We were staying at Kyoto for a week, we had everything planned out (booked hotels) to go to Tokyo yesterday but the train we had reserved our seats for was obviously cancelled because of the typhoon. We went to Kyoto station to change our reserved seats for a train the next day. However the trains are again suspended due to heavy rain. We are losing alot of money now because we will miss our visit to Shibuya sky (you had to reserve tickets long before) and we had to pay the hotel in Kyoto stay for 1 more night. We also already paid the hotel in Tokyo for the planned days. Is there any way to get our money back?
Note: we have the JR rail pass so we know we won’t get any money back for the trains.
31 comments
Did you purchase travel insurance? Check your policy and see if you can get a reimbursement from them.
I would not expect the hotel in Tokyo or the event space to give you a refund for being a no show.
All you can do is ask the hotel for a refund, but they are not obliged to give one. If they don’t then you will need to claim through travel insurance.
The train suspension between Kyoto and Tokyo has been lifted a few minutes ago.
Others have suggested travel insurance which is your best option, but I will say that I was in a similar situation in June – heavy rains stopped the shinkansen while I was on my way to a one-night stay in Kobe – and after I called the hotel and explained, Agoda canceled the reservation without charging me.
This kind of thing happens in Japan, so hotels can be fairly understanding. No guarantees of course.
Same we were in kyoto and supposed to leave the 15th but they got suspended. I then rebooked that night for 933am the next day. When we get there it’s delayed so wait and wait around 233 we decide to only give till 3 and stay in kyoto to rebook the next day as we still saw our train on the screen. We’ll my husband sees people running to the gate and asks the guy if the train is suspended. They simply said go up stairs. So we go and behold our train is only 2 trains behind. Currently on the train now 8/16 as it was 5 hours delayed
Travel. Insurance.
Most credit card usually comes with this, if you haven’t already.
What kind of advice do you want, other than perhaps you should have got travel insurance? Which is completely your responsibility?
A typhoon interrupted my last trip to Japan during the Rugby World Cup in 2019. We were in Hamamatsu and decided to head to Tokyo a day early to avoid getting stuck. Lost out on a night’s accommodation, and the rugby game.
The hotel we booked in Tokyo was the same one we had a reservation for the following nights, so they linked the bookings and let us swap to our reserved rooms the next day.
Claimed the accommodation on travel insurance. This is why you take out travel insurance!
Hey, you won the unlucky lottery during typhoon season. This is why you get travel insurance.
JR only provides ticket refunds for cancellations caused by natural disasters if you have indeed made the purchase. The company is not accountable for any losses. Generally, hotels do accept refunds for disaster-related cancellations, but they usually demand advance notice (in this instance, one day before, as JR had announced train cancellations).
Shibuya Sky accepts changes to your visit date (free) and cancellations (with a 20 percent fee).
How about using limited express trains instead? They’re covered by your JR Pass.
It won’t be as quick, but at least you’ll get to Tokyo.
From Kyoto station:
JR Special Rapid to Maibara ->
Ltd. Exp. Shirasagi to Nagoya ->
Ltd. Exp. Shinano to Shiojiri ->
Ltd. Exp. Azusa to Shinjuku ->
Travel insurance as others have said and maybe take alternative transport – regional/limited express trains can eventually get you to Tokyo. Maybe you can rent a car? I don’t know if flights are leaving, but checking for last minute tickets could also be an option.
You can claim on travel insurance maybe but what do you want them to do? There’s a damn typhoon
Have you tried local trains?
I once had the same problem. I wrote the hotel that we cant make it because of the typhoon and they were very kind to cancel 1 night.
Tokaido Shinkansen suspended in the west, delays in the east (shizuoka -tokyo), but last trains at 1930.
Was trying to get from Osaka to NRT today with the Shinkansen and missed my flight home due to the delays. Was looking at thousands of dollars for a rescheduled flight but luckily my airline understood the situation and got me a new flight for free.
Still spent nearly 9 hours at the platform waiting for the trains to be operational again. They just started working at a reasonable pace now and the storm seems to have subsided a little. Not a great day
If you book from Agoda and contact them, they might be able to give a full refund despite the no refund policy due to natural disaster.
I did that when i had to change my schedule from the same typhoon you were hit with! I was in Kobe trying to go to Tokyo.
Why do you need to reserve your tickets? I had t
The 14 day pass and never had to reserve anything
Anyone know when Shinkansen will be running properly again?
Did you try writing the manager of Japan?
Try your credit card company to see if your card you used has any benefits for travel hardship.
On my second extra day in Hiroshima I was pissed off and took local trains in the general direction of Osaka. Visited two castles, drank some beer in between and now I’m stuck god knows where, near Himeji. My Kyoto hotel was super understanding! So: win some, lose some, I guess!
When I was in Japan, we had to cancel our Kyoto leg due to typhoon. The hotel we were staying at in Tokyo offered to communicate with our reservation in Kyoto and helped us cancel our reservation without cost. It seemed to me that they were super understanding, but maybe that was a one-off sort of situation.
Sorry you aren’t making it to Kyoto as planned, that’s really a bummer. For us, it just meant that we can’t wait to make it back to Japan soon.
Currently stuck on this shinkansen to osaka… hasn’t moved for a good 45 minutes… honestly have no idea what to do in this situation as I feel we won’t be able to make to our hotel in time and will need to resort to a taxi once we arrive in Osaka. We have plans to go to Universal tomorrow (17th).
I’m out some money for prebooked hotel rooms as well but honestly I’m more annoyed by the fact that I’ve had to spend some extra days in Tokyo and will now be unable to squeeze in a few places I was planning on going to.
If you didn’t get travel insurance you might have protections from the credit card you used. Worth checking.
Shit happens when travelling. Just have to go with the flow and make the best of it. Currently stuck in Tokyo trying to get to Kyoto.
1. You can travel around japan using other methods than shinkansen. You could even rent a car.
2. Get in touch with your insurance company. They probably cover this type of thing.
That just life lol
I was just glad I wasn’t doing any serious traveling during this. I got into Osaka two days before the typhoon and I leave for Fukuoka tomorrow. It definitively put a hitch in my plans for Kyoto today and I ended up taking a local train over, but that was luckily it.
But yeah, Shin-Osaka station was a special kind of hell today with people camped out waiting for their trains and lines upon lines of people everywhere. I got in and was like “Huh, must be busy from people who’s stuff got canceled yesterday.” But then I saw the delays for this morning and was just blown away.