Shinkansen best practice

As long as you plan
(not to go back to Tokyo but) to fly out from Kansai Airport [KIX],
a 7-day Japan Rail Pass would be too expensive
for your mentioned trips
(from Osaka to Kyoto, Kobe and Himeji and from Tokyo to Nikko).

on the Saturday (29th) I need to travel from Tokyo (Shinjuku) to Osaka.

Where exactly is your starting point?
(What station on which line is near your Shinjuku accommodation?)

[Terms]

"Dryer" | "Drier" by Japanese hotels may well refer to a hair dryer,
which is never designed to dry clothes.
I suppose clothing dryers are not common in business hotels.
Some hotels may prepare a trouser press at guest rooms.

"Metro" in Japan refers to subway.
For this meaning, "subway" is commonly used.
Tokyo Metro is one of the two operators of Tokyo Subway Network,
which partly extends to the neighbouring Chiba and Saitama Prefectures.

[Tokaido Shinkansen]

According to Google Maps, travelling via Tokyo or Shinagawa is comparable in terms of time. Does it really make a significant difference?

You would not have to make a detour via Tokyo Station, for any reason.

You highly likely can have a Shinkansen reserved seat
on Saturday, June the 29th, from Tokyo | Shinagawa to Shin-Osaka.
So, practically you would not have the merit of securing a non-reserved seat at Tokyo Station several minutes before the departure of your train.

Shinagawa Station has only one Shinkansen zone;
you just follow signs for the Shinkansen.

Tokyo Station has two separate Shinkansen zones,
with some gates of same or similar names.
You carefully choose a Shinkansen gate for the Tokaido Shinkansen,
which is indicated by a blue-and-white pictogram of Shinkansen train's head.
https://www.japan-guide.com/g3/2018_how_sign.jpg
https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/info/station/_img/tokyo.jpg

For your information
: Early birds can take the only Shinkansen train starting from Shinagawa Station,
which is Nozomi 99 (bound for Hakata) departing at 06:00.

You can pay the JR basic fare
for the whole route from Tokyo (Ward City Zone) through to Himeji.
This basic-fare ticket is good for 5 consecutive calendar days.

At your transfer to the Tokaido Shinkansen,
you find a Shinkansen Transfer Gate.
This basic-fare ticket
does not let you make a stopover at Tokyo or Shinagawa,
so you cannot pass through a JR exit gate there.

[Luggage and Kansai accommodation]

should I just use a luggage transfer service?

Due to G20 Osaka Summit, for a few days until June the 29th,
luggage delivery services for Osaka City may be delayed
and coin lockers at major railway stations in and around Osaka
may be closed.

One possible solution
is to stay in Himeji or in Kobe for your first Kansai night.
(G20 Summit is to be over by that night.)

For luggage delivery services,
usually there are limitations on the measurement and the weight of your parcel.
You had better send off your parcels
by the evening of Thursday, June the 27th.
With prior consent,
your hotel may keep your parcels until you appear at the reception.

[Himeji and Kobe combined trip]

In a case where you find a nice hotel in Himeji or in Kobe to stay for one night,
you can make a side trip in Kobe on your way from Himeji to Osaka or Kyoto.

For most tourist spots in Kobe,
Sannomiya Station on the JR conventional (= non-Shinkansen) line
would be more convenient than Shin-Kobe Station on the Shinkansen.
In Sannomiya,
there are also Kobe Sannomiya Stations of Hankyu and of Hanshin.
Among the destinations to which Shin-Kobe is a little closer
are Arima Onsen and Kobe Nunobiki Herb Garden.

For Himeji,
you might hope to go by the San(')yo Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka,
especially during a weekday morning commuters' rush.

Track 20 of Shin-Osaka Station,
which may be used by Shinkansen Mizuho, Sakura and Kodama trains,
can be a little tricky.
The Shinkansen concourse on the 3rd floor
and the platform for Track 20 on the 4th floor
are connected by two elevators;
you change elevators on the mezzanine.

Hi!

I'm not actually psychic, you just mentioned north of Tokyo so the first popular tourist destination that came to mind was Nikko. I would look into the Tobu Passes and decide if one of them make sense. I used a Tobu pass when I visited Nikko.

I once used a paid laundry service in a hotel in Japan and it was much cheaper than I expected. The only reason I don't do it more often is I am weird about detergent and I get more money for my daughter's old clothes if they've not been in a dryer, so I often hang dry them as is.

