Hyperdia query

Anyone know exactly what "Beware of a running day : 8/1,2,5 - 31" means on a Hyperdia timetable? Is it that the train isn't running on the 1st or 2nd and from the 5th onwards? It's the Nagoya-Takayama line. I want to take it on the 5th. Also is Hyperdia completely reliable (as far as timetables can be!?) I'm arriving in Japan 2 weeks today!!! CAN'T WAIT! CAN'T SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Gary

It means that the train will be running on all days in August except August 3 and 4.

Also is Hyperdia completely reliable

Yes. Very close to perfect. It is usually a mistake of use that leads to misundertandings.

Hyperdia is not perfectly reliable. The departure and arrival times Ifm sure are correct, but I donft think you should rely on it for route planning. It can give some very strange results. Herefs an example:

Ifm going from Nagoya to Sakurai on Saturday. The best route is on the Kintetsu line. A train leaves Nagoya at 7:30 and arrives in Yagi (Yamatoyagi Stn) at 9:21. From there you transfer to another Kintetsu Line train (the Osaka Line) for a three minute ride to Sakurai.

But this route doesnft appear on Hyperdia. Several others do, including one that leaves Nagoya Station on a JR line at 7:02 for a three minute ride to Kanayama Station where you change to a Meitetsu Line for a six minute ride to Meitetsu Shin-Nagoya Station then walk four minutes to Nagoya Kintetsu Station and get on the 7:30 train for Yagi he one I mention above.

But herefs the thing. Nagoya Kintetsu Stn is a four minute walk (if youfre slow) from Nagoya JR Stn where Hyperdia has advised you to begin your trip in the first place. Nobody who isnft familiar with the Nagoya train systems and the layout of the various stations here would ever know that. And following Hyperdiafs instructions he would have just spent 340 yen, wasted 28 minutes scurring around three different stations changing trains twice, and ended up having to walk four minutes anyway. (You can verify all of this yourself by running Nagoya to Sakurai for Saturday morning on Hyperdia.)

Ifve seen this on Japanese sites as well, so donft get me wrong. (In fact, this is a Japanese site, itfs just set up in English.) My point is to check and double check. Look at maps. And if something comes up on the schedule that looks crazy, like the route above, with a three minute train ride, a six minute train ride on a different line, and then a four minute walk to yet a different line, then consider that maybe it is crazy. Like most things, when it comes to transportation, Hyperdia is easier to use if you already know the lay of the land.

Specifically, however, if youfre going from Nagoya to Takayama and you have selected a route with no transfers, youfre probably OK. It should take about 2 hrs 15 min.

Hyperdia aside, the trains here are incredibly, remarkably and unbelievably reliable.

Is there a better site to use for finding out the train schedules? I'll be spending 2 weeks in Japan with a JR Pass, but I'm trying to find out how long and which stations and which lines I can use with the JR pass. Is there a website that can guide me?

I'm trying to go from Tokyo to Hiroshima, then from Hiroshima to Kobe, then from Kobe to Kyoto, and from Kyoto back to Tokyo.

I will be able to take the JR Shinkansen from Tokyo to Hiroshima station, correct?

Then when I go from Hiroshima to Kobe, can I use my JR Pass to go from Hiroshima station to Sannomiya Station in Kobe? I am trying to find a hotel in Kobe and I was trying to decide on whether I should stay at the Tokyu Inn Hotel (at Sannomiy) or at the Crown Plaza (at Shin-Kobe). I want to be closer to the train station that I can use my JR pass for. I heard that you can't use the JR pass for Shin-Kobe, is that true?

Then when I go to Kyoto from Kobe, will I be able to use my JR pass from Sannomiy or Shin-Kobe to Kyoto station? And then from Kyoto station back to Tokyo?

I would definitely appreciate it if there is a site that I can find out the schedules that are easier to read and more reliable than Hyperdia.

The Shinkansen stops at Shin-Kobe Station in Kobe. Then you have to take the subway (or take a bus, or take a taxi, or walk) to Sannomiya Station. I don't know if your JR pass is valid for that subway ride. If so, it would be a special concession. But is only 200 yen anyway.

Either way, from Sannomiya (JR) station you can use your rail pass to Kobe Stn or to other points.

If you're concerned about hassle and so on, or if you just have a lot of luggage, maybe you should book the hotel at Shin-Kobe stn. Or plan to use a taxi. It won't cost more than about 800 yen each way, so compare that to the difference in hotel prices.

JR (the company that issues your pass) has a very good site, but it's only in Japanese. I don't know of a better site in English than Hyperdia. But Hyperdia searches all of the train lines and all the trains in Japan to find your route. Using Hyperdia, it can be difficult to tell which are JR stations and which are not. Often many lines will use a single station area, and require only a very short walk between them.

But you want JR lines. Using Hyperdia, look for JR stations. Not all of them seem to be marked, but all the trains (see the train icon between station icons) are marked. If it's marked as a JR train or a Shinkansen you can use it. (Be sure to mark "Except Nozomi" at the bottom of the site.)

