Making reservation seats prior arrival in Japan + What if all seats are reserved before i can make them?

Hi there,

When pay for Green Class, then you want to travel in Green Class! That's what I think anyway :) The best way to go about it is make all the reservations on the day that you arrive in Japan. I'm not sure about the route you will be travelling but for example Tokyo - Kyoto has many Green Seats and rarely sells out. In case they do for a particular train, then you have the following options:

1.) Take an earlier train/later train. On many routes, trains are frequent and departures can only be minutes apart.

2.) Use a non-reserved seat, you can at all times, come to the station a bit early and queue up on the platform for a non-reserved seat. This is far from ideal if you have a Green Pass, but at least you'll always get to your destination.

Hope this helps :)
Daniel

Thanks Daniel for answering.

so in term of guarantee that I will get all the seats in 1 train ride is a no during peak seasons right?

also there is no way JR will compensate me in any way?

they will just ask me to take a different time or spilt up the number of passengers correct?

cheers

Hi again,

I can't say for sure until you have your seats booked, so there is no guarantee. At the same time, I've never heard of anyone not being able to get from point a to b. That said, my main concern here is that if you pay for Green Class you get Green Class and have seating together with your family.

In essence, what you are saying is correct. If the train you want to book is sold out, then they would ask to take an other train or non-reserved seating.

I hope that clarifies