Here is the backstory. I bought a Thunderbird ticket from Osaka (Umeda) to Kanazawa. At the time I thought the price seemed cheap (under 5000 yen). The next day I went to the station and when I put my ticket into the machine the gates slammed closed. The attendant said I needed to buy a second ticket. After talking to multiple people who couldn’t explain what ticket I needed, I finally talked to someone with perfect English at the JR information desk. She said I needed TWO tickets: one to reserve my seat and another that was the fare for the train. I bought another ticket directly from her (for the exact same price as the first one) , inserted them simultaneously into the gate and just barely made my train.
Fast forward to today and I’m trying to buy a ticket from Kanazawa to Tokyo. Scared I’m going to mess up the purchase again, I ask the attendant to help me and a SINGLE ticket pops out (not two like I needed before). I can’t make the lady understand my questions and eventually give up trying. Now I’m stressing out because I can already imagine the gate slamming shut tomorrow.
Can someone please explain what is going on (before my anxiety makes me go to the station two hours early tomorrow)? Do I really only need a single ticket to get to Tokyo tomorrow? If so, why did I need two tickets going from Osaka to Kanazawa?
by Crewmember169