baccarat_king

Thank you for the great advice.

Yes, a few days later we return Kyoto to Tokyo. Perhaps, I should ask, since we are staying at the Ritz Carlton Tokyo (Tokyo Midtown, 9-7-1, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-6245) is there a specific Tokyo train station I should return to?

Got it. I had researched, and found that everyone agrees that Shinagawa makes for a more seamless travel experience. Also travelling with my 13 year old, so "seamless" is key; especially after an 11 hour flight from Amsterdam (albeit, on the upper deck of a 747 ).

I believe we are just buying regular tickets; but perhaps with the return to Tokyo the pass would make sense. This will be our only train travel in Japan (for this trip).

My main card is CHIP+PIN AMEX (I also have a CHIP+PIN Mastercard). Do you believe I will need much cash?

abmj-jr

For only NRT - Shinagawa plus Shinagawa - Kyoto - Tokyo, the 7-day Japan Rail Pass just about breaks even, or saves a very few dollars.

The advantages to a Rail Pass would be simplicity in obtaining seats and free walk-ons (no tickets) for any local day trips on JR, such as to Osaka or Nara (recommended if there is time.) The disadvantage would be limitation to Hikari or Kodama shinkansen trains. The Rail Pass cannot be used on the more frequent Nozomi. That means an average of 2 or 3 trains per hour rather than 5 or 6. I have never found this to be a problem at all. The Hikari travels just as fast as Nozomi and 2-3 per hour has always worked out just fine.

If your entire trip falls within the 7 days, meaning you would also use the Rail Pass at the end of your stay to go from Tokyo back out to NRT, then the Pass would save significant money.

Even if you plan to use credit cards for most purchases, you should have some cash for small purchases such as entry fees to attractions, vending machines, small souvenirs and such. Even with credit and prepaid cards everywhere, Japan is still a cash society in some areas. You may not need a lot but should have some cash. I prefer to pay for everything except hotels with cash or prepaid card such as Suica or ICOCA but others disagree and use credit cards a lot. They still get some cash, though. If nothing else, a little pocket money for the kid might be nice. Let him buy his own vending machine drinks, snacks and souvenirs. Just buying small items can be a fun and interesting cultural experience.

I think Tokyo Main Station would be closest to the RC but will let others who actually stay there confirm or deny.

RichardInSF

The closest JR stop to the RC is Shibuya station. Take a taxi from there to Tokyo Midtown, it should cost less than Y1,000.

But this will require getting off the shinkansen at Shinagawa and switching to the local JR Yamanote line, which you might not want to do, especially with baggage. In addition, you will have to navigate steps at Shibuya. In that case, just taxi it from Shinagawa which should cost less than Y3,000, although you will probably have to haul your bags down some steps there too.

The general wisdom is that a round trip Tokyo -- Kyoto within 7 days justifies getting the JR pass. There are local JR trains around Tokyo, there is a JR train line between Kyoto and Nara, you can use JR if you choose to go to Kamakura or Nikko, and the pass is also good on the Narita Express.

For a bit more comfort you can buy a first class JR pass, called "Green Car." But the regular coaches are quite decent.

IMOA

There are two 7 bank ATMs to the left just at the station entrance (basically at the bottom of the escalators), I tend to use these every trip as there's never a queue and if you're catching a train you'll walk right past them.

RichardInSF

Oh cool, I didn't know that! Is this in T1? I usually just rush down the inclined path (the last escalators at T1 to the train just go up) and never stop to look.

IMOA

Ah, thats T2, I had missed that it was arriving at T1

ksandness

If I recall correctly, I know the location of at least one 7/11 ATM in Terminal 1.

After you come out of Customs/Immigration, turn to your left and go all the way to the end until you come to an area with elevators and escalators that seem to be mostly for employees. There is a bank of ATMs there, one of which is 7/11.

TravelBabe0415

You all are truely fantastic! Thanks so much for this awesome info!!

baccarat_king

a quick update :

Thank you everyone, directions were flawless. Our trip : "NEX to Shinkansen, transferring at Shinagawa" was super-easy and worked as suggested. Landed at 09:35, and arrived at Kyoto Station at 14:17. Baggage retrieval (goodness, priority tags actually work here), customs and immigration from KL861 took around 15 minutes (tops).

Upon arrival at Kyoto Station, I had informed the Ritz Carlton, Kyoto while in route and they arranged for a driver to meet us on the platform (at the exact train car) and transfer us to the hotel. Decided that after such a long day of travel, with my very cooperative 13 year old companion, that was the way to go.

So far, our stay in Kyoto and at the Ritz Carlton has been absolute perfection. We return to Tokyo on Friday afternoon.