JR Pass Activating/Reserving

Hello,

We are arriving in Tokyo on March 16th, and plan on having our JR Pass start date be the 17th. We'd like to exchange and reserve our Shinkansen seats at Narita airport on the 16th, or do we have to wait until the 17th since that is the date we plan to start using it?

It is possible to exchange the voucher on the 16th, set the starting date for the 17th and then make reservations for a future date.

Thank you,

Just to clarify, we will be able to reserve our Shinkansen tickets on the 16th as well?

Once you have exchanged the voucher for the actual pass, you can reserve the trains for dates within the validity period of the pass. You can do this up to 30 days in advance of your validity period. So in your case, you can reserve the tickets the day before. Be mindful that the airport JR offices at Narita tend to be very busy and if you have many tickets to reserve, I would be considerate with those behind me and only reserve the ones you need on an immediate basis.

Yes you exchange voucher and can start booking seats on the 16th.

Elect start day of the pass to be 17th etc.

I have done this on many occasions and it's quite straightforward. As @John B says there is normally a queue at the Narita Ticket office so I would only reserve the seats I needed over the next day or so. You can book the rest as you go, there is not normally any need to reserve a seat more than a day in advance (except Golden week & Obon etc ). In fact I have got odd looks from staff more than once when I have reserved a seat for the day after tomorrow :)