LapLap

Sorry I wasn’t clear.
Myself and LapChild qualify for the gaijin rates and opportunities.

It’s MrLapLap and MrLapLap’s father (who has failing eyesight but is the only one who reads Japanese) who need the ordinary passes anyone can get - but which are such a challenge to find information about in English.

EDIT TO ADD
MrLapLap isn’t elegible for the JR East Pass.
LapChild was born just under ten years ago and we know the J embassy in London has all the paperwork for that event. It is possible a bit of jiggery pokery would have got us the paperwork for a JR Pass but they wouldn’t talk to me, only MrLapLap and he just didn’t have the time to do it in time (he was working right up until we left). The savings using a JR Pass over a return to Sendai plus a Tokudane Pass would have been minimal anyway. Certainly not worth the money MrLapLap would have lost in revenue had he given up work to pursue the JR Pass option (next visit it will be straightforward to prove the 10+ years abroad requirement)

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Our only problem now is not fully understanding what the options using a tokudane Pass are.
It seems to involve getting a 7:30 train (Nikko 1) from Shinjuku and returning on a train from Nikko leaving at about 4:30pm. The website suggests that there may be more options but that these would only be clear if we tried to book online. Something that ElderLap’s eyes aren’t up to doing, we’d need to go in to a JR East office.

LapLap

Found out a little more in English thanks to this dedicated rail enthusiast

https://jprail.com/travel-informatio...-kinugawa.html

Which points to this as the current timetable
http://www.eki-net.com/pc/jreast-shi...u_d/index.html
(Suggesting that the train departing at 8am May be an alternative to the 7:30am departure)
And for the return there is
http://www.eki-net.com/pc/jreast-shi...u_u/index.html
Where a 5pm train from Tobu Nikko appears as well as the 4:39pm train.

A JR Pass wouldn’t have squared this particular circle. Only the JR East Pass meshes with the Tokudane Pass in this instance

Does anybody know anything about the train that connects Nikko and Hachioji? That seems to be an additional option but I can’t work out what time it leaves/returns

mnbp

Be careful with these two timetables. There is a footnote at the top of the 8am and 5pm train departures that indicate which handful of days in the next four months train Nikko 21 and Nikko 22 actually operate - it was just a few specific days over the next several weeks when those extra trains operate, according to the timetable.

LapLap

Thank you. I asked a JR East employee (boy was she busy, felt really bad taking every moment extra of her time) who said the 8am and 5pm times were on the weekends. We’ll just do the 7:30am departure and the 16:39 return. That’s a full enough day.

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MrLapLap has been invited to work with his pre-marriage colleagues today (catches up, gets to hone his skills, and gets some pocket money - Win!) and LapSenior has ended up with a doctor’s appointment (not so great, but dealing with something discovered by chance - potential for Win!). Weather isn’t at its finest in Tokyo so I’m taking LapChild up to Gala Yuzawa for sledding and swimming. Feel very privileged that JR East has provided us with this bonus opportunity, it’s been years since LapChild saw some proper snow and she hardly remembers it (she wasn’t yet 5 at the time)

LapLap

Currently eyeing flights for our next trip to Tokyo for 2020.

More stuff catching my eye.

For rail enthusiasts I’ve stumbled on the wonderfully named
Chouchou Popon - https://www.chouchou-popon.jp/
I guess it has a similar appeal to me as the Shinjuku Robot Restaurant has to others.
Hasn’t been mentioned in this forum. I thought it was just a bar but I was wrong, it’s a family diner during the day
https://www.chouchou-popon.jp/burger/concept
So worth knowing about if you have a train mad kid.

Pureboy recently mentioned the Heiwa No Mori Park athletic course near Heiwajima station
https://ota-tokyo.com/heiwa-no-mori-...hletic-course/
This is very high on the list of places to go on our next visit.

18th & 19th of April - Tokyo Coffee Festival (nr Shibuya)
https://tokyocoffeefestival.co/

Trip to Harajuku station before it is removed
Pop up to Omohara No Mori for views over the area and towards Shinjuku

Lunch at Wadokoro Kitera
3-6-9 Azabujuban, Minato Tokyo