Direction within Tokyo Station

Hi everyone!

I really need help regarding Tokyo Station.

I will arrive into Tokyo Station at track 3 (Keihin-Tohoku Line) or track 4 (Yamanote Line) from Hamamatsucho. I will give myself an hour at Tokyo Station before boarding the Joetsu Shinkansen for Jomo-Kogen, departing from platform 22.
In this one hour I would like to go buy ekiben from Ekiben-ya Matsuri which I read is at Tokyo Station City's Central Street. I also read that it is inside the paid section of the station.

Would anyone be kind enough to give me a clear direction, please? Do I need to go to another level? I am a bit confuse about the 'paid section'.. Does it mean I don't exit from the Yamanote/Keihin-Tohoku area but just head towards the Shinkansen gate? I see in the map the shop is in between the tracks 3/4 and 22. But I am not sure if I need to go to a different floor..
http://www.tokyostationcity.com/pdf/yubisashi_english.pdf

Tq, Mel

Since you are changing from a JR train to another JR train (Shinkansen), you don't leave the station. Inside the whole station is the "paid" section, meaning, if you wanted to walk in from outside, you need to pay.

From the platform (either track 3 or 4), you take the escalator or stairs down, and that should take you to the level shown on the page "1F." There you should be able to find the ekiben shop. Or if you want to walk around a bit more, there are more lunch box stores on the B1 level as well, where they say "Grand Sta."

By the way, if you have a JR Pass the distinction between the "paid" area and the rest becomes moot since you can pass through ticket control as you wish.

It would be foolish to leave the paid area, since there are no serious bento shops available nearby, due to your time constraints. Grand Station has several, so don't get hung up on the one you are looking for specifically. By that I mean if you see something else you like, then go for it. Grand Station is a great place to shop, for food, beer or whatever.

You really only need to be on the Shinkansen platform 5 minutes ahead of when the train leaves. I forget if the East Japan platforms have a big bento shop on the platforms like the Chuo Shinkansen has (I really like their sandwich assortment). No matter what, you can get lots of interesting bento on the train itself, from the JR vendors who pass through the cars with their carts full of goodies. Note that they (and the conductors) bow when they enter and leave each car.

If you have JR Pass or if you bought the Shinkansen Tickets separately, than you can go out the paid area if you want to because you would have not put your ticket Shinkansen Ticket thru the gate machine yet. The Shinkansen line has a different gate.

5-10 mins before on the platform is enough unless you are doing unreserved seating which than I recommend 20 mins or so

Hope this helps!
Have Fun!

This is official stn map of JR Tokyo.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/stations/e1039.html
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/stations/img/map_e/e1039.pdf
No need ticket gate out and re-entering. (pink area is paid section)

1)
"Ekiben-ya matsuri" placed between 6 and 7 platform escalators bottom of Central Street(pink area).
http://100tokyo.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/417bb50e5cf1727356e37...
So just down to lower floor by escalator not so hard.
Ride mid cars(11cars all) best.
KT(water blue)/Y(light green) trains are no different
both all trains will stop JR Tokyo no worry.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LPc0VC3q-Qw/maxresdefault.jpg
http://townphoto.net/tokyo/tch/tch114.jpg

2)
Joetsu(JR East's) Shinkansen ticket gate placed same level.(need short stairs up)
Watch carefully direction signs on ur head.
http://yamazawa.sakura.ne.jp/mt/weblog1/images/tokyo_w_20060811_01.jpg
http://yamazawa.sakura.ne.jp/weblog1/images/tokyo_w_20060811_10.jpg
http://yamazawa.sakura.ne.jp/mt/weblog1/images/tokyo_w_20060811_11.jpg
(electric train info displays will changing JP to ENG soon no worry)
http://yamazawa.sakura.ne.jp/mt/weblog1/images/tokyo_w_20060811_13.jpg

Tranfering under 10 min enough except buying ekiben time.
No need about one hour too much.

there are no serious bento shops available nearby

There are serious bento selections in several places within a five-minute walk of Tokyo station, including the fantastic department-store food floor at Daimaru, about a minute outside the gates, and the basement of JP Tower/Kitte. There's plenty in the station though, so no real need to leave.

Grand Station is a great place to shop

It's actually called 'GranSta' and it's on the B1 level. There's also 'GranSta Dining' on 1F (not directly above the basement GranSta), where you can also find bentos. But the big Matsuri bento shop on 1F is a good first stop.

Thanks so much for your clear direction! Tokyo Station always confuse me and I got lost a couple of times in the shopping area..
I'll be getting the JR Kanto Area Pass since I'm going away for 3 days.
I allot an hour of minimum transit time at Tokyo Station since I am pretty sure I'll go a bit bonkers trying to choose the ekiben! Anyway, we get kicked out of our hotel at 10am anyway (Toyoko Inn Shinagawa-eki Konan Guchi Tennozu). Thus, may even head to Tokyo Station earlier. I dare not really visit other places in between incase we got delayed and miss the Shinkansen. We must board this timing (12:32) since we need to meet the hotel shuttle at Jomo-Kogen by 14:00.

Tq again!
Mel

ekiben from Ekiben-ya Matsuri

Check this out:
http://tokyoexcess.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/ekiben-matsuri-train-bento-...