I'm flying into Tokyo on Dec 31 and leave on the evening of Jan 4. I was thinking of spending New Year's Eve in Tokyo, buying a JR pass and taking the train to Hiroshima on Jan 1, then on the 2nd the train to Kyoto for two nights, and then back to Tokyo on the 4th. Is it worth buying a JR pass for these three journeys? I know the trains are likely to be very busy during this period; what are my chances of getting seats if I wait until I arrive to make reservations? Thanks for any advice.
That is a pretty aggressive itinerary, especially during a difficult travel period. The Japan Rail Pass will probably make economic sense for this travel. Remember that you must buy it BEFORE arriving in Japan. Try local travel agencies or on-line. There is no way to make shinkansen reservations before you arrive. The best plan is probably to make them all at the same time you exchange the Rail Pass exchange order at NRT immediately after arrival.
Then again, if the OP wants to guarantee seats in advance and get a pretty good price, he might do well to use one of the airline passes. Fly from Tokyo to HIJ and then from ITM back to Tokyo for example. Would need to pay for some train journeys between those points, which makes it probably a little bit more expensive than the JR pass.
That's going to leave you very tired.... First of all there is nothing to do on New Year's Eve here. It isn't like the US. Families are at their homes celebrating with eachother.
The next few days after are when people venture out in droves to pay their respects to their temple of choice, which also involves a lot of drinkign and eating. This can be fun for one time in your life and then you are good.
The banks are closed here, everythign is closed, so yes, bring money. See where you want to go too, before coming here and look them up and make sure they are open. New Year is the one holiday where EVERYTHING is closed.
You should be fine with the train seats on these days as people are usually already at their families' homes. Get a Rail Pass though for sure to save money, but that is a pretty crazy trip..
Good Luck!!!!
I don't have a guidebook handy as I'm typing this, but definitely check to see that the sights you want to see are open at the time.
For example, the website of the Hiroshima Peace Museum (the atom bomb museum) says that it's closed December 29 to January 3, so if that's your main reason for going to Hiroshima, you'd better save it for another trip.
I suspect that most other museums in the country are closed during that period.
Unlike Western countries, New Year's is a stay-at-home family holiday in Japan. When I lived there as a student, I had a "host family" for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but I went back to my apartment for January 2 and 3, and it was a boring two days: nothing open (no convenience stores in those days), nothing on TV except New Year's variety specials (no video rentals in those days, either), and my university was on vacation. There was nothing to do but read and take walks.
I don't have a guidebook handy as I'm typing this, but definitely check to see that the sights you want to see are open at the time.
For example, the website of the Hiroshima Peace Museum (the atom bomb museum) says that it's closed December 29 to January 3, so if that's your main reason for going to Hiroshima, you'd better save it for another trip.
I agree with the other comments that this is a pretty crazy trip. I've been to Hiroshima before and the only things I saw were the above museum, Peace Memorial Park and a Mazda Factory Tour on another day. IMHO, going to Hiroshima w/o being able to get into the museum isn't worth it.
I too have done the Shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Kyoto, then Kyoto to Hiroshima and Hiroshima all the way back to Tokyo. The Kyoto to Hiroshima took me all afternoon. Looking at the timetables at http://www.japanrail.com/index.php?p...le-fare-honshu (I looked at timetable 1, west bound), since the Japan Rail Pass doesn't let you take Nozomi trains (never taken one myself), the best you can do is Hikari. You're talking about 4+ hours on the train for Tokyo to Hiroshima, at best. Also, the Hikari trains from Tokyo (or Shinagawa) only start running so early.
I don't know where you're flying in from and where you plan to stay in Tokyo/near Narita. You might need to leave some time to adjust to the time change (if applicable) and you need to leave plenty of time to get to/from Narita airport. (Example: For my recent trip, I left via cab from Tokyu Stay Monzen-nakacho to TCAT at ~1:40 pm Sunday to get on an airport "limousine" bus to get on a 5:30 pm flight.)
You might be better off just staying in Tokyo the whole time or going only as far as Kyoto. If you still really want to visit Kyoto and Hiroshima and can skip Tokyo, perhaps you can change your flight to be to and from KIX instead?
Thanks for all your helpful replies. It does seem as though I might be thinking a little too adventurously by trying to fit in Kyoto and Hiroshima in four days. No doubt I'll be back here in a few days asking some more questions once I've studied the guide books.