It is difficult. As Hyperdia says, there are 10,000 stations here and 50,000 trains! Good luck. And have a good trip.

everytime I bought a JR pass I got a map of JR lines, at least the major ones, and a schedule on paper. one can also find JR lines on regular (paper ) maps. of course being from Europe (now living in North America)I am used to read maps, take trains in foreign countries etc. to go from Hiroshima to Kobe one has at least 2 choices:
1- take the shinkansen (Hikari, not Nozomi) from Hiroshima to Shin-Kobe and stay in a hotel there or
2-take a regular train from Hiroshima to kobe Sannomiya or another station on that line and stay around there.
as other posts have noted, going from Shin-Kobe to Sanomiya is only one stop on the subway,not too hard if one has a suitcase with wheels, or take a cab, as long as you have the hotel name in Japanese. I have been to Japan 7 times so far and never bothered to check Hyperdia. there are lots of trains on the main lines and the staff in each main station ticket office (Green window) can give info when u reserve a seat.
Please do not panic! don't be a slave of schedules, you are on holidays!!! being in Japan is enough of a thrill. you don't have to, and can't anyway, see everything one "must see" so relax... take the time to enjoy a few places leisurely rather than running a marathon of the most places seen in the shortest time possible!.

travelling by train in Japan is easy!!

Planatengesta is right. Traveling by train in Japan can be very easy. Especially if you are only going from city to city on the Shinkansen. Thatfs a cinch. Youfd have to be stupid to mess it up completely, though you can certainly get on a much slower train than you might have done with better knowledge. For long distances, which Shinkansen you get on can make a big difference in time.

Shefs also right about the service windows. The clerks will be very helpful. They will generally put you on the earliest train to your destination he one that arrives there earliestut it wonft necessarily be the fastest train between the two points, and it might leave you hanging out at the station for an extra forty minutes. Maybe that shouldnft bother you. It depends on what type of person you are and on how many Shinkansen stations you want to see every inch of.

As you get farther and farther away from the Shinkansen lines, though, the situation gets more and more complicated, so how easy train travel is depends on where youfre trying to go. (And on how many options there are for getting there. Too many can be confusing. Too few can cause you to waste a lot of time.) From Nagoya to Takayama is hard to mess up, but try going from Nagoya to Gujo-hachiman for the summer festival, for example. It isnft necessarily easy. One mistake and you could end up in the middle of nowhere! (Of course, that could be fun too.)

I live here every day. I speak and read the language. And sometimes I find it confusing (more often just time-wasting) on backwoods routes, and end up wishing Ifd planned better.

I agree with Plantagenesta (Though I donft agree with her choice of names; Ifve had to look at it about four times in order to spell it right. If I have spelled it right.) I agree that you should relax while youfre here on vacation and leave your worries at home. I agree that you should be flexible. But I also think itfs wise to have some sort of understanding of train, plane, bus and boat schedules. They arenft flexible, so you have to be. You have to either know the best time to go to the station or be prepared to wait around there for a while till your train leaves. Itfs not very important on the Shinkansen linesespecially the Tokaido line; the others can be rather infrequent, and you can spend a lot of time waiting for your train to Shinjo, for example.

For some of the out lying areas, like the Japan Sea side, poor planning can cost you several hours of waiting around dreary stations. There are almost always easy routes and easy connections available. Those may only occur once or twice a day though. I would think it wise to plan your schedule around those easy connections and spend your precious time somewhere having fun, not sitting around at the station. And surely, itfs easier to do as much of that planning before you leave home. And isnft that part of the fun, anyway?

Or maybe I'm just turning Japanese. Planning is a national passtime!

Anyway, little of this applies to travel on the Shinkansen between places like Hiroshima, Kobe, Kyoto and Tokyo. Trains are frequent. All you really need to do there, generally, is go to the station and get on a train.

Still, I often buy my ticket in advance. (I donft know if you can do that with the rail pass, though.) Buying a same day ticket at the window, you may have to wait several minutesan hour and a half is not uncommonfor the next available seat, especially if you want no-smoking. Or, with a non-reserved seat you could very well end up standing all or part of the way between Tokyo and Osaka during busy times.

If those ideas donft bother you, and if they wonft take any of the fun out of your vacation, then donft worry.

Have a good trip.

The English pamphlet that you get when you redeem your JR voucher is quite helpful for the major long-distance trains. Be sure to ask for it if they don't automatically give it to you with your pass. (Usually they do but I had to ask once.) But be aware that this only lists shinkansen and limited express trains (the major fast ones), not local lines. The same information is also available online at http://www.japanrail.com/JR_timetableandfare.html

Is there a better site to use for finding out the train schedules?

Jorudan tends to do a slightly better job in terms of routing, but it does not offer the important options to exclude shinkansen, nozomi, limited express trains, etc:
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/

Here is a comparison of the various online timetables:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2323.html

As for Edo's example, I did look it up and found out that
1) Hyperdia's top result is quicker and faster than Edo's route
2) BUT also that Hyperdia calculated the wrong fare for Edo's route, namely it did not add the limited express fee for the section between Nagoya and Yamato-Yagi.

Hyperdia's top result:

7:30 depart Kintetsu-Nagoya by limited express
8:56 arrive Nabari
9:08 depart Nabari by express
9:36 arrive Sakurai

Total cost: 3140 Yen

This compares to Edo's version:

7:30 depart Kintetsu-Nagoya by limited express
9:21 arrive Yamato-Yagi
9:34 depart Yamato-Yagi by express
9:37 arrive in Sakurai

Total cost: 3720 Yen

Hyperdia's route is one minute faster and 580 Yen cheaper.

thank you everyone for your advice and information!

I started this post and then completely forgot about it!! But have read it now!! Thanks to everyone. I'm only days a way now! At last!!