Early morning JR Pass exchange Tokyo

We will be arriving at 5.30am on a weekday in late June at Haneda Airport, and will be travelling on to Nagoya by train.

Will there be a long queue at the JR Ticket Office at Haneda waiting until it opens at 7.45am?

I wondered whether we should travel to Tokyo Station which opens at 7.30am and catch our Nagoya train from there?

Would this be a bad idea at this time on a weekday morning? Would there also be a big queue there?

Exchanging JRPass vouchers at Tokyo-eke in the morning...which would I rather do, stand in those queues or drink draino? Tough call I did the exchange at haneda once and there was hardly anybody there. Of course it would be nice if there was some coordination between the ridiculously early arrivals from the States at Haneda and the start of availability of services including the JRPass exchange.

Others have talked about going to SHIN-YOKOHAMA station.
Shinkansen Ticket Gate (East Exit,) 5.30am-10.30pm, every day of the year.

The JR Pass website says that exchange at Shin-Yokohama is only possible from 8:00 to 20:30.

Thanks.

So should we just wait at Haneda, or is it a good idea to go to Tokyo Station?

Probably Firas is reffering to the following site.

http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/exchange.html

Yes, it says Shin-Yokohama JR-CENTRAL Ticket Office 8:00-20:30.

However, this site tells Shin-Yokohama JR-CENTRAL Ticket Office operates 5:30-22:30.

https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/common-questions/where-to-activate-jap...

JR Central also states that Shin-yokohama ticket booth is open 5:30-22:30.

http://railway.jr-central.co.jp/station-guide/shinkansen/shin-yokohama...

So, I can't say for sure, but if your plane land on time or even earlier and you want to move soon, your best bet might be going to Shin-Yokohama.

Probably a good option is to go to the Tokyo ticket office (Yaesu Office) and be there when it opens for exchange at 7:30 (the actual office opens earlier from memory). The last few times I used that counter there were not many people waiting. (The travel service centre is a different case.)

Depending on processing, (I assume you are on the Qantas flight), by the time you get to Tokyo it will be around 7:30.

@frog1954

1st link "www.japanrailpass.net" is PASS official web.
So reception hours already changed to 8:00 from 5:30 open.
(seem from this JAN? or late month of 2015 but couldn't find evidence)

But 2nd link "www.japan-rail-pass.com" is NOT offcial
no related any JR companies not Japanese company
just one of pass sales company(as travel agenc) located out of Japan.
So still not update as latest information.

3rd link is JR-Tokai offcial web
but that page means just "ticket office" open hours as regular work
so NOT Pass exchange staff(multilingual) exist hours.
Also most other pass exchange office using different reception hours usual.


@Ausfam

Cannot change int'l flight arr airport NGO,KIX or NRT from HND? (already booked?)
If go to Tokyo stn first but not enough operate numbers pass vaild Shinkansen "Hikari"
so you cannot reach so fast to Nagoya maybe just 30 min faster than stay HND until 7:45.
"Kodama" is slowest/all stn stop type no worth.

Well we flew in yesterday, and since our plane was late, the JR office at Haneda was already open. But there was a long queue and only 3 people working in the office, exchanging passes, booking seats and answering people's questions, so it took us over an hour to get served and out of the airport.

Anyhow, great to be here!!