Scott218

Just seemed easier to get direct trains from Osaka. If we decide to go to Disneyland, we will spend Jan 2 in Osaka chillaxing. I agree that the itinerary seems a little too nutty.

ninja138

To be honest, it won't matter. The Green cars are going to be packed too, although there won't be as many people standing in the aisles.

That is a lot of ground you're trying to cover in a really compressed schedule.

The only segment you can reserve with the JR rail pass online is the Dec. 31st N'Ex from Narita to Tokyo. All others will need to wait until after you arrive (and little chance that you will get the reservations).

Steve M

There's something you should be aware about Tokyo Disneyland on NYE: They have a special "Countdown" ceremony where they close the park to regular guests and you have to have a special NYE ticket and they count down to midnight. The park (actually DisneySea as well) then stays open all night and until normal closing at 10pm on Jan 1st.

The thing is, the opening time for regular day guests (that is, those with regular tickets for Jan 1, and not those with the NYE special event tickets) is set early at 2am for that one day of the year only. So, you can arrive as early as 2am on Jan 1, buy a regular ticket, and stay as late as 10pm. And, they keep all of the rides operating the entire time. There are a great deal of people that leave after midnight, and those that want to stay all through 10pm on the 1st have to catch a few hours of sleep, so reportedly the rides have very little wait time in the early morning hours of Jan 1. Although the regular hours of Jan 1 may be packed, a really early morning arrival may be a unique opportunity to get a lot done at Tokyo Disneyland without much waiting, and it might fit perfectly with your schedule.

Also, IIRC the night of Dec 31st/Jan 1st is the only night of the year where the JR lines in the Tokyo area run all night long and into the next day, so transport is not an issue either.

Coathanger

Don't disagree with you in terms of frequency but I was able to do all my trips in June 2009 using Hikari services in the Green Car without too much trouble.

Having a look at the JR Central timetables you can get H491/493 from Kyoto in the morning and H490 back from Hiroshima in the evening.

Best of all is that you're on the N700 which is noticeably nicer than the earlier series trains.

railroadtycoon

I was just at the station glancing through random dates from the 21st - 28th of December (this month) a lot of open available seats in the ordinary car for those dates for the OP.

For megatoplover, I did a search real fast for you too, on the 29th trains going from Nagano to Tokyo, at the moment both Ordinary Cars and Green cars show many openings, but things can change quickly the next few days, though generally speaking, I find that more people are leaving Tokyo for the holidays then coming into Tokyo. All trains on JR East are non-smoking.

RichardInSF

I don't believe you can reserve even that segment in advance online (for all practical purposes). Last time I checked, if you use the online reservation feature offered by JR East you have to pick up the tickets in person at a JR ticket office by 9pm of the night BEFORE you want to travel.

ninja138

Ah, good point. I forgot about that.

MegatopLover

Thank you, railroadtycoon. If I were to buy the pass now, before leaving for Japan, how would I go about getting confirmed reservations on specific trains?

The Nagano Shinkansen and N'Ex on Dec. 29 seem to be the trains of greatest import, to avoid being frozen out and missing our flight.

railroadtycoon

http://jreast-shinkansen-reservation...menu/menu.aspx

The system is a tad confusing on the part where it says "Seats/Options" it only says Green(First-Class). This doesn't mean the ordinary car is sold out, it just means there's an option for the green car on the train, later on it will ask if you want an ordinary car or green car seat.

In addition to the Narita Express, there's also the regular JR Narita Rapid train (a regular unreserved commuter train that operates about once per hour) and there's also the Keisei Limited Express, Keisei Sky Access Express, Keisei Skyliner and Keisei CityLiner trains that all go to Narita Airport (via Ueno/Nippori Stations). You can't use the JR pass with the Keisei trains, but I just wanted to point them out in case of any worst case scenarios (the Nagano Shinkansen also stops at Ueno Station, where a change to the Keisei Skyliner at Keisei Ueno is possible).

