Reserved seats or unreserved seats ?

Good Morning,
We are 2 adults travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto on Sept 29th 2014, then Kyoto to Nagoya on October 3rd 2014, then Nagoya to Yokohama on 4th October 2014.(end of trip as we board cruise ship for 9 days)

We will NOT have a JR Pass. (Price for all trips on reserved seating is $314 aust and a JR pass will cost me $313 aust for the 7 days)

My question is can we travel all above destinations on NON RESERVED seats on the trains ??? as Hyperdia tells me all trips will cost me $176.00 aust each UNRESERVED that is a big saving.

Is it a busy time in Japan? What is the possibility that all the trains/unreserved sections will be full? I would say on average we will want to catch each train around the 9 - 9.30am time slot?? Is this a busy time to try and get unreserved seats?
Any advise is appreciated.
Kindest regards Diedre

My question is can we travel all above destinations on NON RESERVED seats on the trains ??? as Hyperdia tells me all trips will cost me $176.00 aust each UNRESERVED that is a big saving.

That doesn't sound right as the variation between reserved and unreserved seats should be less than 1000 yen per leg. Don't forget to add in the "unreserved seat fee" as hyperdia confusingly calls it.

Is it a busy time in Japan? What is the possibility that all the trains/unreserved sections will be full? I would say on average we will want to catch each train around the 9 - 9.30am time slot?? Is this a busy time to try and get unreserved seats?

It can be rather busy around that time, but you should be fine if you line up early and are flexible in the trains that you take.

I am so sorry I have been reading the Hyperdia web site all wrong. I was under the impression you did not have to pay a seat fee for UNRESERVED, just the FAIR. I can see clearly now that there is only a 1000yen or so difference between reserved and unreserved seat fee plus the FAIR.

I wonder if I should then buy a JR Pass here in Australia????

Will probably save a lot of waiting in line and getting to train station too early??

Diedre

It may be a good idea to pick up a JR pass if the price is so close. Either way, it's a lot nicer to travel by reserved seat, so maybe consider that even if you are purchasing regular tickets.

Hyperdia displays the total cost of your trip at the very top of each route with the fare and seat fee shown individually beside in brackets.

Thank you all so much. I feel very silly for total miss reading the pricing on the hyperdia web site. Yes I will be buying a JR pass for our up coming trip to Japan. Will be so much easier and I if I understand right I can make reservations well in advance or even day/s before?

kind regards Diedre

No worries, everyone makes that mistake at first. Hyperdia might want to rethink how they list the breakdown.

You can make reservations well in advance, but usually a day or two ahead of time is enough.

Tokyo - Kyoto ~ 14000 Yen
Kyoto - Nagoya ~ 6000 Yen
Nagoya - Yokohama ~ 10000 Yen

JR 7 Days pass : 291110 Yen

Get JR pass for sure.