moonlight nagara from yokohama

hii there =)

me and my friend would be traveling to japan end july and we plan to take the moonlight nagara from yokohama to ogaki (transfer to kyoto)

however it seems that it's very popular and we're worried that we wouldn't be able to get seats. we really want to take this night train to save on traveling time during the day and 2 nights accommodation.

we would be buying the japan rail pass, so i guess the last resort will be to take a shinkansen to and fro in the morning. however that will mean that we will need to find accommodation for the 2 nights. the midnight train is our best option.

i would like for you guys' advice for our plan of action =)
1.is the jr pass applicable to the moonlight nagara?
2. i think we would be traveling during the seishun 18 kippu season. our dates are 28th jul (night) and 1st Aug (return to tokyo)

ps. just another question. apparently we can only reserve shinkansen seats for JR east online. can we ask a friend in japan to reserve for us for shinkansen out of the eastern area? does she need prove of the jr pass?

thanks alot for your time ^^

1.is the jr pass applicable to the moonlight nagara?

Yes.

The trains (two per night during the Seishun 18 period) requires a seat reservation and is very popular. You will have to make seat reservations well in advance. They go on sale one month in advance.

apparently we can only reserve shinkansen seats for JR east online. can we ask a friend in japan to reserve for us for shinkansen out of the eastern area? does she need prove of the jr pass?

The actual validated Japan Rail Pass has to be presented in order to make free seat reservations.

However, I have heard of somebody succeeding to make free seat reservations at a JR travel agency without the Japan Rail Pass. The travel agent would make the reservations, but keep the tickets until the rail pass holders picks the tickets up with the validated rail pass.

By the way, unlike the Moonlight Nagara, shinkansen trains are much less likely to be booked out in advance, unless you travel on some specific peak travel days, such as August 12 or August 17.

I would not be worried about the shinkansen, but rather about the Moonlight Nagara.

Then again, note that seat reservations for the Moonlight Nagara are only a few hundred yen. If you have a friend in Japan, you can ask her to try to make reservations for the Moonlight Nagara, and do the shinkansen reservations once you have arrived in Japan.

if you destination is kyoto, you can pick up Sunrise seto or sunrise izumo to that direction. However, these night trains are hot too but it is another option. Note that they stop at hemiji and you have to take a train to back track to kyoto or osaka