RichardInSF

Again, you typically cannot reserve the N'Ex in advance because reserved tickets must be picked up by 9pm of the day PRIOR to travel. Nor would you normally want to -- if your flight is late or the line at immigration is long, you miss the train (although the ticket is still valid for standing room for the rest of the day).

You could reserve the Nagano shinkansen starting the day after arrival and pick the tickets up when you collect the pass at Narita airport.

railroadtycoon

Yes it is not practical for him to reserve tickets on the 25th for the NEX when he comes in. But for him to get reservations going back to Tokyo & Narita Airport for the 29th from Nagano is practical in my opinion since the 29th is the day things start to get crazy transportation wise.

cockpitvisit

There should be Green Cars on all these trains, and they are indeed more comfortable than ordinary ones.

On the Shinkansen, you get more space and a better recline (must be like 135 degrees). On Limited Express trains, you often get a much nicer interior in addition to better seats, and sometimes you get a nice view ahead since the green car is often the first car of the train with just a glass wall separating you from the train driver. On some local trains in the Tokyo area, a green car (no reservation needed) means you get to sit in comfort while ordinary cars look like sardine cans.

Note that a Green Car rail pass does not always guarantee a reservation - a few times I was forced to sit in ordinary cars, because the few green cars were booked out.

There are no Green Cars on the Shinkansen west of Osaka (except for Nozomi trains which cannot be used with JR pass), on many trains in Hokkaido and on most local trains outside of Tokyo.

A good website for checking Japanese train timetables is http://www.hyperdia.com/

I am surprised to read about smoking cars. Hasn't smoking been banned on the Shinkansen 3 years ago?

Steve M

JR East banned smoking, including on the Shinkansen it operates (which are all that depart to the north from Tokyo). However, the Tokaido Shinkansen between Osaka and Tokyo is operated by JR Central (including the portion from their regular territory boundary to Tokyo Station), which still allows smoking in designated cars.

ChrisLi

Just some findings after my 6 days of JR Pass all around JR East and JR Hokkaido

- Research the train name (and best, the train number) before taking the trip helps A LOT. I basically hand them a sheet of all my trains names and all tickets were issued within 15 minute. This can easily done before hand with Google Map / Hyperdia

However, staff will be kind of clueless if the train is outside their primary area (e.g. booking a Konami Shikansen from Tokyo to Akita followed by some stupid resort car train @ Sapporo Reservation Office)

- Changing to an earlier train is basically effortless (except the line, especially in Tokyo area). I will say not worth the troble if it's just a short ride. Remember people with JR pass can ride on limited express without the "limited express ticket"

- I once lost my reserved seat ticket when I transit at Shin-Aomori from Hakodate, getting another ticket is super simple ... I just say "next train sendai" that's it

- On Chuo Line they have some express train to Shinjuku, which can be pretty comfortable to escape from crowd and can nap on these.

- They have 700 series train with Green Car even on Kodama

- The E2 shikansen is rather uncomfortable in their 5-across configuration. I will suggest to take E3 ones (Kodama) unless you going to Hachinohe / Aomori

O Sora

Thanks for the report, ChrisLi.

I guess you mean Komachi.

If there is anyone interested in how the Shinkansen is named Komachi, please read the following.

---
Akita Shinkansen Komachi is named after Ono no Komachi (小野 小町, c. 825 – c. 900) , a famous Japanese waka poet known as a ultra-beautiful lady.

Let me introduce one of her waka. This is taught in Jr. high here and almost all the Japanese people know about it. I can recite it.

Hana no iro wa
Utsurinikeri na
Itazura ni
Wa ga mi yo ni furu
Nagame seshi ma ni

The flowers withered
Their color faded away
While meaninglessly
I spent my days in the world
And the long rains were falling
-Translation Donald Keene

Everyone gets old however beautiful one has been.

Wikipedia : Ono no Komachi
Some more translations of her romantic waka by someone at Washburn U.