In the US, a dryer always means the machine to dry your clothes and hopefully gets them drier. A Hair dryer is always specified as a hair dryer. I have personally only ever used hair dryer to dry hair and to try to flatten used Pokemon cards on my daughter's insistence. It worked fine on hair, didn't do anything for the cards. I've had bad luck with clothes dryers in Japan. They are not as good as my personal dryer. To get my clothes drier I often need to hang them. I've used Japanese hair dryers a few times to dry my daughter's hair and I have no complaints about them.

Hotel rates will move around, even so close to your trip so it doesn't hurt to check every so often. I would expect Juso to be cheaper since it's not really convenient to a JR line. I forget which hotel I stayed at near Shin-Osaka. It was cheap and non-descript and close to the station. It could be gone now, some of the hotels I've stayed at have definitely closed over the years and some of them were even quite pleasant.

Good luck!

I'm still pretty confused by the longer distance trains (outside of Shinkansen which are relatively simple).

So I was looking at the conditions of the Nikko Area Pass:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html

The basic one is 2,000 JPY and covers a round trip and local travel in Nikko, however, it requires that you use the Skytree/Nikko Line from Asakusa (and you can't get off at intermediary stations except at Tokyo Skytree Station and Tochigi Station), and you can't use the limited express service without paying a surcharge.

Okay, so let's try and get Hyperdia to show me that trip...

Firstly, I have to be incredibly specific to get it to show me something valid, as starting from Shinjuku and saying I need to travel via Asakusa seems to make it start to favour JR lines rather than the Nikko line.

Secondly, the non-limited express route takes you all round the houses (167 minutes), involves transferring at stations not in the list (does it count as "getting off the train" to make a transfer, or does that only happen if you leave the station?), and does this for a cost of 1,358 JPY, saving 358 JPY compared to not having the pass.

If I let Hyperdia use the limited express route then it seems to only tell me the train name, so I no longer know what line it's on (cross-checking with Google Maps says the Nikko-Kinugawa line). The journey is now much faster (114 minutes), has the same base fare of 1,358 JPY, but now lists a seat fee of 1,440 JPY. I'm guessing that fee is the "express fee" listed on the info page for the pass, and would have 20% taken off it (making it 1,152 JPY), while the base fare would still be covered by the pass? At this point I would seem to be saving 646 JPY each way compared to not having the pass?

It also looks like Hyperdia can be set to how you the "ticket" or "IC" cost:
- Is that smart enough to know if you can't use an IC card on a route and show you the ticket cost instead?
- In a situation where you need a reservation, is there any benefit to using the IC card as opposed to just buying a ticket with your reservation?
- In a situation where you can travel unreserved (as an option), can you just travel with only the IC card and get on any unreserved carriage?

I guess I need to spend some time figuring out the Hyperdia result format as it's not the cleanest to understand when compared to Google Maps. Citymapper beats them both, though sadly only has limited support for Tokyo right now (I use this all the time in London).

Hi!

I guess I am just used to Hyperdia because I've been using it for more than a decade. A friend introduced me to it when she was a JET and I found it incredibly helpful when planning more complicated routes.

I admit, I've never stayed in Shinjuku. I know it's a very popular area to stay, it's just not me. When I went to Nikko there was no Skytree, so I left from Asakusa. And yes, I paid for the upgrade to limited express, just like I am thinking of getting a Kintetsu Pass and plan to pay for a limited express to get to Nagoya. The pass comes in handy if you are visiting other parts of Nikko or want to use the buses. I only went to Nikko in August and despite being in the mountains it was still pretty hot and humid. I regret we were too cheap to use the buses.

The section on this website on Nikko I think does a good job of explaining the various ticket options:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3805.html

One little trick about Hyperdia is you need to always put in the right station names, so make sure if you are going to Tobu Nikko you put in Tobu Nikko vs. JR Nikko. They are close to one another, but technically Tobu Nikko is closer to the sights by a little bit.

The thing is even using a shinkansen you're going to have 2 transfers and it will still take you about 2 hours from Shinjuku. I know Japan Guide says there is a Limited Express from Shinjuku but there are only 4 a day and all involve a transfer still. It also makes a difference when you travel and you can experiment with putting in the various Shinjuku Stations near where you are staying (From JR Shinjuku to one of the many subway stations depending on what is close to your hotel.) I got lots of different recommendation at various times of the morning.

