Hakodate To Aomori 8th May 2019

Hello All,

I will be landing in Chitose on the 2nd of May and will be making my way down through Hokkaido and onto Honshu before flying out of Tokyo on the 21st.

This will be my 6th trip to Japan and my 2nd one to Hokkaido, so I guess I'm a pretty seasoned traveler within Japan and have pretty much everything down pat.

I'm aware it is Golden Week and have made all necessary accommodation bookings, etc, however I have a concern regarding the Shinkansen journey from (Shin)Hakodate to (Shin)Aomori.

Since it is reserved seating only and I obviously can't book the seats yet as I have yet to arrive in country to exchange my JR Pass - I am worried that I won't be able to make the trip across due to lack of seat availability.

The journey across I have scheduled for Wednesday the 8th - do you think that most of the Golden Week travel rush will be well and truly over by then? Or should I start looking at alternate travel arrangements (via ferry, etc)

The 8th isn't Golden Week any longer. I'm quite certain GW ends with Children's Day on the 6th. I don't see why there should be any issues reserving a seat.

OP, you can reserve online, then collect it at Sapporo stn (assume you are heading there?) or any of the designated office where you’ll exchange your pass.

Anyway, you’ll see on hyperdia, there are regular departures. I did the trip late March 2019 from Aomori - Shin Aomori- Shin Hakodate- Sapporo and was able to revise my online reservation at the last minute at Aomori station.

Reservation link
https://www.eki-net.com/pc/jreast-shinkansen-reservation/English/wb/co...

GW ends on 6/May. This 8/May is a normal working day at mid week.

This year's Golden Week (GW) is from April 27th to May 6th.
You need to pay attention to Shinkansen and hotel reservations during the GW.
You will not have to worry about moving from Hakodate to Aomori on the 8th, as the GW will end up with the same number of tourists as usual or with a smaller number of tourists.
Your trip is a good time to see cherry blossoms in Hakodate.
Have a nice trip！

Thank you all for your responses.

Despite being a seasoned traveler to Japan, I wasn't aware that you could reserve seats online with JR East beforehand - this must be something relatively new (in the past two years)?

Admittedly, I haven't been to the Eastern side of Japan for over two years - last couple of trips have been to Kyushu, Shikoku, Kansai and Chugoku regions.

And yes, I was aware Golden Week ends on the 6th of May, but I guess I was just paranoid and needed reassurance :)

With the new discovery that I can reserve seats online, this has been awesome news and I have gone ahead and pretty much reserved seats for the entire first week of travel.

Once again, thank you for all your help guys (and gals) - it's an awesome community here!