Hello, We will be coming to Japan on April 27th after 16 days in China. (We initially planned our trip to be Japan first, then China, to avoid GW but couldn't get the tickets to work out.) We will be in Japan until May 7th.
Questions:
1. Is there anyway to book our train reservations before we get there based on our itinerary?
2. If we can't book until we arrive on 4/27, will it be unlikely that we can get reservations for the itinerary listed?
3. Would it be better to purchase other types of tickets rather than the full 14 day JR Pass?
Our itinerary is as follows and we planned to purchase a 14 day JR Pass:
Saturday 4/27/12 Shanghai to Tokyo flight (9:55 am – arrive Tokyo at 1:50 pm) Stay in Narita
Sunday 4/28/12 Depart Narita 6:59 am and arrive Takayama at 1:09 pm (3 trains).
Monday 4/29/13 Takayama –Take 1 hour bus to Shirakawa – go.
Tuesday 4/30/13 Shirakawa – go in am. Take bus 1.25 hours to Kanazawa in pm.
Wednesday 5/1/13 Kanazawa –
Thursday 5/2/13 Nara (6 am train – arrive 9:40)
Friday 5/3/13 Nara in am. Train to Kyoto in afternoon.
Saturday 5/4/13 Kyoto day - Nijo castle
Sunday 5/5/13 Kyoto day Additional temples.
Monday 5/6/13 Kyoto day – Fushimi Inari Travel to Tokyo or more time in Kyoto?
Tuesday 5/7/13 Return to Narita (Subway to Kyoto station, Kyoto train 8:56 to Narita 12:56) Depart Narita at 5:00 PM
