Travelling over new years

Hi Kelsey!

During the New Year period trains in Japan will operate normally, however a lot of people will be travelling during this time so make sure to reserve your seats on time! You can do this the moment that you exchange your pass.

As a general rule trains stop between midnight and 6 a.m. For instance the last train you can take with the JR Pass from Osaka to Tokyo leaves at 20.54 and arrives at 23.45. You can use Hyperdia.com to check the time tables.

Let me know if there is any particular part of your trip that you are worried about and I can look it up for you!

Hope it helps,
-Daniel

Thanks that helps a lot!

Can i use my JR pass to go to these smaller villages or will i have to use a different type of transport?

Kelsey

Also, I arrive into Osaka Itami Airport, Can i validate my ticket here? If not, where would be the closest place?

By smaller villages I take it that you mean, Yudanaka and Nozawa onsen?

You can use your Rail pass to travel to Nagano and from there take a Private Railway (Nagano Electric Railway) to Yudanaka this last part costs (¥1,130 Yen). Here is an example of the journey.
http://tinyurl.com/ayqz98l

As for Nozawa, take the private rail back to Nagano and from there the JR Pass will cover the rest.
For example see http://tinyurl.com/d4ptyps

If you plan your trip to Nozawa using Hyperdia make sure to use the station name TOGARINOZAWA-ONSEN (and not Nozawa) or else you might end up somewhere completely different!

There is no exchange office at Itami (are you sure you are flying to Itami? Most international flights land at Kansai International Airport). The closest ticket exchange office would be Osaka station or Shin-Osaka. Here is a list with exchange points. http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en009.html

Let me know if you have more questions!
-Daniel