Night travel

Sorry if this is a repeat posting !

Hello again Daniel

my friend and I aim to leave Japan after the Rugby World Cup quarter final on Sunday 20th October.

It is at Oita Stadium and I thought we would be ble to catch a train taking about 7 or 7 1/2 hours -as it does in the daytime - around 8 - 8.30 pm ... but I'm getting information that it would take 13 gours

Is this right ? Do the bullet trains not run throught the night ?

thanks

Nick

Hi Nick,

Where are you getting your information from on train times? The whole trip should take about 420 minutes (during the day by Shinkansen).

There is no public transport in Japan after midnight and starts the following morning around 6 am. Keep this in mind when planning your trip.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thank you again Daniel-San (I must start practising !)

I was gauging the times from the Google map site.

Is it correct in telling me that I can catch
17.44 Oita Station to Haneda Airport 00.52 arrival ?

This is on Sunday 20-Monday 21 Oct later this year.

IF THIS IS WRONG AND NOT POSSIBLE please tell me what you believe to be our latest departure time (even if not using Oita Station but another station close to the Oita Stadium)

many thanks

Nick Cobbett

Hi Nick,

I recommend using Hyperdia instead of Google Maps, as Google maps does not show all trains covered by the JR Pass.

For travel times, I recommend learning to plan with Hyperdia this way you can find any route/timetable and more. It's a great tool for planning with the JR Pass. We also have a useful interactive map with all JR lines included.

The latest viable connection I can find going from Oita to Haneda using the JR Pass departs at 15.11. You can see it here: http://bit.ly/2YW1kH4

Kind regards,
Daniel

Very usefuland informative - thank you, Daniel-San

best regards

Nick Cobbett

Hello again, Daniel-San

my friend and I are fixed to fly into Japan on 19th September, when we will attend 10 rugby matches in the Rugby World Cup. I have some further questions ...

1) I want to know if Japan Rail Passes will cover these journeys :

• Tokyo to Sapporo on 20th Sept

• Sapporo to Kumagaya City on 23rd September

• Kumagaya City to Higashi-Osaka on 30th September or 1st or 2nd October

• Higashi-Osaka to Shizuoka City on 4th October

• Shizuoka City to Oita between 12th October and 18th October

• Oita to Tokyo on 21st October

I assume all these north-south routes are covered?

2) Does the JRP also allow us travel out into the country from the centres (Tokyo, Sapporo, Kumagaya, Higashi-Osaka, Shizuoka Oita) ?
We are in Japan for 5 weeks and will want to travel to see other sites (Kyoto and Fuji amongst others) when we have no rugby matches to go to.

If we have to buy tickets or passes for other trains, perhaps we should NOT buy JRPs but just single tickets for the 6 trips that I list above ?

3) The train journeys I have listed above I have seen are in stages - can we take those stages individually ? Can we break the journey and continue another day if we just buy ONE ticket for the whole journey ? Or tell me how the prices change if we choose to do a journey in stages. For example :

• the journey from Kumagaya to Higashi-Osaka we do not have to do in a single day and we would like to travel and stop in different places on the journey to stay in different places each night; that is the same for some of the other journeys.

4) I enquired on the internet directly about a train journey from Tokyo to Sapporo and found this – NOT through Hyperdia which you suggested where I could only find a journey in 4 stages (with 3 transfers) taking 814 minutes (646 travel minutes on the train) which is more than 13 hours travel altogether but includes nearly 3 hours of waiting for trains. This was the quickest by a long way of 5 journies listed for that day.

“Take the JR Tohoku/Kokkaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto (4 hours) and then transfer to the Hokuto limited Express to Sapporo (3.5 hours). The entire one way trip costs around 27,000 Yen and takes around 8 hours.
It is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass and the JR East South Hokkaido Rail Pass”

This came from :-
Sapporo Travel: Access, Orientation and Transportation - Japan Guide

https://www.japan-guide.com › ...

You will see that we find only an 8 hour journey here ... you do noet need to guess which journey we would choose.

Please explain each of these to me as I don't feel you are giving me the information I need.

with my thanks

Nick Cobbett

Oh !

I forgot to add :-

5) What extra costs have to be paid when travelling by train ? Seat Reservations I saw are mandatory on some routes - how much for the journey from Tokyo to Sapporo ?

Are there other additions ? extras to expect ?

thank you again

Nick Cobbett

Hi Nick,

Been awhile , good to see your plans coming together.

Let's dive into your questions.

1.) All these cities can be reached by the JR Pass, I wrote a Stadium Access guide a while back for personal reference. You may find it useful too, it can be found here.

2.) Yes, for sure. There are many places you can go to in the country side. Have a look at our JR Map to get an idea of where JR lines can be found.

3.) Yes, the JR Pass allows you to hop on and off trains as much as you like. So you are fully flexibly in your travel.

4.) When travelling north of Tokyo, enable the option in Hyperdia with Hayabusa. The Hayabusa train is covered by the JR Pass and is the fastest way to Hokkaido.

5.) Seat reservations are free with the JR Pass, so don't expect any additional fees :)

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thank you Daniel

I will use your links and continue to look into our journeys

best regards

Nick Cobbett