From Shinjuku you don't catch the shinkansen until Omiya and are only on it for 30 minutes, so even with a JR pass you're talking 4750 yen total each way inclusive of the reserved seat or 9500 yen total. I guess if you could get that in, a ticket to Shin-Osaka 13,940 yen and a round trip to Himeji (3450x2) all in a 7 day period a one week rail pass is slightly ahead at 30340 yen. But in that case you definitely don't want to stay on the Hankyu line because you want to get in as much JR travel as possible during your 7 days.

I've never used the IC Card option. I tend to just use IC cards for inner city transport where whatever it is saving me is less of a point than convenience of not needing to look up what a ticket will cost.

Good luck!

Yeah, I think it's the precision on the names that gets me. These days I'm more used to a travel planner saying "you're wrong, do this instead", rather than "sure, here's 10 connections to get between these two points".

This page helped me make sense of the Hyperdia output, and I think using Google Maps to get me a good set of stations, and Hyperdia to show me more specific information should work out well:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2323.html

My other trip while in the Tokyo area will be to Hakone (for the mountain railway, shrine, and lake; assuming the volcano remains calm). That journey is simple as it can start from Shinjuku and I can go straight to Odawara via the Odakyu trains. There's a travel pass available for there too, but it definitely wouldn't pay off for what I plan to do:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html

Hi!

Right now, it's just the ropeway that is down. There was similar volcanic activity when we went in 2016. If you're a flower aficionado, the hydrangea along the Tozan line are superb. I think that was my favorite part of Hakone.

The problem with Hakone is depending on what you do there it gets pricey fast, so if you're just doing buses and the Tozan line, you are unlikely to need the pass. However if you had planned to do the entire circle route... from that 5700 you can subtract 2380 yen off the bat because you're going to be traveling on a base fare to Hakone-Yumoto regardless. Hakone Yumoto to Gora is 400 yen, if you get on and off to see anything, it will cost you more. If you go up to Sounzan via the cable car it's another 420 yen. Normally, fro Souzan you would do the ropeway, but currently you would take a bus between Sounzan and Togendai. I don't know what the bus costs. If the ropeway was running it would be 1450 yen. The boats I despise from Togendai to Moto-Hakone are I think over 1000 yen. (My firewall doesn't currently like the info website, but I looked it up recently for someone else and the boats are over 1000 yen from Togendai) and then there is a bus from Moto-Hakone back to Hakone-Yumoto. If you were to do this entire loop in 1 day, you would surpass the 5700 yen cost of the pass. With the ropeway out of commission, I don't know what they are now charging. I think the ropeway was out of commission when I was there, but honestly, it was raining buckets and I don't like the pirate ship so I think we just used the Tozan line and some buses and paid out of pocket. I also came to Hakone-Yumoto by way of Hadano and Tokai University, as I was visiting a college friend. I have done Hakone without a pass. One visit a friend and I just went to Yunessun. But once you are looking at the ropeway and the boat, the pass tends to pay off (and again it's possible the substitute bus costs as much as the ropeway would, I don't personally know.)

Good luck!

Yeah, I wasn't planning on doing the round course as I'm not a fan of heights when suspended from a cable. Incidentally I find it amusing that the "Hakone Tozan Cablecar" appears to be a funicular, and the "Hakone Ropeway" appears to be a cablecar.

I was planning on using the Hakone Tozan Railway to Gora, then a visit to Gora park before the return trip to Hakone-Yumoto, and a side trip to Moto Hakone to see the Hakone Shrine and Lake Ashinoko. I don't think the pass would help me in this case.

I checked the JR pass again. If I had a 7-day pass for my time in Osaka then it still wouldn't pay off... unless I commit to my currently vague plan of visiting Hiroshima. In that case the Tokyo->Shin-Osaka, and Shin-Osaka<->Hiroshima would make it worthwhile, without even taking into account the trips to Kobe, Himeji, or Kyoto.

I'm not sure I'd want to travel away for 4 of my 6 full days in Osaka, though I'd still have the evenings, and could perhaps see if it would be feasible to do both Kobe and Himeji in a single day (they're relatively near to Osaka, and not too far away from each other).

I'll need to decide soon whether to commit to the pass though, as it seems that I'll need to have a voucher physically posted to me before the end of next week. I do still find it odd that a country so technologically inspired still relies on paper so much for tickets and cash, especially for foreigners due to Japan often ignoring international standards (in programming we call that "not invented here syndrome").

