How To Travel Between Tokyo and Osaka,Travel Around Japan with

How To Travel Between
Tokyo and Osaka
Konnichiwa kawaii travellers! This is Ashley and
now I’m in Osaka staying with my family. Perfect
timing for those who were asking about “how to
travel between Tokyo and Osaka”. I’m not a picky
traveler at all, I’ve tried different kinds of
transportation while going around Japan -local
trains, express trains, bullet trains, buses,
night buses, ferries, airplanes, etc. In this
post, you’ll not only know how to travel between
Tokyo and Osaka but you’ll learn how to get from
point A to point B in Japan.
(But first, here’s a photo of me in a local
train station in Hyogo prefecture)
Question: “I’m on a tight budget. What’s the
cheapest way to get from Tokyo to Osaka? “
There are actually a hundred ways to do this!
I’m going to tell you how I did it..
1. Day Bus – I usually use WILLER EXPRESS to reserve tickets because they offer English language in their website which is very convenient
for kawaii travellers like us. Most of the time
I travel from Shinjuku to Umeda. Or Kawasaki to
Umeda. Just pick the cheapest result. Umeda by
the way, is Central Osaka. It’s in Osaka, I repeat. Haha! The day bus I’ve tried from Kawasaki
was scheduled to leave from 9:30am with the arrival time of 5:00pm in Umeda, if I remember correctly. You’ll receive a trip reminder from
WILLER EXPRESS an hour before your trip. Be careful and
be on time! Sometimes, WILLER EXPRESS
bus stops are not close to the main station.
2. Night Bus. Enter your point of origin and
destination, departure date, number of passengers (for female, they have designated places
for you in case you don’t want to be seated next
to a guy) and click search.
For monthly lowest price information, click
here. This is only effective if you’ll book in
advance.
3. Local Train – Just recently, I’ve tried
“Seishun Juhachi Kippu”, a seasonal discount
ticket that could be used in all JR trains except bullet train and Special Express trains. It
took me 12 hours from Saitama (Kaila’s place) to
Hyogo (my family’s house) because I was new to
the process, I’ve missed some trains and experience other first time mishaps. I really recommend it if you have a lot of time to spend,
imagine for just ¥2,370, I’ve travelled (almost
10 prefectures) from Tokyo to Osaka at least.
Tip:
Travel early in the morning, make time
for mistakes. Seishun Juhachi Kippu is only available three times a year during school holiday
seasons so plan carefully. For example during spring, you can buy tickets from February
20th to March 31st and you can use the tickets
from march 1st to April 10th.
4. Airplane – I’ve used Peach (Japan’s Low Cost
Carrier initially based in Osaka) before. I recommend it if you’re close to the airports. They
have flights from Narita to Kansai (Osaka) for
only ¥4000.
Tip: Sign up to their newsletter to receive updates with regards to their promos.
Question: “How to buy shinkansen/ bullet train
tickets?”
Usually there’s an information booth at every JR
train station. There are machines too but to be
sure just go to the booth and buy it from there.
From Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, I always take the
Tokaido Shinkansen Nozomi (because it’s the
fastest) for ¥14,450, you can also take Tokaido
Shinkansen Hikari and Kodama trains for only
¥14,140 (it’s a little bit slower because it
stops on more stations). Shin-Osaka station is
one stop away from Osaka Station.
For Fare information, click here.
Hope this helps! Kaila wrote about how to travel
around Japan using HyperDia so if you want to
compare fare prices and review information about
it, check this post. For those interested with
Universal Studios Japan and The Wizarding World
of Harry Potter, I made a post about it at Candy
Kawaii Lover. If you have any other questions,
we will do our best to answer it. Don’t be shy
and post your questions at “Ask Kaila and
Ashley“.
Travel Around Japan with
HyperDia (Railway Route
Search Engine)
If you want to travel around Tokyo (or anywhere
in Japan) smoothly, I would suggest that you get
your own pocket wifi first. And always bring
along with you your mobile phone! :)
Whenever my friends or readers ask me about an
APP / website about the train information, I
would always suggest “Hyperdia”.
You have to access it by typing the whole
“www.hyperdia.com” url. It is available in three
languages: Japanese, English & Chinese.
“HyperDia” is a service which offers the
route and the timetable of the railway and
the aviation of Japan. With simple operation,
“HyperDia” guides the optimal route and the
fare from starting point to end. The route
search engine is made by self-developed technology. By applying this route search engine,
it is possible to make link to regional information, for example, map information, a rental car and the golf-course etc around the
station from the search result. So, it is possible to offer the information which is possessed with your corporation sight effectively. (from their website)
How To Use
Simply input the names of the station. You can
even change the Date, Time and Type (Departure /
Arrival)!
HyperDia will compute everything for you.. from
the ticket fair, travel time, route options! <3
Sometimes, it does get tricky like if you type
“Shimokitazawa”, the station will not appear.
Try “Shimo-kitazawa” instead then.
If you won’t be using a pocket wifi, it would be
helpful and stress-free if you print out the
routes / or take down some notes. ^^
I haven’t tried or downloaded the APP yet but
feel free to try if you want!
Love, Kaila