1

In general no, but you may as well reserve seats. You can make seat reservations as soon as you have exchanged your voucher for the actual JR Pass (eg. at Narita) so even if you set the activation date as Nov 2 then you can make a seat reservation on Oct 31 for travel on Nov 2 if you wish.

What is your full itinerary? I assume you have/will have a 7-day JR Pass.

JR pass info:-
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html

Shinkansen info:-
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2018.html

Which Toyota Museum?
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3308.html

In general the Toyota Techno Museum (also known as Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology) would be the one you visit.

It is unlikely to be too crowded.


Starting at which station? Tokyo probably ok if you queue, Shinagawa less so. Seat reservations are free so you may as well reserve seats, especially if you know you will be going on a specific early morning train.

Obviously if you plan to go to Hiroshima it makes sense to go from Nagoya to Hiroshima but I guess it depends on your full itinerary.

Not sure what you planned to do in Hiroshima but I can also recommend the Mazda Museum and Factory Tour there.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3405.html

I'd actually suggest Mazda instead of any of the Toyota Museums but it depends on your interest in Toyotas. I have been to all of the Toyota Museums in Nagoya including Toyota Kaikan and the factory Toyota Factory tour in Toyotashi.

2

Culture Day is a very minor holiday, with the only effect on tourists being closed government offices.

3

Thanks for the replies. Here is our plan.

a. Tokyo from Oct 31 to Nov 4 morning.
b. Go to Kyoto on Nov 4 and stay there till Nov 5 evening
c. Go to Hiroshima on Nov 5th evening. Spend Nov 6 and 7th there.
d. Leave for Hakata/Fukuoka City on Nov 8th and fly out of there to HK and then to India.

We've made hotel bookings in all these places. Apart from this and the JR trips, would 10000 JPY per person per day be enough to get by for meals and sightseeing and local travel? There are 7 of us (5 adults and 2 children) and I just want to get a reasonable estimate. Don't plan to splurge on fancy restaurants, etc.

Also given how restrictive the JR Pass is and the limited number of trips (3) we'll be making on JR, I'm wondering whether we're simply better off buying tickets on the Nozomi (which seem much more frequent) than to wait for the Hikari/Sakura trains.

Thanks a lot.

Srivathsa

4

Yes, it will be fine.
Japan Travel Budgets:-
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2410.html


There will probably be not much difference in price due to the stops you make on the way. You can buy the base fare from Tokyo to Hakata Station (Fukuoka) and then each of the Shinkansen supplements separately but this comes very close to the JR Pass price.

You can also use the JR Pass for two days in Tokyo, so you can use it to get around Tokyo or for a day trip to somewhere like Nikko for example.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html

You can use it in Hiroshima to get from Hiroshima Station to Miyajimaguchi and also on the ferry across to Miyajima.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3401.html

Now that you are not doing the long haul from Tokyo to Hiroshima there are enough Hikari that it should have no real impact on your planning I think.

In summary, I'd get the JR Pass but there is probably not too much in it.

5

You can use www.hyperdia.com to estimate costs in order to compare with a Rail Pass.

6

Just back from our vacation. We had the most incredible and wonderful trip. We were lucky with the weather - 7 days of sunshine. Thanks all for your help and advice.