Is this doable by rail and how far in advance do a need to reserve seats if I have a J-pass and does it need to be activated to reserve them

Hi there,

I can most certainly say that a JR Pass will help you well here. You are visiting all over Japan and it can cost a good bit without the JR Pass to travel to cities like Nagoya, Kyoto Osaka, Fukuoka, Oita and Kumamoto using the Shinkansen. You could look at using either a 14-day or 21-day JR Pass. I can't say for sure which would be best for you, as I do not know how many days you will be travelling.

Seat reservations can be made on the day of travel and we'll send you details with your order how to activate the JR Pass.

Hope this helps,
Daniel