Yeah, my programmer husband said he knows that expression well. :) Faxes are still popular in Japan vs. everywhere else.

Japan has improved though. My first trip you had to charge at least 5000 yen before any place would take a credit card and last trip I paid off a bunch of things at Zenkoji on my credit card.

JR East Passes are sent via email now. I found this out when I purchased mine a few weeks ago, so things are changing and I know until the end of March this year you could by a regular JR Pass in Japan for a slightly higher price, but I am unsure if the offer was renewed.

I'm not an Osaka fan outside of shopping so I would want to travel my days away, but I am rather biased on this. Depending on your goals in Kobe you can easily fit it in with Himeji.

I don't always do well with heights, but in general find Japanese heights easier to deal with because everything is so enclosed. If you're not doing the boat then you don't need a pass. I think I didn't do a pass when I went in June since we just did the Tozan line and buses. And yes, I would call what they call a cablecar a funicular as well (and the same with the cablecar in Koya-san) but in Japan it's a cable car. I got Ropeways Up-Up rides still from when I was young and use to go to the Bronx Zoo lol Though I've also heard skyways and gondolas. Ropeways always make me think of rope tows when you are skiing.

Enjoy! Like you, I too am leaving soon. :)

Thanks, you're been fantastically helpful and I hope your trip goes well too!

At this point I think I have all the information I need, and just need to make some decisions this weekend (I fly on the 23rd, and leave for London the evening of the 22nd).

It's very varied whether heights bother me. I'm usually fine when I don't feel like I'm going to fall (flying/tall buildings/roller coasters, etc don't bother me at all), but I've had issues with the cable cars at Alton Towers and the Emerates Air Line in London (and they're both enclosed), as well as ferris wheels (though the London Eye didn't bother me at all).

Hi!

Please excuse any typos, I was also trying to get dinner together while responding. We leave on the 17th from NYC though we are transferring in Narita to another flight to Itami. We're hopefully going to a hydrangea festival on the 23rd.

I've only been to London once, though we are going back at the end of the Summer and I am looking forward to visiting the UK. We're still trying to figure out activities. I might be trying to get tickets to the Harry Potter Tour and we are doing some forest park with lots of consonants in Wales.

I'm sure your trip to Japan will be lots of fun whatever you decide and hopefully it won't be so rainy and humid (except the day we go to Tokyo Disney, then I hope it rains a lot lol)

the Tokyo->Shin-Osaka, and Shin-Osaka<->Hiroshima would make it worthwhile

A more recommendable deal
is a combination of JR regular tickets to go until Shin-Osaka
and a JR-West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass to travel west beyond Shin-Osaka.
(Kyoto Station can be the boundary instead of Shin-Osaka Station.)

A 7-day JRP,
when you set June the 29th as its first day to make it cover the longest leg,
cannot cover JR train rides on your last day July the 6th.

Choosing this 5-day JR-West pass,
you can use it from July the 2th to your last day July the 6th,
which can be a merit, especially when you head to KIX by JR.

You can purchase this JR-West pass
at the JR-West Ticket window of Shin-Osaka Station
near the East Gates for the conventional (= non-Shinkansen) lines.
(The Shinkansen zone of Shin-Osaka Station is managed by JR-Central.)

- Japan Guide: JR Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_kansai_hiroshima.html
- West Japan Railway Company: Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass
https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai_hiroshima/

Unlike Japan Rail Pass, this JR-West pass
lets you take Shinkansen Nozomi and Mizuho trains
between Shin-Osaka and Hiroshima,
does not cover surcharges for rides with seats reserved
of Shinkansen or other Limited Express trains,
and is valid between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto only on the conventional route
(because the corresponding Shinkansen section is operated not by JR-West but by JR-Central).

Your days in Kansai seem to be outside the busy tourist seasons,
so I presume you can do without seat reservation
for Shin-Osaka -- Shin-Kobe -- Himeji -- Hiroshima.

My other trip while in the Tokyo area will be to Hakone

Will you make the Hakone trip on your way to Kyoto and Osaka?

The basic one is 2,000 JPY and covers a round trip and local travel in Nikko

Would you skip Lake Chuzenji area (Kegon Waterfall, Chuzenji Temple, Lake Chuzenji, etc.)?

