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Travelling
There are many ways to get in and out of our lovely ken! The three most common ways are buses (day and night), trains and airplanes.
Buses are definitely the cheapest form and depending on what your travel plans are like you might want to take the day bus or the night(overnight) bus. There are buses running between Toyama and the few nearby major cities around us such as Kanazawa, Nigata, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto. If you want to go further then those destinations on a bus you’ll need to make transfers at those cities. If you are going to Tokyo, for example, can cost you between 4000yen to 8000yen depending on the company, bus type and whether it’s day/night bus. I’ve listed a few useful sites for finding reasonably priced bus rides to the destinations mentioned above. Now these are in Japanese so if you need help please just feel free ask people that can read Japanese in your area. Or send a quick email to me (Tina) on ticesu@gmail.com.
Day buses
http://www.chitetsu.co.jp/bus_b/index.html This is for highway buses leaving from outside Toyama JR station. You’ll need to either call them to make a reservation or go to their ticket centre which is to shops down into the Toyama dentsu station from Lotteria. They run both day and night buses. (It says you could book on the internet but failed me after multiple attempts) http://www.kaetsunou.co.jp/ This is the Takaoka local bus company. The three orange tabs are information of going to Tokyo, Nagoya/Gifu and Kanazawa. http://www.nishinihonjrbus.co.jp/ or http://www.kakuyasubus.jp/ for JR-West buses.
Night buses
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/bus/ is a very useful site. Searches more than 5 companies’ schedule and prices for going to Tokyo alone! You need to sign up for the site though (doesn’t cost a thing, just some of your time!) Also very useful for searching buses running between other major cities in Japan.
Trains
Travelling by train is a great and 99.9% of the time extremely time efficient way to see Japan. The only drawback can be the price, but this is made up for by the speed and frequency of the service provided.
You will be able to get by in most situations with very little Japanese, as long as you know the name of the station you want to travel to. Almost all stations, even those in deepest darkest inaka have the name of the station written in both Japanese (kanji and hiragana) and roman letters. Each stop also has signs visible from the train which tells you what the stops on either side are called. So unless you fall asleep, missing your stop shouldn’t be a problem! Most large stations also have a good amount of English on the signs, so you can find the ticket office, waiting rooms and toilets very easily! Timetables are usually also displayed with English translations. If you are travelling by express/shinkansen trains, look for the signs on the platforms which tell you where your coach is. Once on the train, carriage and destination information is usually displayed in English too. All in all a very stress-free experience!
At most stations you will have your ticket stamped before you are allowed onto the platform, so you can ask the man who stamps it which platform the train leaves from: “nan ban desu ka?” or if you are able to read kanji, check out the information boards.
- Be aware that some trains will split at some point in the journey (occasionally on the shinkansen back from Tokyo), so make sure your carriage is going where you think it is! Usually the conductors will point you in the right direction if you ask them. Of course, if you have a reserved seat, you don’t need to worry about this.
For cheaper travel, the Seishun Juhachi Kippu (Youth 18 ticket) allows you to travel practically anywhere in Japan very cheaply (2300 yen per day)! You buy them in a sheet of 5 tickets (11,500 yen in total) which can be used on 5 consecutive or non-consecutive days. You can even split them with a friend! However this is a seasonal ticket that is usually only on sale during vacation periods. Check out the website below for more info, details of night trains, schedules and advice on route planning.
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cove/5750/local.html#18kippu
I really like using the trains because the ride is much smoother and although could cost a bit more than buses, it’s generally faster and there’re more stops to choose from! One thing to be careful is that the trains are very often affected by the weather, especially WIND and SNOW! You can check the operating condition from any JR station. Or you can call them 05020161600 (in Japanese) Tickets are easily obtained from the ‘Green window’ in any reasonable sized station (such as Takaoka, Toyama, Kosugi etc.). For timetable information please use Hyperdia http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ (Sometimes it even connects you outside of the JR lines! For example most subway lines in Tokyo). Since there’s no Shinkansen running through Toyama (until 2012!!) we normally need to travel to either Nigata: Echigoyuzawa station for JR-West or Shiga: Maibara station for JR-East. There are other express trains that run to Nigata, Nagoya and the Kansai area (Kyoto, Osaka). There are many round trip deals between the main Toyama stations to the other major cities nearby. Ask again the green window for help or have a look at the pamphlets displayed outside the green window area.
Flying
Flying to the major cities is also quite convenient and extremely time efficient. Toyama airport is about 20min away from JR Toyama station on the bus (terminal (6),400yen) and a 40min bus ride away from JR Takaoka station bus terminal (1) (1100yen). Although going to Tokyo only takes an hour from Toyama airport, the airport itself is at a weather prone location and often flights are delayed/cancelled due to wind and or snow! However there is also another airport in the close proximity: the Komatsu airport in Ishikawa. You can get there, most conveniently from either Kanazawa station or Komatsu station. Timetable and fare information: http://www.komatsuairport.jp/komatsusypher/www/english/access/index.html
ANA offers a really good deal from Toyama and Komatsu to Tokyo (Haneda) for around 10000yen if you book at least one month in advance. JAL offers a similar deal but only from Komatsu airport.