Japan Rail Pass over New Year period ?

Hi all

We are planning on travelling around Japan from 25 Dec to 10 Jan and were wishing to purchase a Japan Rail Pass for this purpose. However, I hear travelling around Japan during the New Year period is quite hard as it is the holidays.

How hard is it to secure/book a confirmed seat on a train from Tokyo to other cities/areas around Japan? I hear it is quite a good idea to make reservations, but how do we do this with the Japan Rail Pass if we are arriving in Japan on 25 Dec? How many days would we need to book in advance?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

It depends on your plan. Most people start moving on Dec 30 from Tokyo to their hometown and come back to Tokyo on Jan 3/4th. Tickets on these dates are often sold out as soon as they start to sell (1 month in advance). Meanwhile, if you plan to move on a bit queit day, such as, on Jan 1/2, you will be able to book seats even after you arrive in Japan.
And of course, not using JR Pass makes it easier to get seats especially if you consider taking Shinkansen. With JR Pass, you are only allowed to use Hikari/Kodama Shinkansen, which are less frequent than Nozomi Shinkansen.

In 2008/2009, you can expect the trains leaving Tokyo on December 27 to be particularly crowded. December 28-30 are also expected to be quite busy.

And on January 4 in the opposite direction. January 2 and 3 will probably also be busy.

Thanks for the replies. We are planning on going to Nagano on the 26 Dec, then to Osaka on the 29 Dec and then going back to Tokyo on 1 Jan. Is it possible to do this with the JR ticket and booking 1 month in advance?

We are planning on going to Nagano on the 26 Dec

On this particular day, you can expect traffic to be relatively normal in the morning and early afternoon, but from around 16:00, you should expect an extreme increase of passengers and very crowded trains from Tokyo to Nagano. All reserved seats will likely be sold out during the whole evening, and non-reserved cars will be crowded.

then to Osaka on the 29 Dec

I don't think that this will be an extremely busy day. I suspect that if you make reservations a few days in advance, you should be able to secure seats.

and then going back to Tokyo on 1 Jan.

I don't think that January 1 is very busy. I am pretty sure that you can get seat reservations for that day relatively easily.

Is it possible to do this with the JR ticket and booking 1 month in advance?

Yes! Seat reservations are possible from one month in advance. Only for extremely busy days, seats will be booked quickly (such as evening of December 26, maybe December 27, January 4), however, for most other days, seats do not book out until just a few days or hours before departure, if at all.

Last but not least, most trains carry non reserved cars, which can be used without seat reservation. On busy days, you might have to stand, though.

Is it possible to do this with the JR ticket and booking 1 month in advance?
Just one more comment...With JR pass, you cannot make a reservation until you exchange the voucher into the actual pass after you arrive in Japan.