Most of the signs at station and platform have the station name in English under Japanese, also the announcements on bullet trains will be both in Japanese and English. So we believe you will find your trains without any problem.

Yes, you can travel on this route but please note you can only take ‘Sakura’ Shinkansen and not ‘Mizuho’.

yes, you can as long as weather is fine. From Tokyo to Kyoto, The Mount Fuji being on your right, try to book the D or E seats. Be prepared after train passed Odawara staion!
(These will remain the same from Kyoto to Tokyo route during Mount Fuji will appear on your left).

There is a very useful online resource called Hyperdia that allows you to check various details of train travel in Japan. You simply enter in your travel destinations and it will provide you with train times, journey times, journey routing and also the cost. This means that you can check all the journey times for your trip which is a very useful way to help plan your itinerary.

It can be much faster that checking a manual timetable and gets updated as soon as there are any changes to a planned schedule.

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/
or
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/

most of the station has a coin locker to store your luggage.

	1st class	2nd class
Tokyo - Shin Osaka	JPY 20,560	JPY15,460 Nozomi (2.5hrs)
Shin Osaka –Tokyo	JPY 20,560	JPY 15,460

Handling Fee: GBP30.00
Postage to UK: GBP50.00 (approx.)

I assume that you wanted to travel immediately upon arrival hence, the need to deliver the ticket in the UK. Another option is to be met by a representative at the airport to hand in the train ticket. Cost for meet and assist service is JPY10,000. It will be converted to GBP (GBP1=JPY115).

At-seat catering service of snacks, Bento box and hot and cold drinks are available on most of Shinkansen and limited express. At the major station you can also find the shop for Ekiben (bento box). Hope you can enjoy some local foods on board!

Although we recommend you to stay in Kyoto for few nights as there is so many beautiful sites to visit… but yes, the day trip is possible if you are on a tight schedule.

Sample train schedule,

Outbound

08:03	Tokyo
[164min]	Shinkansen HIKARI 463
10:47	Kyoto

 

Inbound

19:29	Kyoto
[164min]	Shinkansen HIKARI 534
22:10	Tokyo

According to Japan Rail's official website, there is no restriction on taking luggage on board the Shinkansen (Bullet train). But in practice, these trains are designed with quite a lot less luggage space than most other train services.

If you only have one suitcase you shouldn't have too much of a problem. If it's not much bigger than aircraft "hand-luggage" size, it should fit on the storage rack above the seats. If you can get a seat at the end of the carriage, there is a little space behind the last row of seats where a suitcase will fit.

If you have a reserved seat, it's quite possible that the carriage won't be too full, and you can fit your suitcase on a spare seat next to you or nearby. (Non-reserved ordinary-class carriages are usually too full for you to be able to do this). If you use the Japan Rail Pass, it is very easy to get a reserved seat: just go to the ticket counter and ask for seat reservation.

If you travel in Green car (First class), there should be space between you and the seat in front for your suitacase to stand on the floor.

Because of the recognised difficulty of taking full-size suitcases on the Bullet train, there is a well-developed and efficient Baggage Delivery Service in Japan. You can arrange this at Narita airport (see link on left), or from/to major hotels. It seems amazing, but your suitcase does turn up efficiently at your chosen destination address. If going from a hotel in one city to a hotel in another city, you might send your case off in advance, because it travels by road and doesn't go as fast as you will in the Bullet train!

Yes, it’s in Japanese and English. Please visit our blog and YouTube to confirm it!