Questions about shinkansen trip from Tokyo to Kyoto and back?

Question

Tokyo to Kyoto: What time is the first shinkansen trip of the day? How often? I only need info for Hikari & Kodama.

Does the Tokyo-Kyoto shinkansen gets crowded, too?

I have a JR Pass and I will take a shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, do I need to make a reservation for this trip? What is the purpose of the reservation if I already have a JR Pass?

Answer 1

I don't know the time of the first shinkansen of the day, but I used www.hyperdia.com for all of my travel in Japan and it was fabulous to use.

EDIT:  Checking it out, the first shink is at 4:55 AM and uses several transfers. The first one you wouldn't have to transfer on is at 6AM (Nozomi line). The first Hikari is at 6:23AM.  It's about 2.5 hours from Tokyo to Kyoto.

The Tokyo-Kyoto shinkansen does get crowded, yes. That's why reservations are helpful, as it guarantees you a seat, whereas otherwise you'll have to take your chances. If you're getting on at the first stop/departure, it's easier, but if you're getting on and off along the way, getting a seat is more difficult. It's not that long of a trip, but I think having a seat is always nicer than having to stand between cars (which I've done as well).

Enjoy the travel! I miss Japan.

Answer 2

You don't need a reservation but it guarantees you a seat, otherwise it's possible you might have to stand the whole trip. The first Hikari/Kodama would be leaving between 06:00 and 06:30 and those early trains are likely to be full of salarymen on any given work day and almost empty on the weekend. If you get to the platform early and line up for boarding you can increase your chances of getting a seat without a reservation. I suggest buying your snacks and beverages (it wouldn't be a real Japanese rail journey without 'em!) on the platform rather than paying JR twice as much for the same thing onboard-although the draft beer wagon is nice.

Answer 3

A JR Railpass does not guarantee a seat. It only allows you to travel on the Shinkansen without having to pay extra fees.

You can NOT use the pass to travel on the Nozomi shinkansen. If you happen to get on that particular shinkansen, you will have to pay the regular fare for your trip, even if you have a JR Railpass.

I have been to Japan five times, and have used the JR Rail pass many times to travel all across the country.

I have also been on a Shinkansen which was so crowded that people were standing at the front and back, as well as in the aisle of the reserved car in which I had a reserved seat.

If you do not make a reservation, you can use the non-reserved car, but you need to be at the front of the line-up right at where the entrance door of the train is going to be.

By the way, you can also use the pass for the JR ferry to Miyajima, and chair in a night train, but NOT the sleeper car section of the train.

To find out the schedule of all of your travel, use the following URL:

www.hyperdia.com

Answer 4

You can check its timetable to find the first train.

http://english.jr-central.co.jp/index.ht...

>Does the Tokyo-Kyoto shinkansen gets crowded, too?

It depends on date and time. If it's early morning on weekday, it's highly unlikely that it's crowded.

>do I need to make a reservation for this trip?

Shinkansen has "reserved seat car" and "free seat car". If you want to take a seat in reserved seat car, you need reservation.

>What is the purpose of the reservation if I already have a JR Pass?

Sometimes, shinkansen is too crowded to take a seat. So you can secure your seat by reservation.

Answer 5

It is 6:23am Hikari train bound for Shin-Osaka. The following  trains are every 03 and 33minutes of HIkari or 56minutes of Kodama. Avoid Kodama because it is not fast and you have to wait long time for being passed by Nozomi or HIkari at so many stations.

http://www.shinkansen.co.jp/jikoku_hyo/e...

Crowded or not crowded. It depends time, day and season.

If you need to secure seat, you'd better get reservation.

For revervation, I recommend seat E which is Mt.Fuji view window side.  A is another window side, B is worst because it's middle and C and D are isle side.

http://www.jr-odekake.net/train/hikari_n...

Holding JR pass itself doesn't mean you get seat of train automatically. Free seats are only for first come first serve base. If you really need seat, you have to reverve seat before boarding.

You must go Midori no Madoguchi ticket office to be issued free reservation ticket  using JR pass but need to consider enough time to proceed for boarding. Sometimes it draws line very long to tiketing.

If busy season, you can't get any ticket you request to reserve same day because the seats are limited so that reservation entry starts quite long time before the day on board.

Answer 6

For the timetable about Tokyo-Kyoto shinkansen with your JR pass, you need to go to Tokyo JR office in Shinkansen counter to ask the staff to reserve your seat with your pass if it is including shinkansen pass.  If your ticket simplely the average pass then you might need to pay the subsidary gap fee roughtly 10000 yen for the fastest train ticket.

Each shinkansen passenger got his own seat like seating in the airplane and you could put your luggage in the same section of train where you seat or above on your head for smaller ones.  

Don't fall asleep like me that you could see pretty Fuji mountain from this train line... Good luck!!