Narita Airport to Central Tokyo

[sam_b]

Originally Posted by Caroian

We did this exact journey at the end of March as our first few nights in Tokyo were in Nishikasai. We opted not to get the NEX partly down to cost (it is included if you have a JR Pass - although technically everyone needs a seat reservation and you need to go to a desk, not a machine to get one. We had 2 week JR Passes during our 3 week trip so opted not to activate them until a week in). However it is also not necessarily the most convenient to that side of the city. And, of course, we had time to kill before we'd be able to check in to our hotel anyway!

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You make a valid point about access to Nishikasai, however to be clear, you DO NOT need a reservation on NEX. You can reserve, but you can sit in any seat as long as you give it up if someone gets on with a reservation for that seat. In all the times I have taken the NEX, it has been at least 1/2 empty and never been an issue getting a seat and I don't bother with reservations.
I also would not activate a JR Pass for this journey as it wouldn't be cost effective generally. To be honest £27 for a return trip is pretty good value - the heathrow express is £37 for a journey less than a 1/4 of the length...

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Originally Posted by sam_b

You make a valid point about access to Nishikasai, however to be clear, you DO NOT need a reservation on NEX. You can reserve, but you can sit in any seat as long as you give it up if someone gets on with a reservation for that seat. In all the times I have taken the NEX, it has been at least 1/2 empty and never been an issue getting a seat and I don't bother with reservations.
I also would not activate a JR Pass for this journey as it wouldn't be cost effective generally. To be honest £27 for a return trip is pretty good value - the heathrow express is £37 for a journey less than a 1/4 of the length...

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I have to disagree here, I believe that the NEX is reservation only due to the fact that the train splits at Tokyo. If you are in the wrong seat you may not get to your destination because you do not know where the train splits. ALL seats are reserved. If you make a reservation, you get a reserved seat. You cannot just stand on this train *unless the following happens: If you have a seat reservation but miss your train (which would be extremely hard to do, from Narita), then you can stand on the next available NEX train.

When you buy the ticket, they will reserve the seat for you anyway.

We sat in the wrong reserved seat, in a carriage that was empty. The Japanese person who had our reserved seat, asked us to move. Its just embarrassing and against the Japanese way of the rules.

So just book a seat when you get off the plane at the desk, its very easy and simple to do...

[Caroian]

Originally Posted by sam_b

You make a valid point about access to Nishikasai, however to be clear, you DO NOT need a reservation on NEX. You can reserve, but you can sit in any seat as long as you give it up if someone gets on with a reservation for that seat. In all the times I have taken the NEX, it has been at least 1/2 empty and never been an issue getting a seat and I don't bother with reservations.
I also would not activate a JR Pass for this journey as it wouldn't be cost effective generally. To be honest £27 for a return trip is pretty good value - the heathrow express is £37 for a journey less than a 1/4 of the length...

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That is why I said "technically". You may board and sit in any seat but move if the person who has reserved that seat gets on, but it's not really the accepted way of doing things, as Kevin points out. And also a bit of a pain. We took NEX back to the airport at the end of our trip and I can confirm it was definitely busy! As Kevin also points out, when travelling towards Tokyo some services do split. I mentioned the issue though not as an argument against using NEX but mainly because you cannot get a free seat reservation with a JR Pass from a machine (same as any other seat reservation with a JR Pass) but must go to the desk and it is better to know this in advance. It is quick and straightforward to do though.

[happytraveller]

All sounds a bit of a carry on to me. I'm glad our hotel is on the Limousine bus route after reading all of this

[sam_b]

Well Kevin and Caroian we will have to agree to disagree - I use Nex multiple times per year and rarely reserve (if I go to counter to buy it at the airport they reserve you onto the next one anyway, but on the way back I never reserve and never have an issue.)
Also, it is an accepted way of doing things - it actually has written instructions on the receipt telling you that you can ride unreserved. So, personally I wouldn’t faff around reserving. 😀