Reserving seats

Hello there,

New year is always a busy period when it comes down to travel. My advise would be to book tickets at least 2 days in advance. So I recommend trying to do so the moment that you have arrived in Japan and exchanged the JR Pass. The JR Pass has to be activated in order to make seat reservations, though you can select a day of 1st use once you activate it. This means that you don't have to start using it right away but reservations can already be made.

As for routing, all are straightforward in your itinerary. There is a direct Shinkansen from Tokyo station to Kanazawa. Travel to Takayama and Kyoto only involves one transfer.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thanks that's a great help wasn't sure how far in advance we should reserve our seats during the Xmas period
Kevin