Great, thanks so much!

Just to be clear though, are you suggesting that Tokyo's climate in November is similar to Montreal's in early March?

I just flew home a couple of weeks ago to visit family, and granted it was unusually cold even for Montreal (I even experienced a late season blizzard), but I had really expected something closer to Montreal's climate in late-October/early-November, in which case a Norwegian sweater or shawl cardigan with a scarf and something like this, would've been sufficient: https://img1.etsystatic.com/019/1/53...16717_i0bc.jpg

I was wearing a heavy Woolrich goose down parka in Montreal several weeks ago with sweater underneath, merino hat and gloves, etc. and was still freezing cold, so I hope Tokyo will be more mild during our visit! I really hadn't planned for winter weather during our dates; we'll be in Tokyo (divided by a weekend in Hakone) from Oct. 29 - Nov. 7.

I'm glad to know that we won't need boots though! Seeing photos of the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route kind of threw me off... I wasn't sure if that was isolated to the high ranges which we'd only be passing through while sightseeing, or if it was representative of the entire northern foothills around Gunma and Nagano.

As for Osaka/Kyoto - would jeans and a coat like the above pictured red corduroy with a sweater underneath be sufficient for a sunny afternoon? I've read that the average temperatures in Kyoto for early-mid November are roughly 13°C/55°F with lows 8°C/46°F and highs 17°C/63°F, which is not unlike San Francisco where I'm perfectly fine with a sweater or tweed sport coat and light jacket at all times. I've hardly ever needed a heavier winter jacket here in the Bay Area, and temperatures are consistently in the mid-to-upper fifties throughout our winters.

Thank you for telling me about Takkyubin services, however I'm not so sure that it will be practical for our particular itinerary as there are a good number of dates where we'll be travelling to 3-4 different towns and an equal number of overnight stays at ryokans every other day. I think that I would be too anxious forwarding my luggage with so many 1-2 night stops. Perhaps that can work for longer hauls by rail though, when we'll be spending longer amounts of time in each city; that's something to consider...