Travel: Japan - General

[Estéema]

Great to hear fr you Dimitri!!

We're planning Apr/May trip & then Sep 2018 trip. Do pm me & hope to connect with you. I met a Japanese family but still waiting for them to get in touch when they plan to visit Spore.

[lumpy]

Anyone has problems buying on the spot Nozomi Bullet train ticket from Tokyo Station to Osaka in December.

[lumpy]

Anyone has problems buying on the spot Nozomi Bullet train ticket from Tokyo Station to Osaka in December.

[Smurfs]

Hi Parents

I will be travelling to Tokyo and the flight will reach the airport around 4pm.
I am staying in Citadines Shinjuku and travelling with 2 kids age 12 & 14 and my mum.
Question: Is it advisable to take
1) JR train? (crowded?)
2) Airport Limousine bus and alight at SHinjuku station and take a cab
3) Take a cab directly from airport to hotel. (Probably set me back by around S$150)

Many thanks in advance.

[Estéema]

Hi Parents

I will be travelling to Tokyo and the flight will reach the airport around 4pm.
I am staying in Citadines Shinjuku and travelling with 2 kids age 12 & 14 and my mum.
Question: Is it advisable to take
1) JR train? (crowded?)
2) Airport Limousine bus and alight at SHinjuku station and take a cab
3) Take a cab directly from airport to hotel. (Probably set me back by around S$150)

Many thanks in advance.

Hope not too late to share with you:-

1) JR train is like our MRT, just that it's faster speed. If u are traveling within Tokyo and not out to Nagoya, Hakone, Kyoto or Osaka then may be economical to but the subway card & top up whenever u need. You can surrender day before u leave for Spore. We decided to keep ours for next travel.

2) if u arrived before 10pm Japan time, its very convenient to travel using the Airport Limousine bus.

3) Cab are extremely expensive in Tokyo. Also consider you might be stuck in peak hour traffic.

Just my observation of Japan. Was in Tokyo last week. We were in Osaka after that.

[guqin]

Hi Parents

I will be travelling to Tokyo and the flight will reach the airport around 4pm.
I am staying in Citadines Shinjuku and travelling with 2 kids age 12 & 14 and my mum.
Question: Is it advisable to take
1) JR train? (crowded?)
2) Airport Limousine bus and alight at SHinjuku station and take a cab
3) Take a cab directly from airport to hotel. (Probably set me back by around S$150)

Many thanks in advance.

Are you arriving at Narita or Haneda?

[Estéema]

Anyone has problems buying on the spot Nozomi Bullet train ticket from Tokyo Station to Osaka in December.

I've not responded to yr qn earlier as I've no experience for Dec traffic. However, based in our lastest experience this month, there's no problem buying train tickets but need to book seats ahead, owise no seats. We purchased the JR tickets so we booked ahead for super fast train which takes abt 2-3 hrs ride over maybe 5 stops. Owise u'll hv to take the slower ones which do many stops. We had experienced missing one booking & went to ticket office re-book & happen to be off-peak & all the slow trains.

[lumpy]

Thank you for replying Esteema.

I believe you bought the JR railways pass. For Nozomi bullet train, I think there is only reserved, unreserved or green seat. I'm also worried about not able to get reserved seat.

Do you have any problem with your luggage. It's my first time taking Shinkansen. I heard the cabin is small so big lugguge would be a problem. I supposed those medium sized 28 inch should be alright?

[starlight1968sg]

There are compartments in each car of the train for luggage
If you can’t get reserved seats, go for another timing of the trains. Else go for the unreserved cars

[Estéema]

Thank you for replying Esteema.

I believe you bought the JR railways pass. For Nozomi bullet train, I think there is only reserved, unreserved or green seat. I'm also worried about not able to get reserved seat.

Do you have any problem with your luggage. It's my first time taking Shinkansen. I heard the cabin is small so big lugguge would be a problem. I supposed those medium sized 28 inch should be alright?

Yes. I did mention we bought the JR ticket, so it was easy to re-book seats on-the-go without worry of extra costs. We didn't find problems re-booking last minute after missing our booked seats but one time it was very full during peak period & our family had to split seatings, another time the 'split seatings' (we were told no 4-seats together) we cld sit together when we boarded (guess some families might hv missed their train).

There is green seats and ordinary seatings (normal ordinary seats are comfortable enuf) and the prices are different. Green/ordinary seats has nothing to do with reserved & unresevered seats, except ordinary seats are hot in demand esp peak hours.

We started travel fr Kansas to hotel using the train (initially plan to take limousine bus but arrd past 11pm so miss the last bus). You can leave yr luggage right at the beginning or end of the carriage you're assigned to. It's wide enuf to put at least 2 big luggage each side. For cabin luggage, we brot with us to our seats. Many regular Japanese riders wld put luggages, etc on compartments above seats. As travelers, I always ensure everything within my grasp for good reasons. One time my family refused to take my advice & due to fatigue placed all their backpacks on the upper components & forgot to take after grabing luggages. Thankfully we got them all back, albeit wasted waiting time for return train. The design ofctrain provides for hooks for costs & umbrellas, flip table for meals just like airplanes.

Hope abv helps.