Best accessibility Shinagawa or Tokyo station
Best accessibility Shinagawa or Tokyo station
Hello, we will be taking the Shinkansen to Kyoto on a Saturday in November. we will be staying in Shinjuku and wondered which is the better station to pick up the Shinkansen from – Shinagawa or Tokyo?
I also wondered if there is a big difference between the Nozomi and Hikari for purposes of preserve in a wheelchair seat with companion?
and finally, is there an English language website where I can make a reservation? I see Klook is available and something called EX but I don’t know who these companies are and whether they’re reliable. Are you able to make reservations directly with JR?
Thank you so much for all your help
- 7 Replies
Good morning.
In my experience, I think Shinagawa Station is better because it is easier to access the platform. Also, there is no big difference between Nozomi and Hikari for wheelchair users. Rather, the big difference is in “Nozomi”. “Nozomi” uses new trains and has a convenient wheelchair space. Regarding reservations, “EX” is operated by JR, so it is reliable. However, you have to become a member. The only other way to be sure is to make a reservation at the JR counter. I hope your trip is a wonderful one.
Lastly…I am very sorry that I stopped receiving replies to your emails.
Tak
Good morning Tak
thank you so much for your response and wisdom. I think I will join EX!
Yes, Shinagawa is a lot less busy and the station is simpler.
Here is the link to booking: https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/
Note that you will need to need to book the wheelchair seat and wheelchair companion seat in two different sessions for some reason. You can only choose one type of ticket (wheelchair seat, wheelchair companion seat etc) at a time, so you would buy the wheelchair seat, and then go back and book the companion seat after. I’m not sure why they did it that way…
Great info Josh! So grateful for everyone here!
Thank you!
Let us know how the booking goes!
I will!
So I have completed our reservations for the Shinkansen using the JR Smart Ex website. I registered with the app using my credit card and this was straightforward.
Booking our reservations was not straightforward but not difficult once I understood the seating diagram.
But understanding that took a very long time for my brain to wrap around because there wasn’t a clear nor obvious explanation on the site. And that required me to search and search and search until I found a little tiny explanation that said seat E is the wheelchair assistant’s seat.
However once I found that explanation I was able to make two separate bookings. I’m still not sure that we will be next to each other but we are on the same train and in the same car!
As noted by Josh, one must make completely separate bookings for the wheelchair space and the wheelchair assistant. The seating chart will present you with seat choices based on the type of ticket you are purchasing.
For the assistant booking it would appear that the seat designation is “E” in whatever row you choose.
FYI the Nozomi trains with wheelchair spaces only seem to be available once per hour.
Finally, I downloaded the app to my phone so I can easily access my reservation.
Thanks again, Tak and Josh for your recommendations!
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