Originally Posted by
stevenshev
... And my understand was that with a 5.30pm arrival into NRT, it's too late to take the NEx and still make a Shinkansen to Kyoto.
If they are traveling on a JR Rail Pass, they MIGHT just make the last possible connection if they can get through C&I and get on the 18:48 N'Ex to Shinagawa. They would then have to make a 9 minute connection to the last Hikari to Kyoto, arriving after 22:00.
If they are not on a JR Pass, then there are more options. The N'Ex at 18:48 or the next one at 19:45 would get them to Shinagawa in time to make one of the late Nozomi connections to Kyoto, arriving anytime from 22:00 to 23:31.
That would all make for a pretty long day but has the up side of waking up in Kyoto and not "wasting" that first night/morning.