railroadtycoon

No prob, just remember the Bullet train "Shinkansen trains" go from Tokyo Station to Kyoto, from Narita Airport to Tokyo you'll be taking the Narita Express a non shinkansen train. The Airport stations are "Narita Airport Station Terminal X (1 or 2)" , "Narita Station" is a seperate rail station outside the Airport.

robyng

It isn't really a matter of courage. We were fine on the train from Tokyo to Osaka - and back again from Kyoto to Narita. But that was six days/weeks after we arrived in Japan. It really boils down to your own personal stamina -and tolerance for jet leg. If you've never done a 13 hour flight with 13 hours of jet lag - I'd question seriously how up I'd be for four more hours of trains after that trip.

Final decision is up to you. Note that I think that travel is supposed to be fun - not an endurance contest. You should do whatever you think will make you enjoy your trip more. Robyn

OskiBear

Hi! I'm new to the forum and this was a great thread. I had a similar question - i'm going to be in Tokyo in a couple of weeks and will be staying near Shinjuku Station. We're heading to Kyoto in the a.m. and I was contemplating a cab ride to Shinagawa station to catch the shinkansen because we will have luggage. Is the feasible or is it better to just ship the luggage because there's no place to store it on the train? Any guidance would be much appreciated!

railroadtycoon

Welcome to flyertalk. How much (or large) luggage will you have? The overhead luggage compartments are large enough to hold your airline carry-on luggage sizes. If you have larger ones sometimes there's space at the end of each car, however those spots can be taken YMMV.

If they are really large then deliver service might be your best bet.

If you are delivering or don't have to much luggage, the Chuo Line from Shinjuku cuts across to Tokyo Station, so I would take the Shinkansen out of there.

abmj-jr

Welcome to FT and the Japan Forum!

I agree with RRT. The answer to your question is - - it depends.

How much luggage? How are you and your party at handling all of your luggage yourselves in one go? Are you good walkers/carriers or are you likely to need some assistance?

For myself and family, we tend to travel with one roll-aboard and one shoulder bag each and are all strong walkers who handle stairs well and can each handle our own bags easily without assistance. As a result, we save the cost of delivery to spend on other things. We always take our luggage aboard cabs or local trains w/o problems and stash bags in the storage space at the end of each car on the shinkansen. The shoulder bag with essentials goes overhead in the hat & coat rack. This would be difficult with oversized bags and even more difficult if we were juggling several bags each. Cabs are small and have small trunks. Trains have limited space for everyone's luggage. Small works. Large or numerous might not.

For those who travel with multiple bags or have difficulty lifting and carrying all bags at once or using stairs, I also recommend the takkyubin service. Get everything except one small bag with essentials for the trip down to the concierge early in the day and it will all arrive at your new hotel the next day. If you plan well, you can keep enough in a small bag for your last day and night in Tokyo and send everything else ahead the day before leaving yourself. It will be waiting for you at your new hotel when you arrive.

Like I said. Depends.

JR

OskiBear

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I'm traveling with my parents and we'll each have a full-size suitcase (we're on a multi-leg trip through Japan/Hong Kong) plus our own backpack/shoulder-bag.

I think that while the bag is not so much heavy, i'm probably not going to want to deal with dragging it through the station - especially during something close to rush hour. And, the idea of then not finding adequate storage...

I think i'm convinced, I'll just have them shipped to kyoto for us. thanks again for the great advice!

railroadtycoon

Your backpack and shoulderbags should be fine. I would take out any essentials you might need for the next day and ship your larger luggage a day in advance, so they'll arrive the next day when you head out to kyoto.

Justme123456

I just came back from Tokyo about 7hrs ago....and I completed a Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo Shinkansen Nozumi run on Mon/Wed. My medium (almost) large roll-aboard did fine above my seat. Getting a reserved seat and being ready at the platform when the doors open to board ensured plenty of space to choose from, IME. I vote to take it with you and not ship. Good luck to whatever your choice is.

ksandness

All westbound Hikari bullet trains stop at Nagoya, Kyoto, and Shin-Osaka, so that makes it easy. Just hop onto a wesbound Shinkansen. (The Kodama trains tend to stop at more stations and not go as far.)

