Train Travel this coming 29 and 31 December

Hi everyone!

I have another question, this time regarding train travel this coming 29 and 31 December.

We didn't plan very well this year, and I expect that December 29th will be one of the busy travel days for the holidays.

A few years ago, we got caught out on one of these days, not realizing that we should book in advance, and ended up having to stand in the corridor at the end of the Nozomi all the way from shin-Osaka to Tokyo!

We'd like to pre-book at least the 29th December journey this year...you can book 1 month out, but we live in Australia, so we can't.

Does anyone know of any Japan travel agencies in Australia that could book on our behalf, one month out?

Or anyone living in Japan have any advice on how busy it will be this year on those days?

Without paying a hefty fee, you won't be able to reserve a seat on the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka via a travel agent. Where are you heading on the 29th? If going from Osaka to Tokyo, you won't have a hard time booking seats as the heavy traffic will be on the opposite direction.

Thanks for your inpupt Tokyonet.

We're actually stopping in Nagoya for a couple nights, so we're going from Osaka to Nagoya on 29th and Nagoya to Tokyo on 31st.

Two years ago, when it was standing room only, however, we were travelling from Kyoto to tokyo, so it was the direction you are saying won't be a problem, but it was completely sold out on the day!

We arrive in to Haneda late at night on 21-December, and fly to Hiroshima the next morning, so we'll reserve our seats on the 22nd when we get to Hiroshima (we're staying at the Sheraton which is next to the JR station anyway). Hopefully that will be enough in advance that we don't have a problem.