Overnight trains and other questions

Hi Dada,

Thanks for the kinds words - it's great to hear we're doing the right thing :)

Here are some answers for you:

1) For night trains, I recommend using the following settings in Hyperdia:

This will should pick out the sleeper trains you need. the trick is to select sleeper trains that arrive at around 7 or 8am.

2) A day trip to Tokyo is totally doable from Kobe, especially if you use the Sunrise Izumo or Seto sleepers to return. There's no doubt that it is a long way, but the alternative is to spend around 3.25hrs each way from Shin-kobe. How about doing a stopover on the way, such as in Hakone or Shizuoka?

3) I'm afraid I don't know of any resource for green car availability except to check on Hyperdia. In general there is 1 green car equipped Hikari or Sakura bullet every hour, and you'll find green cars on all LTD Express trains. They are generally not available on local or commuter trains however.

I hoep this helps!

Thank you for your reply!

The settings you suggest generally return routes that are not fully covered by the JR Pass though... What I was hoping for is trains with comfortable Green seats that would allow me to cover a good distance overnight while sleeping.

After reading some more it looks like there is no such thing as Green cars at night, and there's only a few night trains that I would be able to use with just the JR Pass (Hamanasu, Akebono). When using these trains, holding a Green pass doesn't afford any extra comfort: a normal pass would do just fine.

But that's ok, I think I will still enjoy having the Green pass on day trains if only to have a easier time finding seats. I hear Golden Week is particularly busy.