Need Clarifications on Transportation
 

So my wife and I are going to be in Japan for the first time, and have been reading up on Japans transportation, but we are still a tad confused.

Our plans:

Arrive in Tokyo at NRT
Stay in Tokyo for 4 full days
Then take the Shinkansen to Osaka.
Stay in Osaka for 4 full days with day trips to Kyoto and possibly Kobe.
Then fly out of KIX to China.

From what we are gathering we need to get the JR pass, which we have to buy before we are in Japan, but it might not be worth it as we are only taking a longer trip one way? However, the JR pass will not cover all subways within cities? So we may have to buy day passes within cities?

Can anyone tell us if the JR Pass will be worth it? And any other suggestions on how to best take advantage of Japan's public transportation?

Thanks so much!

You are correct. Fuggedabout the JR Rail pass. It will be cheaper to purchase a one-way ticket from Tokyo to Osaka.

This means that the express trains you're likely to buy tickets for are the train from NRT to Tokyo, the Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Osaka, and the train from Osaka to KIX.

For everything else, you can either buy fares each time you ride - which is a bit of a drag - or purchase "stored value cards" (one per person) that are specific to a city or region. (Some people call these "debit cards". I find that confusing because my bank issues me with a "debit card" that's linked to a checking account but ... whatever).

In Tokyo, the card you will probably use is called SUICA. If you take the N'EX train into town, you can get SUICA cards and N'EX tickets for a bundled price, which is pretty attractive. As you're going around Tokyo, you can use your SUICA cards for almost any public transportation without needing to calculate the fare. There's no discount for using the card - but it saves a lot of hassle compared with buying individual fares. When you leave Tokyo, you may as well use up all the credit on the card (spend any remaining credit on food and drink in a convenience store) and take the card to a ticket window for a refund on the deposit, because ...

In the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe region, the SUICA is of limited use at the moment, I think. (It currently only works on JR trains in the region). You're probably better off with an ICOCA card that works on all the JR lines, subways, private railways and buses in the region.

There are several "day passes" in Tokyo that will save you money if you make a large number of journeys in one day. Mostly that's not what happens.

One "day pass" that usually does work out to be a time saver and money saver is the Kyoto bus pass. For 500 yen, it gives you access to the bus network in Kyoto, which is an ideal way to get around the famous sites.

You can find detailed instructions on all the passes by searching this forum for the keywords like SUICA, N'EX + SUICA etc. I would also recommend that you read the sticky thread at the top of the forum. It's getting rather out of date but it's got some tips on getting in and out of the cities etc.

>> we need to get the JR pass

no you don't.

>> Can anyone tell us if the JR Pass will be worth it?

no, it won't be.

Calculate individual fares and compare: www.hyperdia.com

To clarify, the 7-day rail pass costs Y28,300.

If you buy the fares individually, your main costs will be Y3,000 for a NEX ticket, Y13,000 for a Shinkansen ticket from Tokyo to Osaka, and Y1,000 for a ticket from Osaka to KIX (rounded off). A round-trip from Osaka to Kyoto, Kobe or Nara on a regular JR train is just over Y1,000. In the Tokyo area most of your train hops will be in the Y200-Y300 range each way.

So unless you're going somewhere more far-flung in the course of your trip, the rail pass probably won't be cost-effective, and it can also be inconvenient in that it limits you to JR lines.

The JR Pass is not valid on "Nozomi" Shinkansen trains between Tokyo and Osaka. "Nozomi" trains are faster, more frequent and more convenient and tickets only cost 300 yen more. Another reason for not getting the JR Pass.

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And not to mention for the OP case, locking OP on slower options

For Narita OP should get the NEX combo (3500 yen package) and effectively make the NEX cost only 1500 yen

For Osaka I prefer to take Nankai Electric Railway Limite Express which gets you to the airport way faster than JR, or as some of my friends says bus is an attractive alternative too.

Going even more complicated OP can seek to use Kansai Railway Pass that enables most except JR train ride at cheap, which is quiet convenient.

Is it possible to buy tickets on Nozomi trains prior to my arrival to Japan? or can I only purchase once I arrive to Japan? I hate to get there and find no seat in Green (1st class) for the train timing I wish to catch from Tokyo to Hiroshima.

Let me know what my options are for the wife and I (plus baby).

Trains are so frequent that you should be able to get a ticket after you arrive in Tokyo.

A look at Hyperdia tells me that there are Nozomi trains from Tokyo to Hiroshima every twenty to thirty minutes throughout the day. Unless you're traveling during a holiday period, you should be able to buy a ticket for your desired time.

There's a JR office at NRT, so you can check with them immediately upon arrival if you're worried. Even if you can't get a Green Car ticket (unlikely), the second-class cars are just fine.

The only times of the year that you may have problems just purchasing tickets would be the last week of April- first week of May of every year (Golden Week) and the period near New Years.

Any time other than that should not be an issue, as others have mentioned, lots of trains.

In addition, you cannot reserve tickets on this shinkansen from outside of Japan. So it's a moot point.

There are Nozomi trains roughly every ten minutes. It is the JR-pass eligible Hikari train that runs every 30 minutes (note that the Hikari is slower simply because it stops a few times for 3-4 minutes at stations to let Nozomi trains pass, when it is running, it goes at the same speed).

Surprised no one has mentioned what is a usual refrain in this forum: if this is your first trip, why are you making Osaka instead of Kyoto your base in the south? Kyoto is far more interesting touristically.

Thanks to everyone for the info on the trains! Seems like I shouldn't have a problem getting tickets upon arrival which is good news for me as I am swamped at work prior to our departure.

After Hiroshima we are headed to Kyoto (where I still need to find a place to stay) for 3 nights and intend to use the 4th day to see Osaka before flying out on an overnight flight back to Singapore from KIX.

You are confusing aragno with the OP.

Good call. In that situation I would probably come into Kyobashi by the Keihan line, which is the most interesting line to ride between Kyoto and Osaka as you go through people's backyards at high speed. If you have a lot of stuff, and haven't shipped it ahead to KIX, you can lock it up there. Then see Osaka Castle. If you have time in the afternoon, head to the Umeda downtown area. Get dinner around the Dotonbori canal in Namba and enjoy the lights. Then either take the Nankai train to the airport from Namba, or head back to Kyobashi to collect your stuff and catch the JR rapid service. Be sure to check the train schedules. Fortunately you can almost always make do with a tight check-in in Japan because everything is so efficient.

If you have good legs, enough time, and a sufficiently light encumbrance, you can walk a few clicks down the Midosuji avenue from Umeda to Namba, which gives you a good taste of downtown Osaka and also lets you visit the Mido temples for which Midosuji is named.

If I can bump this thread to ask about Tokyo transportation options, would you suggest Suica is the best cost option and easiest to use for a longer stay in the city of around 10 days? Are there discounted tourist transportation options instead?

I'm planning on getting the N'EX + Suica deal at any rate but thought I'd ask if there were other discounted multi-day transit passes as in other cities.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2017.html

Whether any of these are a good deal depends on how much you want to use the subways/trains in a particular day. Personally, I wouldn't plan on taking more than three trains in a day; the interesting parts of Tokyo are between the stations, so the best strategy is generally to ride to one station, make your way to another station by foot (with some stops en route), and ride back from there.

That said, I did buy a Tokunai pass once, moons back, in order to do a Yamanote Line pub crawl with some friends...