Originally Posted by
Explore
We're leaning towards buying a Green Car Japan Rail Pass for a week. Tremendous value (just $89 more than standard class, and rates don't seem to have changed in a decade).
Do we need to bother with seat reservations in October? We prefer to sit where we want after boarding the car, not to mention saving the time spent in reserving. Although many local trains don't have Green Cars, they may not accept reservations either.
Just in Japan - please book for all routes Asap for the green car. Loads of ordinary seats on each train - green car is totally worth it in my view.
It was a nightmare turning up wondering if we'd get a seat. Turned up and hour before to book a seat and was told it was sold out. The conductors on all trains found us seats but it was quite stressful.
On the first day the ticket guy booked us seats for the next few days but booked the ordinary car not the green one...
annoying and caused stress and inconvenience especially with the luggage.