Local trains

Hi everyone,

I came across this post (http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/11/07/sit-back-and-enjoy-the-journey-j...) and decided to do 8 of these rides for my upcoming trip to Japan.

The problem is many sites are only in Japanese and, given my level, it's really hard to understand if they need to be booked in advance or not.

Do you guys know any website in English I could use to help me figure it out please? (I tried Google Translation, it's meh...)

Thanks!

Hyperdia.

By the way, most of this article actually refers to rapid (快速) trains and not local (普通) ones. Number 1 for example refers to the Resort Shirakami, which is a rapid train running (mostly) on the Gono line.

Use googlechrome and it includes auto translate - gets you through 99% of websites and languages.

But, use "hyperdia" it is very good.

8? Which 2 lines deleted?

Learn at wiki(English page) fasteset than google seaech and translate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_railway_companies_in_Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_railway_lines_in_Japan

Bacically all 10 photos are not same season records and best season is not always.
You'll be a whole year tralveler?

@Firas, I didn't know how to label my thread so I chose local trains but they're not really, sorry about the confusion!

@all, I know about Hyperdia, I use it a lot, thanks.

@iRam, I'm traveling for 3 weeks all around Japan. I'm not going to Kumamoto, Kyoto or Hokkaido (too far) but I'm doing all the other ones mentioned on the page.

I guess I'll try to use Google Chrome for the different websites. It doesn't always work though because some of them use pictures with text :/

I was just wondering if you guys knew any travel website with information on these trains.

Thanks,

What kind of "information" do you want? Hyperdia has all the timetables and fares.

@Firas, I'm trying to figure out which ones need to be booked in advance. So far, only one has a form in English for that.

Since I'm gonna be traveling all the way there for these, I need to make sure I'll be able to board these trains :)

Thanks for your help.

Just look on Hyperdia, it displays all the reserved and non-reserved options for a particular train in the "seat fee" column. If only "reserved" is displayed, it means it needs to be booked. If nothing at all is displayed in this column, it means it's a regular commuter train, where it is not even possible to book in advance anyway.