JR Bus schedule - Oirase stream

As we only have one day in the area, we were planning to take the JR bus from Aomori (dep. 10:00) to Yakeyama (arr. 13:20), stroll along the river for a while and then continue on from Yakeyama (dep. 15:25) to Hachinohe (arr. 16:40).

According to the schedules on ''http://www.jrbustohoku.co.jp/english'' this seems possible, but I just noticed, that those schedules only seem to be valid in winter. Is there a current schedule online somewhere?

On that website, it also says ''Seats can't be reserved outside Japan'', so could I reserve seats on those busses when I pick up our JR rail passes at Narita airport a couple of days before?

There are many more buses outside of winter. The current timetable, valid until November 9, 2008, is as follows:

Departures from Aomori Station:
07:50
09:00
10:00
10:20 (only August 1-24 and during October)
12:00
13:40
15:30

The one way trip to Yakeyama takes 2 hours.

Departures from Yakeyama to Hachinohe are as follows:
09:01
12:56
14:46 (only August 1-24 and during October)
16:06

The trip takes 90 minutes.

As for seat reservations, note that the bus is likely to be rather empty unless you travel during a peak season (October or summer holidays; maybe some weekends). Neverthless, if you have your schedule fixed, it does not hurt to make reservations as soon as you touch down in Narita.

Thanks a lot! We will be there on October 21.

Our train arrives in Aomore at 8:51. Do you think we can make it on the 9:00 bus, or is 10:00 safer?

Last year I went on OCt 25th.. already alot of pple taking the first bus 7+or 8am cant remember.. but just need to queue for the bus using JR pass. They will give priority to those who reserved the tixs . If bus is full, then you have to wait for the next bus .