> cannot cover JR train rides on your last day July the 6th

I'm not too concerned by that, as my only travel on the 6th will be to the airport and that's relatively cheap (1,360 - 2,650 JPY, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the 13,620 - 13,940 JPY needed to get from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka).

> Unlike Japan Rail Pass, this JR-West pass...

I just want to check my maths on this, to make sure I'm interpreting this correctly.

The JR Pass is 29,110 JPY, and this pass is 13,500 JPY. That is obviously cheaper, but the JR Pass would also cover the cost of getting to Shin-Osaka, and would let me get to Hiroshima on a Sakura train (86 minutes, with a reservation) rather than a Nozomi train (81 minutes, no reservation).

Hyperdia lists an unreserved seat charge of 4,090 JPY for that trip (4,620 JPY reserved). Does the JR-West pass completely cover that unreserved charge, and would the JR Pass completely cover both the unreserved or reserved charges? I know Hyperdia includes things in its "seat" charge that aren't strictly related to the reservation, and it's not clear whether the passes cover all of that or only some of it.

If the answer to that question is "no" for the JR-West pass, and "yes" for the JR Pass, then I'd also need to add another 8,180 JPY to the pass cost. If the answer is "no" or "yes" for both passes then I can ignore that cost when comparing pass prices.

> Will you make the Hakone trip on your way to Kyoto and Osaka?

No, this will be earlier in the week while I'm in Tokyo.

> Would you skip Lake Chuzenji area (Kegon Waterfall, Chuzenji Temple, Lake Chuzenji, etc.)?

I don't know yet, as I've not planned this part of my trip. The example of the base cost was just to see whether my assumptions were correct when comparing the costs against not having the pass.

this will be earlier in the week while I'm in Tokyo.

Hmm..., then,
you might hope to take a domestic flight at a discount price (about 10000 yen)
from Tokyo Haneda [HND] to Kansai [KIX] or Osaka Itami [ITM].

- Japan Guide: Discount Air Tickets for domestic flights
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

You will travel before the peak season for typhoons to approach Japan.
In a case where unfortunately westbound flights are cancelled due to a bad weather,
you can go to Osaka alternatively with JR regular tickets then purchase the JR-West pass.

Does the JR-West pass completely cover that unreserved charge, and would the JR Pass completely cover both the unreserved or reserved charges?

Yes and yes;
both the JR-West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass and the Japan Rail Pass
let you have Shinkansen train rides without seat reservation between Shin-Osaka and Hiroshima.

Shinkansen Nozomi and Mizuho trains
mostly skip Himeji Station during the daytime.
Hikari and Sakura trains run much less frequently
for the section between Shin-Osaka and Hiroshima.
It sounds better to take the advantage of the JR-West pass for your chances of taking Nozomi and Mizuho.

Hi Talki,

I skipped Chuzenji when I went to Nikko. The truth is, when you do it as a day trip, it can be hard fitting everything in and Chuzenji is an almost 1 hour trip from Nikko. We looked into going to Nikko during our upcoming trip, but decided to skip it and are doing some places in Northern Japan instead because it didn't work well with other things we wanted to do.

I forgot what the actual literal Japanese translation for what seat fee is, as I can not read and only know a smattering of Japanese. But I can help you to figure out what is covered. With the JR West Hiroshima Pass, you could take a Nozomi from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima Station and it would cover everything, but you can't reserve a seat and must go unreserved. (so you can think of the value as 9710 yen each way.)

With a general pass, you can't use a Nozomi, just a Sakura or if you leave the right time there are a few Hikari that go all the way to Hiroshima. If seats are available, you can reserve one or if there is no seat you can go unreserved. (so you can think of the value as 10,030 yen each way.)

The JR West Pass makes more sense depending on your travel plans. It's 13,500 and is good for 5 days. You would then need to buy a train ticket from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka which would be unreserved 13,620 on Nozomi or 27120. I guess the real question is are you doing more than 29,100 in travel during a 7 day period or not. So if for example:
June 29 shinkansen from Omiya to Utsunomiya and JR trains to Nikko
June 30 trip from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka
July 1 visiting Himeji
July 2 visiting Hiroshima
July 3 Kyoto
July 4 Nara
July 5th ??
Pass ends
July 6th leave

Then you may be better off with the full JR pass because of the trip to Nikko being included, though honestly if you have a full on pass you may as well look at someplace like Matsushima or Hiraizumi for the day trip.

