Bullet train inquiry

Hello
We�fre looking at reserving 4 seats (2 adult and 2 children) from Nagano to Tokyo on Wednesday 17 January 2018.
Can you please confirm the train departure times around 10am? From your website it looks like trains depart from Nagano at:
9.55am
10.00am
10.53am
Is there any difference between these departure times e.g. do any of the trains have more stops? If we are staying in the Cinzo area of Tokyo do we get off at Tokyo station? The cost appears to be Y4000. Is this correct?
If we were to reserve seats, where do we pick our tickets up from? Can we pick them up from the Nagano station before we depart or do we need to pick them up at Tokyo airport when we first arrive on 10 January? If we have to pick them up from Tokyo airport when we arrive, where do we pick the tickets up from?
Is it possible not to reserve tickets and just get train tickets on the day?
Would really appreciate your advice.

Hello
We�fre looking at reserving 4 seats (2 adult and 2 children) from Nagano to Tokyo on Wednesday 17 January 2018.
Can you please confirm the train departure times around 10am? From your website it looks like trains depart from Nagano at:
9.55am
10.00am
10.53am
Is there any difference between these departure times e.g. do any of the trains have more stops?
Google maps will tell you the train departure times and how many stops and where the train stops. Other apps (like Hyperdia , Navitime are also available)

If we are staying in the Cinzo area of Tokyo do we get off at Tokyo station?
Do you mean GINZA? If you are staying at Ginza, yes, Tokyo station would make sense. The Shinkansen from Nagano essentially stop at Ueno and Tokyo. So you can have a look at Google maps which of the two stations has a better connection to your hotel.
The cost appears to be Y4000. Is this correct?
My google maps says 8200 Yen. Ticket prices are composed of: fare plus express ticket. But if you take a shinkansen, it will be 8200 Yen. One way.
If we were to reserve seats, where do we pick our tickets up from? Can we pick them up from the Nagano station before we depart or do we need to pick them up at Tokyo airport when we first arrive on 10 January? If we have to pick them up from Tokyo airport when we arrive, where do we pick the tickets up from?
Is it possible not to reserve tickets and just get train tickets on the day?

Do you have JR railpass? I guess no, because otherwise you would not be asking about the price of the tickets.
You can buy shinkansen tickets at JR stations, this includes Narita airport but you can also buy them at Tokyo or Nagano station (or also a lot of other JR stations). At smaller stations there might be only a ticket selling machine, at bigger ones, there is a ticket selling office. Staff speaks some rudimentary English. You can buy tickets days before departure or only minutes before departure. The same goes with seat reservation.
There are some shinkansen that have free seating cars, i.e. non-reserved cars. For those shinkansen you can just hop on with your ticket and no seat reservation is needed, but in 4 that might result in you sitting seperated or worst case standing. When I travel alone and light, I take non-reserved seats, so I don`t "need" to wait for my train. But travelling with family or with heavier luggage I prefer reserved seats. You can buy a seat reservation and change it before departure for an other train. I think this change is free of charge or maybe only a very small charge. I.e. if you arrive "early" at the station you do not really "need" to wait for your train, you can try to change your seat reservation to an earlier train or you can just take non-reserved seats if such a car is available.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Hyperdia is better than google maps for train information - it gives better details. And yes, the fare is Y8,000 one way for adults (half for kids ).

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=NAGANO&arv_node...

My tip - get the return tickets in Tokyo, the ticket office in Nagano always seems to have huge/slow queues.

See the official timetable.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/hokurikushinkansen.html?src=gnavi
"Kagayaki(Shinkansen name)" is the fastest one in that route, but all cars are reserved.
Others have non-reserved cars.
Slowest(all stn will be stopping) "Asama" are dep fr Nagano stn, no worry even if non-reserved.

For after getting off JR Tokyo stn and to HND(?)/NRT(?), Use Google MAP.
Maybe you will catch a taxi to Ginza(???) fr JR Tokyo stn(last stop of Shinkansen).

Bullet train = Shinkansen (in JP lang)
You should remember this such short word.