I need help figuring out what time we should reserve Shinkansen seats to go from Tokyo to Kyoto.
My husband and I are arriving in Tokyo early Monday morning (late October). We're probably nuts, but we decided that as long as we're already exhausted from our flight, we might as well just head straight for Kyoto and then leave Tokyo till the last part of our trip.
My question is this – if our flight is due into Haneda at 5 am, what time should we try to get seats on the Shinkansen to Kyoto? I need to factor in time for deplaning, getting through customs, taking a shower at the airport, getting our luggage sent ahead to Kyoto, and and the reality that this is our first time in Japan and we don't speak Japanese, so we are likely to get lost finding our way from the airport into Tokyo. And who knows if the flight will actually arrive on schedule.
Does anyone have any advice? Also, since we can't check into our hotel in Kyoto until 3 pm, we have a little flexibility.
by PlumBoyOy
4 comments
This question comes up almost daily.
Buy your Shinkansen tickets at the station. They won’t sell out and they depart every few minutes.
6-10 trains leave per hour in that direction throughout the day. This isn’t like being at some middle-of-nowhere Amtrak stop with only 2 trains a day.
And if you get lost getting into the city – honestly that’s really hard to do. Signage in the transit systems are all in English. Google Maps works. Haneda to a Shinkansen station is exceptionally easy – there’s a _direct train_ between the airport and Shinagawa.
Just buy the tickets at the station, there will be plenty of seats. Pick a seat on the right side of the train if you can, to get a view of Mt Fuji on the way.
Don’t go to Tokyo station to get the Shinkansen – go to Shinagawa station, it’s quicker from Haneda Airport and you can get there on the Keikyu Airport Line on a direct subway train.
You can’t get lost, all the important signage is copied in English. Get an eSIM and use Google Maps, it will tell you the exact trains, station exits, and platforms to use.
Hope you clear customs perfectly on time.