ToyamaJETs.net

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 some major cities, like Kanazawa, Niigata, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto. If you want to go further than those destinations by bus you may need transfer along the way. Costs vary between bus companies, and the time of day you want to travel, for example a trip to Tokyo could cost between 4000yen to 8000yen depending on the company, bus type and whether it’s day/night bus. Some useful sites for finding reasonably priced bus rides to the destinations mentioned above have been included in this part of the handbook. They are in Japanese so you may need some help but people are very friendly so ask and I am sure you will be helped! I have had no problems with travelling or booking transport in Japan and I do not speak fluent Japanese yet!

Day Buses from Toyama

Highway buses depart from Toyama JR station. You can make reservations at the office for highway buses at the reservation centre by calling or visiting in person. They are located in the small plaza adjacent the Toyama Dentetsu Station, between Lotteria and the actual station http://www.chitetsu.co.jp/bus_b/index.html

You can book both day and night buses. They apparently also have internet bookings but I am told by someone who tried to use this service that it didn’t actually work! However here is the link anyway! Good luck! http://www.kaetsunou.co.jp/

Takaoka

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. It searches for more than 5 companies’ schedule and prices for going to Tokyo alone! You need to sign up for the site though (cost free). 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. They cost a little more than buses are super efficient, fast, frequent and extremely comfortable! I have been using trains to travel all over Japan for many years now and prefer using them.

In most places all over Japan, even the most remote, station names are written in Kanji, Hiragana and Romaji. It is also helpful, I’ve found, if you know the name of the line you want to travel on! When I first started travelling in Japan, each of the JR networks and private railways had their own timetables, which was a bit time cumbersome! But fairly recently a fabulous site was developed that can work out itineraries, routes, lines, the cost, distances travelled, stations along the way and the number of transfers! It can be set in English, Japanese or Chinese! It is called Hyperdia and is worth its weight in gold!

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/

You can book JR tickets all the way through to your destination at most JR stations!

When you travel by express trains or shinkansen, there are signs on the platform to tell you where your carriage is! Inside these trains, stations are announced when nearing them, and food trolleys go up and down the aisle so you won’t get hungry! 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.