With JR West
You pay out of pocket for everything while in Tokyo and pay out of pocket for your transport to Osaka.
and then:
July 1 visiting Himeji
July 2 visiting Hiroshima
July 3 Kyoto
July 4 Nara
July 5th ??

You would be able to use any JR train heading west from Shin-Osaka but could not reserve a seat. If you're a single person or even a party of 2, I've not had a problem going non-reserved. But it helps to be a smaller party.

The plus of JR West is you can take Nozomi, both to Hiroshima and to Shin-Osaka. It mostly saves you time by being more frequent. There are just a lot more Nozomi.

The plus of the full pass is you get two more days of train travel and you get reserved seats. For someplace like Nikko it is a toss up on whether that tips it over. You decided to day trip somewhere more costly it would tip more. But it really depends on what you want to do.

For my trip it was pretty much a toss up. I could stay 1 night longer out West and then use a 7 day pass Thursday-Wednesday to make the travel I want work. (Nagoya to Tokyo, Tokyo to Koriyama roundtrip, Tokyo to Sendai, and somewhere on the Tohoku line back to Tokyo. Price 29100) but I decided to pay out of pocket for Nagoya to Tokyo and leave on Wednesday, and get a JR Tohoku Pass for my Tokyo to Koriyama round trip, Tokyo to Sendai and somewhere from Tohoku back to Tokyo. 10980+19,000 or 29980. It's 880 yen more, but means I don't need to overnight in Nagoya on the 26th and can instead go to Tokyo Disney that night so that Thursday instead of traveling west is now my Tokyo Disney day. For us the 880 yen more is worth it.

I hope this helps everything make more sense. :)

Tokyo->Osaka will actually be the 29th, but yeah, it makes sense that since I'm not planning on taking advantage of the JR Pass aside from my Tokyo->Osaka train, simply adding the cost of that train to the cost of the JR-West Pass gives me the extra amount I'd need to save for the JR Pass to comparatively pay off (I would like to take the train rather than fly for the experience of the journey... less stressful too).

Based on that, the JR-West pass seems to be the winner for both price and access to faster trains, and since I'll be travelling alone, finding an unreserved seat outside of peak time shouldn't be too much of a concern (plus I can always choose to buy a reservation if needed). There's also only a 1,000 JPY difference between buying this pass in advance vs buying it in Japan, so I could just buy it when I get to Shin-Osaka and have it start on the 1st.

In the situation where you have a pass and Hyperdia shows a fee for an unreserved journey, do you still have to go to the ticket counter and get something showing you've covered that fee (with the pass), or can you just get on the train unreserved and the guard will know that you're fine?

Similarly for using a Shinkansen with a pass, do you need an additional ticket (at no cost), or do you just go through using the pass?

Well, JR-West passes are magnetic paper tickets,
which are handled basically by gate machines.

As long as you carefully avoid reserved-seat cars (including Green Cars),
you can just pass through a Shinkansen entrance gate and take trains
on the San(')yo Shinkansen between Shin-Osaka and Hiroshima,
simply with your JR-West Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass.

San(')yo Shinkansen trains are composed of either 16 or 8 cars;
Ordinary Cars where seats which cannot be reserved are,
in most trains, either 3 or 5 cars from the west end.

Before your Shinkansen train ride,
it should be better to pay attention to positions on the platform.
Especially regarding Green Cars,
even if you intend to go immediately to your Ordinary Car,
you are not allowed to step into or get through a Green Car.
So, being at a wrong position on the platform when your train is to depart soon,
you may have to dash along the train for several cars then jump onto a correct car.
(Of course you should refrain from such a last-minute hurry....)

One more thing to be careful about this JR-West pass is,
when you have a reserved seat, only the basic fare is covered, so you pay
not just the gap in the amount for your seat reservation (several hundred yen)
but the full amount of the Shinkansen surcharge.

Just for reference
: JR-West Sanyo-San'in Area pass lets you take trains with your seat for the whole San(')yo Shinkansen route.
: That pass is too expensive for your now-planned western Japan trips.

Just a heads up for anyone else, as it wasn't something I was expecting.

When I was planning this in the UK, Google Maps showed me all its information in English or Romaji, however as soon as I landed and my phone realised I was in Japan, it switched some of that information (especially route planning) to use Kana and Kanji instead. You can apparently force this back in a browser, but not in the Android app.