Can JR Rail Pass be used during rush hour on Shinkansen Hikari?

Question

I will be in Kyoto but my flight is at 2PM from Tokyo Narita.

Can I use JR Rail Pass during rush hour? I'm thinking of taking Shinkansen Hikari at 7.30AM of that morning from Kyoto to Tokyo Station and transfer to Narita Airport.

Can JR Rail Pass reserve ticket for Shinkansen in advance to make sure that I have ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo?

Should I be concern about anything? How is Shinkansen during rush hour?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I don't think there are many people who go from Kyoto to Tokyo everyday.

You can take Hikari with JRP no matter what time it is.

Besides, there are many Hikari trains going. So I think you can take one.

Answer 2

You CAN use the pass during rush hour. However, getting a reserved seat at that time is practically impossible because Native Japanese commuters are able to pay for reserved seats 2 days in advance.

Tourist with the pass are only able to do so 1 day in advance.

You will need to arrive early to be one of the first passengers in line at the entrance to the Non-Reserved Car. If you arrive late, you may have to stand all the way.

By the way, you are cutting it close: the 7:45am Hikari arrives at Tokyo station 2 hours and 55 minutes later at 10:40am. Then, you have to go to the NEX platform, and that trip to Narita takes just over an hour.

The NEX has only reserved seats, and does not allow standees, so you won't have a problem there.

Remembering that you should arrive at Narita airport at least 1 1/2 hours prior to departure of an international flight to clear customs and security, I would go to Tokyo the day before you leave. Also, Narita is a HUGE airport, and you may have to walk 10 ~ 15 minutes to get to your gate.

Try to get a reserved seat as early as possible for the Shinkansen.

Answer 3

You must arrive at Narita airport station before noon for safe checking to go home.

Counting back to Kyoto departure time, it must be earlier than Hikari 408(Kyoto DD 7:45AM and Tokyo AA 10:10AM) or Hikari 360 (Kyoto DD 7:29 and Tokyo AA 10:30AM) for getting connecting Narita express(#17 Tokyo DD 10:33AM or #19 11:03AM) because you need more than 15minutes to move from Shinkansen plaform to Narita express platform with luggages.

http://english.jr-central.co.jp/info/tim...

Be sure you can't use JR pass for Nozomi but you can buy Nozomi ticket if you pay independently. Anyway, time is money sometimes.

Seat reservation is available in advance starting one month before the actual boading date so that you'd better go Midori no Madoguchi for safe reservation as much earlier as possible. Once you got the seat, morning rush hour is nothing to do for you. Japanese busy businessmen prefer always Nozomi for quickest move to morning Tokyo. Your Hikari train is rather not so crowded if it is not

seasonal busy period such as Obon, Golden weak and end-year/new-year days.

Answer 4

There's no time limitation on the JR pass.  Rush hour is complete h**l.  Toting luggage would be stressful.  

It's difficult to get reserved seating during rush hour, but it couldn't hurt to try.