You used to be able to ride the Hikari all the way to Hakata in the city of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu, but no longer. Now you have to change in Shin-Osaka. To get a non-stop trip to Kyushu, you have to take the Nozomi trains, which are not included in the JR Pass.

robyng

We did it both ways. Forwarded the luggage (basically one large bag each) on our trip to Osaka - took it with us on our trip back from Kyoto to Narita (mostly because I wasn't sure we'd find the luggage at the airport). Didn't have problems with either - but forwarding the luggage was definitely more pleasant. Robyn

P.S. You may have problems finding a cab that will take 3 people plus the luggage you're talking about. Also - you can run across a lot of stairs in stations. So I vote for luggage forwarding.

Marq

Wonderful information in this thread.

We are going to go from Tokyo to Kyoto in September. Since it will be the only JR train my folks will be on during their trip here, we are just going to buy reserved seats for the four of us on Nozomi train.

A couple of specific questions:

We will need takkyubin service to pick up four to six large suitcases at my apartment near Azabu Juban station on a Friday or Saturday and deliver them to Kyoto on Sunday. Does anyone have a recommendation on preferred takkyubins that offer great service and also speak English? What should I expect to pay per suitcase?

We will still have around six to eight rollaboards/duffles between us. I am thinking that we will probably want two taxis to Shinagawa Station. Taking subway either requires Toei Oedo to Toei Asakusa to Keikyu lines or a walk from Daimon to Hamamatsucho to get Yamanote to Tokyo station; neither seems too appealing. About how much is taxi from Azabu Juban station area to Shinagawa? Or, is there a better plan?

Again, thanks for all of your help,

Marc

Parrotfish

taxi is a the best option from Azabu Juban to Shinagawa. depending on traffic, it should not be more than 1500 yen. i think it is okay to get off at the closer Takanawa exit. some drivers may want to take you to the east/higashi Shinagawa exit, which is marginally closer to the shinkansen tracks, but involves a big loop if the driver does not know the tunnel short cut.

jpatokal

The best Takkyubin service is of course Takkyubin itself Unfortunately their website is 100% nihongo, but this page will give you a pretty good idea of how it works. Their desk at Narita will probably be able to handle English, but a Japanese speaker will come in handy for shipping from your apartment.

motytrah

Trains:
We did the reverse trip Kyoto to NRT. We even had a lot of luggage. Few things.

1) If you know your time tables get your reserved ticked done at the same time your get the pass for your exchange order. Then you don't have to mess around with the ticket machines.

2) There are no sub ways to take between the Narita Express and the "Bullet Train" so don't get too bent out of shape about having a bag or two.

3) At the end of each bullet train car there is space between the last seat and the wall. Larger luggage can go there. The overheads in the reserved cares is fairly big. You should be able to put two small/medium sized bags up there easy.

About Takkyubin:
When you're at a Hotel you can drop you bags at the bell hop desk, tell them what hotel to deliver it to and be done with it. They'll do all the paperwork and usually call the hotel and verify everything. The bell hop took cash when I used the service (about 2800 yen for three smallish bags).

Next best places to drop off are Travel Centers/Agencies and Airports. The local 7-11 is the least likely to have good english speakers. A japanese speaker is highly recommended. If you can't swing that the Info/Tourist desks are a good place to ask.

Finally, if you flew in JAL (whish code shades AA IIRC) they offer their own Takkyubin service that will check your bags into the flight. Give them 2 days for Kyoto, 1 day from Tokyo.

Zhaunk

Hi! I'll be going to Japan in June. Going to visit Tokyo and Kyoto. Trying to decide on a railpass or not... I'd be taking a round trip to Kyoto and trips to and from NRT as well as trips on the line that circles Tokyo from and to Shinjuku. A rail pass seem easiest and a bit cheaper but I'd also really like to experience the best Japan has to offer trainwise which, I assume, is the Nozumi.

Am I correct in figuring the fare from Tokyo to Kyoto? (without a pass, of course)
Nozumi is 7980+5540 for a reserved seat
Hikara is 7980+5240 for reserved

Are there any charges I'm missing? Do you think I would have problems without a reservation on Nozumi trains in mid-June?

Thank you!