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New Year Travel Advice

calypso73
calypso73
over 9 years ago
2 responses

Hello,

My husband and I will be flying into Tokyo via Narita on the 30th of December and plan to activate the 7 day pass by using it on the N'EX train. We also plan to take a trip to Kyoto and Osaka on Jan 2 and 3 with a return to Tokyo on the afternoon of December 3. Our plan is:

Dec. 30 - Narita - Tokyo N'EX
Jan. 2 early morning - Tokyo - Kyoto, sleep in Kyoto
Jan. 3 morning - Kyoto - Osaka full day
Jan. 3 afternoon around 4 or 5 - Osaka to Kyoto
Jan. 5 Tokyo - Narita on N'EX

My question is, is Dec. 30 a little late for us to be making seat reservations for the Tokyo-Kyoto, Kyoto-Osaka and then Osaka-Tokyo trips? We arrive around 7pm at the Shinjuku station and I'm not sure the JR Office by the South Gate will be closed by that time. Will our chance of getting seats be higher if we got a green pass instead of the regular? Also, if we have a green pass, is it okay to just hop onto any unreserved car? I appreciate all your input, thank you!

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
over 9 years ago
Expert

Hello there,

It's good to see that most travel is after New Year, this will make it a lot easier to travel around. Especially if you make reservations on the 30th. The Shinjuku office will be open until late in the evening and you could certainly make reservations around 7pm.

I would advise buying a Green Pass when you prefer to travel in a more relaxed way, it's also a great way to skip some of the traveling crowd. However I would not buy a Green Pass if your goal is just get to a better chance for seats, it does allow you to take any ordinary non reserved seat as well.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

calypso73
calypso73
2 posts
over 9 years ago

Thank you very much for the advice!


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