Internet Reservations in Japanese

You could be lucky with a seat/nobi-nobi on the Sunrise Seto if you don't reserve a place, but yes - ideally you could try and reserve in advance. This train doesn't have seating, but rather has a selection of reclining areas for the trip.

If you do understand Japanese, there is a site where you can make seat reservations in advance of arrival in Japan: http://jreast.eki-net.com/. As you can see it is only really suitable for Japanese speakers, but may be a help for you!

Hope this helps!

I can get a friend to help me make a reservation over the internet after I have paid for the Pass. But can I do that say next week when I will still be outside Japan and not be able to collect the reservation/ticket until only about and hour before the train's departure time.

Hmm - I see your problem. Eki net doesn't specify that you have to pick tickets up in advance, but I've just tried to search for the seto and could not find the Sunrise Seto listed (it could just be that I didn't do the right search, but it could also be that it is unavailable for reservation online)

You could take a chance and turn up, but also possibly plan on using a night bus, or have some backup accommodation in Tokyo as a fallback in case you are not able to use the sleeper.

Hope this helps!