soniam
Wooden leg named Smith...
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2012
Transportation
Trains
I looked into getting a Japan Rail Pass; however, when I priced out the cost of our train travels using the fare calculator on the JR site, the pass would be more expensive than buying the individual trips. The cost has gone up significantly. We plan to take local trains and the shinkansen from Tokyo->Osaka, Osaka<->Himeji, Osaka->Kyoto, Kyoto<->Nara, Kyoto->Ghibli Park, and Ghibli Park->Tokyo Disney.
I then tried to figure out how to purchase tickets ahead of time. I also wanted to try to get oversized luggage storage on the Tokyo->Osaka leg at least. Our luggage won’t be oversized, but the suitcases might not fit in the overhead. There is also only 1 overhead storage per row per side. It can really only hold 1 suitcase. The only other place to put them would be in front of our feet. On certain shinkansen routes, you have to reserve the storage ahead of time and pay extra. It’s required if your luggage is too large. I found a JR app that allows pre-purchasing, but it wouldn’t take any of my credit cards. Klook sells pre-purchased tickets, but they don’t sell the oversized luggage ones and cannot guarantee that you will be seated with your party. So, we will just have to try to purchase the tickets at the station for Tokyo->Osaka when we arrive. This will at least give us several days before we head to Osaka. We will have to wait until we get to Osaka to buy the other tickets, since those locations are all within the Kansai region. Japan Rail is divided into regions. Tokyo and Kansai are different regions.
I finally discovered that JR-West will let you book tickets online for the Tokyo<->Osaka route, including reserved seats, 1st/green class, and oversized luggage. It was very easy, and I had no issues with my credit card. We just have pick up the tickets at a station before we travel. Luckily, Tokyo Station is one of them. We can pick it up at a counter or a machine.
Subways
I think we will wait until we arrive to see if we want a Tokyo Subway pass or just pay per ride with Suica. We will probably end up getting at least one pass, since we will have several days in each city.
Trains
I looked into getting a Japan Rail Pass; however, when I priced out the cost of our train travels using the fare calculator on the JR site, the pass would be more expensive than buying the individual trips. The cost has gone up significantly. We plan to take local trains and the shinkansen from Tokyo->Osaka, Osaka<->Himeji, Osaka->Kyoto, Kyoto<->Nara, Kyoto->Ghibli Park, and Ghibli Park->Tokyo Disney.
I then tried to figure out how to purchase tickets ahead of time. I also wanted to try to get oversized luggage storage on the Tokyo->Osaka leg at least. Our luggage won’t be oversized, but the suitcases might not fit in the overhead. There is also only 1 overhead storage per row per side. It can really only hold 1 suitcase. The only other place to put them would be in front of our feet. On certain shinkansen routes, you have to reserve the storage ahead of time and pay extra. It’s required if your luggage is too large. I found a JR app that allows pre-purchasing, but it wouldn’t take any of my credit cards. Klook sells pre-purchased tickets, but they don’t sell the oversized luggage ones and cannot guarantee that you will be seated with your party. So, we will just have to try to purchase the tickets at the station for Tokyo->Osaka when we arrive. This will at least give us several days before we head to Osaka. We will have to wait until we get to Osaka to buy the other tickets, since those locations are all within the Kansai region. Japan Rail is divided into regions. Tokyo and Kansai are different regions.
I finally discovered that JR-West will let you book tickets online for the Tokyo<->Osaka route, including reserved seats, 1st/green class, and oversized luggage. It was very easy, and I had no issues with my credit card. We just have pick up the tickets at a station before we travel. Luckily, Tokyo Station is one of them. We can pick it up at a counter or a machine.
Subways
I think we will wait until we arrive to see if we want a Tokyo Subway pass or just pay per ride with Suica. We will probably end up getting at least one pass, since we will have several days in each city.