We are set to go on a vacation during golden week (because that's the only time we had available). Can you help me figure out how to reserve our trains?
April 26(afternoon): KIX --> Kyoto station [Do I need reservations?]
April 29: Kyoto -->(shinkansen) to Fukuyama -->(san-yo line local train) to Onomichi station [definitely reserving the shinkansen (through JR West?). I assume we can use our ic cards for the local train to Onomichi, because that's what other redditors have reported]
May 2(afternoon): Imabari -->(Yosan Line Limited Express) to Okayama -->(shinkansen) to Tokyo
I tried to test out the reservation system for shikoku JR... But they required I enter my name in katakana (I put in my regular name, and it was rejected). I don't know if there's an option for foreign names? Or if I could reserve my train from imabari to okayama through a different cite? Or if I just need to give myself a katakana name?? It looks like I can purchase through "Japan travel by Navitime", but are they legit? It looks like klook doesn't cover this route.
What credit cards does smartEx accept? I feel like I'm getting conflicting information.
Also do you have any recommendations in general for golden week? We're spending 3 nights Kyoto, 2 nights Onomichi, 1 night on the shimanami kaido island, and a week in Tokyo.
I'm not sure if I should plan to do the journey from imabari to Tokyo....after we drop off our bikes at 3pm, and just plan to arrive in Tokyo late in the evening... or waste a night in imabari and, and waste the whole next day getting to Tokyo?
April 26: You may reserve the Haruka Limited Express, which is 1 direct train to Kyoto and takes 80 minutes. Alternatively, just use your IC card and take the Rapid train to Osaka and change to the JR Kyoto Line for Kyoto. This will take around 110 minutes, no reservation needed
For websites that require entering Katakana name, I just convert my name into Katakana. For example Albert Einstein would be アルベルト・アインシュタイン Aruberuto Ainshutain
That makes sense. Thank you for the advice!
When I tried to test reservations again the Shikoku JR cite sent me to JR West's purchase portal this time(I'm not sure what I did differently). So hopefully that means I can use my regular name. Is there anything I should keep in mind reserving through JR West?
I think I'll pick up all of our physical tickets at Kyoto station at the beginning of the trip. So I don't have to fight the crowds on the travel days. I assume my imabari ticket can also be picked up in Kyoto?
If you want to use your IC card, just use Smart EX instead and link the ticket to the IC card and just use that from Kyoto. It might be possible to do it with IC card if you only have the Kyoto-Fukuyama ticket... but I would personally just use the ticket in the transfer gate and adjust the fare in Onomichi (not using IC card at all).
First, do not use third party, the route tool of Japantravel by navitime is great, their pricing on reselling ticket is horrible. Also don't use klook.
Did you try JR West reservation website (yes they do sell tickets in other regions, I do not know about Shikoku). Yes you can "give yourself" a katakana name, for exampl search a famous person with each part of your name (like if your name is Johny, search Johnny, search Johnny Depp on Wikipedia and check the Japanese page and copy the part for Johnny. But if you do Imabari to Tokyo, really check if JR West does it. It will be easier and cheaper to get everthing in a single ticket than do it as 2 separate tickets.
Who knows, just try it. But JR West reservation website is kind of the alternative.
Nights kind of don't matter, number of days matter more. Just do a day by day itinerary and you will see. As much as I like Onomichi, there is not that much to do, so a full day in Onomichi is fine, two... you really need to be looking for a really relax time, just walking in town and stopping by some cafe (2 days work if you go to one of the islands, but you are doing the cycling. However if you get to Onomichi late, sleep, visit Onomichi, sleep, then do the Shimanami kaido in 2 days, then fine.
The other option would be to go to Matsuyama for the night and fly to Tokyo. Depending on flight time it might not be a totally wasted day.