Osaka-Tokyo-Kyoto in August (Obon)

Hi!

I'll be coming back to Japan this coming 7-17 August. Yes, I know I'll be hitting Obon days real hard.

My planned itinerary would be

7-9 in Osaka (I've already explored most of it so I won't be staying long. It just so happened that I got ultra cheap flights to Osaka and not Tokyo)

10-14 in Tokyo

15-17 in Kyoto then travel back to KIX for my return flight.

I will be riding either the Tokaido Shinkansen or the Sunrise Izumo if I can get a hold of tickets for it.

What should I expect in terms of crows? Travel situations? Thanks!

7-9 in Osaka (I've already explored most of it so I won't be staying long. It just so happened that I got ultra cheap flights to Osaka and not Tokyo)

10-14 in Tokyo

15-17 in Kyoto then travel back to KIX for my return flight.

Shinkansen train will be most crowded in the evening of 10th from Tokyo to Kyoto direction. 10th late morning from Osaka to Tokyo would not be so crowded. Tokyo to Kyoto on 15th is most crowded in the morning (usually morning Shinkansen tend to be crowded) so you might better take later trains. Hotels in Tokyo in the Obon days are rather vacant because there should be almost no business travelers. 7-9 (or 10) Osaka is also not crowded. 16th night is a special event in Kyoto (Gozan no Okuribi) so this day might be somewhat crowded, but as far as I searched there still are some reasonably priced hotels.

We're also there for Oban...
Travelling:
Hakone to Miyajima on 10th Aug
Miyajima to Kyoto 11th Aug
Kyoto to Koyasan 14th Aug
Koyasan to Osaka 15th Aug
Osaka to Tokyo 16th Aug

Planning to travel using JR pass. Was going to try and book seats on the trains hen we arrive in Japan (a few days before). Will this be too late to get seats do you think?
We're obviously just going to have to get on with things regardless, but wondered if any of the journeys we're making are a bit silly given dates/direction of travel etc.
Also my husband is on a walking stick. If the trains are full will people offer him a seat? I'll be find to stand/sit on the floor etc, but I just know he would struggle.

Will this be too late to get seats do you think?

I can't say for sure since your traveling dates are more than 1 month ahead so JR has not yet accept reservation, and therefore we can't foresee it via cyberstation. Then I checked ANA (an airline in Japan) website for the flight from Haneda to Hiroshima. Usually you can find special fare for foreign tourists (100.90 USD) but for 9th to 11th it is 337.42 USD, meaning ANA thinks these three days are the "peak" days so the seats will be sold out and it doesn't need to sell it with the promotional fare. For the opposite direction, there are 100.90 USD fare everyday. As for Haneda to Osaka's Itami, there are some early morning flights which is 70.66 USD.

We're obviously just going to have to get on with things regardless, but wondered if any of the journeys we're making are a bit silly given dates/direction of travel etc.
Also my husband is on a walking stick. If the trains are full will people offer him a seat? I'll be find to stand/sit on the floor etc, but I just know he would struggle.

Well, if it is in the commuter train, some kind soul may offer the seat, but this is not the situation. People might think "you might have other choice, like not going with this very crowded train". So you may need to endure the long train ride standing on the aisle. Please consider, for many Japanese travelers there is no choice, they must do the trip for the family.

Therefore, I would tell you the safest way of travel. Of course you can decide what to do.

1. Skip Hakone. Take 9th Aug flight from Haneda to Osaka (Itami) which costs 70.66 USD. Take limousine bus (you can secure seat of course) to Kyoto and stay there. The low fare flight is only applicable for early morning flights, and you need to take early train/monorail to Haneda, but this has a bright side: the early morning trains/monorail will be less crowded.

2. Kyoto to Koyasan on 14th (or just skip it and move to Osaka).

3. Koyasan (or Osaka) to Miyajima on 15 th.

4. Hiroshima to Haneda by air on 16th (100.90 USD).

The thing is you can make flight reservations now. Only one unpredictable section is from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima by Shinkansen. But in general Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima in the end of Obon is not so crowded. You may also consider staying in Okayama on 14th. Kyoto to Okayama and Okayama to Hiroshima are not long rides so even if you can't take reserved seat and must stand, it will be one hour each. Cheap promotional fare is not applied to all flights so you may need to choose very early or late flight so you may need to change dates to secure sufficient time for each place (especially in Hiroshima).

wow thank you for such a detailed response. I'd not even considered flying - I will look into this as an option. I'm not sure we'd be making it back to Japan any time soon though, so would have to carefully consider skipping Hakone, and also overall cost of travel as if I did these flights the JR pass is probably not worth it. However we are keen to have as comfortable a journey as possible.

If we did risk the train for some of it I wondered if there are some unreserved carriages as in the UK and / or better times to travel during Oban - would people be more likely to go later in the day and therefore if we got up super early we'd have more chance of being ok? Or possibly its not going to work like this - but worth asking!

I'm not sure we'd be making it back to Japan any time soon though, so would have to carefully consider skipping Hakone, and also overall cost of travel as if I did these flights the JR pass is probably not worth it. However we are keen to have as comfortable a journey as possible.

OK. You are flying from the UK, that's a long travel!

So can you shift your dates one or a few days earlier?

Hakone to Miyajima on 8th Aug
Miyajima to Kyoto 9th Aug
Kyoto to Koyasan 12th Aug
Koyasan to Osaka 13th Aug
Osaka to Tokyo 14th Aug

I think this makes the long distance travel easier.

If we did risk the train for some of it I wondered if there are some unreserved carriages as in the UK and / or better times to travel during Oban - would people be more likely to go later in the day and therefore if we got up super early we'd have more chance of being ok? Or possibly its not going to work like this - but worth asking!

There are some unreserved carriages also in Japan, but if you hit the busiest time, it might have 200% people as compared to the "unreserved" seats. This may occur during 10th evening to 11th morning from Tokyo to Osaka. In normal days, the morning Shinkansen is most crowded (starting 8:00 or so from Tokyo). At earlier or later time there should be less people. If you go from Odawara to Hiroshima, preferably on 8th, you might be able to book reserved seats. Note that you must change train at least once (or maybe twice) and you may not be able to take reserved seats for all sections. You can't reserve seats until you land in Japan, but you can see the vacant seats for the future 1 month by using Cyberstation. Sadly this is only in Japanese language, but someone might help you if you come to this site at an appropriate time.

http://www.jr.cyberstation.ne.jp

You can reserve seats at any (not so small) JR stations. You may not be able to take your first choice, but if there are some, the staff will make reservations for you (if there are vacant seats). They say even if no vacant seats are shown on the day before, sometimes it appears on the day of travel. So even if you can't make reservations beforehand, you can ask at Odawara station on the day of travel.