Originally Posted by
Arrow29
Will it be much of an issue reserving seats for my wife and I in terms of availability, or is there normally plenty of space? This will be in mid January 2015.
Jan 12 (Mon) is a national holiday (coming of age day). You might see some increase in people on the trains that weekend. And you'll certainly see an increase in people wearing kimono. But there shouldn't be a problem with availability on long-distance trains. I assume you have some flexibility - so if your first choice train is unavailable you could travel half an hour earlier or later?
Originally Posted by
Arrow29
We would be exchanging the JR Pass voucher on arrival to Narita, but would be asking for it to be activated the day before our travel to Kyoto, so that we can use the 7 day pass for the Narita Express back to the airport on our final day. I guess this would mean going to a ticket booth to reserve a seat the day before at the earliest.
No. You can make reservations at the same time as you do the exchange. Write or print the details of the trains you plan to take and hand it to the person who is exchanging your voucher for the pass.