Lodgings/Transportation for Tokushima

Hi everyone.

My friends and I are a scant 7 weeks away from our Japanese travels. They have never been, and I studied abroad five years ago. Here we are again.

We are looking to go to Shikoku's Tokushima based Awa Odori. A friend mentioned that we can take the shinkansen to Okayama, and change for a local train.

I tried 4 months ago to find a hotel for the big Awa Odori event. I looked up one hostel that was no longer open and found someone mentioned a Sakura-So hostel/ryokan hybrid for like $3300 yen/night. I can't find anything remotely close to booking that so it become a little more difficult (unless someone has more information).

My question is, how late does the train run from the center of where the Tokushima Awa Odori festival is taking place? Could we get back to Tokyo after seeing some of the festival and dancing?

I appreciate any help!

Ro

If you mean can you do the festival as a day trip, then the answer is not really.

As the roundtrip fare is about 37,000-38,000 Yen you would need to get a JR rail Pass voucher before entering Japan:

http://www.japanrailpass.net/

It takes about 7 hours each way and you would get about 3.5 hours at the festival. It could be done a little faster by Nozomi Shinkansen, but you would not be able to use the pass and would be nearer 40,000 Yen roundtrip.

Tokyoko Inn Takamatsu still has some rooms available for August 12-15:

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/e_hotel/00130/index.html

Takamatsu is about 77 minutes from Takushima and the last train is 21.59.

Alright it looks like Tokushima will be dropped. : (

Since it's about 7.3 hours to go from Tokyo to Nagasaki by train (and then a bus), is it possible to get an overnight train? What would other folks recommend? We're planning to get the unlimited JR pass as it is.

No, there is no night train to Nagasaki, there is nothing past Okayama, although there is a night train to Takamatsu.

Also, not sure what you mean by a bus to Nagasaki as you take the train all the way from Hakata after transfering from the Shinkansen.