Tokyo to Hakata
 

Hi I plan on going from Tokyo to Hakata this summer and am getting the JR railpass and from what i understood the Hikari went straight there but on a post i saw early they were saying only the nozomi goes from tokyo to hakata. If that is so would i have to transfer at shin-osaka to another hikari or what?

If you are taking a Hikari from Tokyo most of the time you would need to change at Shin-Osaka or at Okayama Station (depending on train) to get to Hakata.

As always you can use www.hyperdia.com to check your connections.
Be sure to select "except nozomi" and deselect airline results.

With the Railpass, you cannot take Nozomi, so you will need to take Hikari to Shin Osaka, then change to another Hikari, most likely Hikari Railstar to Hakata. If you have lots of luggage, I would suggest you take Hikari to Shin Kobe, one after Shin Osaka to change as there is only one platform at Shin Kobe (some Hikari goes on to Okayama). If you travel between Shin Osaka and Hakata mostly, don't bother getting a "Green" first class railpass, as Railstar does not have "Green cars."

Looks like most options will be ShinOsaka or Okayama. Of the two, I like Okayama for ease of use.

JR

If you're on a Hikari that has a stop at ShinKobe from Tokyo, then its final destination of that train is Okayama, I would change at Okayama, it is also a crossplatform change there.

Wow, times have certainly changed. I remember traveling from Tokyo Station to Hakata on the same Hikari (no transfers) in 2000. It took us about 5.5 hours.

While we did have a lot of luggage, the space between rows of seats (in the Green Car) was large enough to accommodate our suitcases which made excellent leg rests. Stocked up on Eki Bento at Tokyo station - no time to get out and shop during the 3 minute stops at stations along the way.