ticket office. That was on the same level as where our train was.