7 Nights, 6 Days Itinerary

Hello there,

Most of your itinerary looks great, there's only one thing that concerns me, which is the night train you plan to travel on. First there's no night train service between Hiroshima - Tokyo, so I assume that you mean the Sunrise express between Okayama - Tokyo. Going traveling to Okayama from Hiroshima is not a problem, however getting tickets for the Sunrise may be hard. The train is very popular, especially during summer and can be sold out weeks in advance. My advice would be to try to reserve tickets as soon as you are in Japan and have exchanged your JR Pass. Also be sure to have a Plan B ready in case you may not be able to reserve tickets for the Sunrise express.

For the rest, I think your itinerary looks good!

Hope this helps you!
Daniel

Hello! Thank you for the response.

Yes, I did mean the Sunrise express between Okayama - Tokyo. I will be there from June 3-9. Since it is the rainy season, is the possibility that the train will sold out still likely?

Is there any way to reserve the tickets before getting to Japan, or at least is there a way to know if the tickets have sold out?

Hi Again!

It's almost impossible to reserve seats outside of Japan. Basically you would need to know somebody in Japan who could reserve the tickets for you, or inquire about availability.

With night trains you just never know, I've found trains fully books 3 weeks before departure and also found it possible to find a seat 10min before departure on other days. During weekends trains will be sold out quicker but you have a good chance to get a ticking during week days.

My recommendation would be to try to reserve a seat as soon as possible once you arrive in Japan and failing that adjust plans.

Sorry for the bad news but it's better to know now that to be left stranded.