Osaka to Nagasaki, Maybe ???

You certainly can take a train, as you say, from Osaka to Nagasaki. Will you have a Japan Rail Pass? The trip involves several train changes. I just checked the schedule on Hyperdia ( http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ ) but was not able to put in April 2015, so I checked for this month. Here's the shortest trip I found - Time : 269 Minutes Transfer: 4 Times Distance: 421.0 km Total:¥ 11,570(Fare:¥ 7,020 Seat Fee:¥ 4,550) Of course, if you have a Rail Pass the cost is nothing, otherwise at today's exchange rate it will be about $70 one way without reserved seats. That's $140 RT and 9 hours on the train for less than a day on the ground. You'll have to evaluate if it is worth it within these parameters. Nagasaki is worth way more time than one night. We just spent 5 days there and didn't begin to scratch the surface. If you are just interested in one building, it can be done, but your time on the train might not be worth it. "Doing" any city is never worth it. Visiting the city for a bit is worth it. Nagasaki is not Hiroshima so "overkill" is not an issue, unless the only thing you are interested in visiting is the Nagasaki Peace Park. You mention driving from Osaka to Kyoto. Are you doing the driving? You asked about traveling independently or using an agency. We always travel on our own to Japan. We just returned from six weeks in Japan, our ninth trip there.  We buy JR Rail Passes before we leave and do our hotel bookings online.

Greetings from Kyoto.I agree with jbh that one can travel by train from Osaka to Nagasaki and return after staying one night there and that Nagasaki and the surrounding area are worth more time than one night. I also agree that with such a plan you would be spending a lot of time on the train with not much time for sightseeing.The cost for the train fare quoted seems very low, however. I was unable to find the exact fare quoted on hyperdia, but I know from my experience when I went to Nagasaki for about a week last year that I paid about 38,000 yen for a roundtrip ticket from Kyoto to Nagasaki using the fastest trains -- the JR Shinkansen “Nozomi” connecting to the Limited Express “Kamome” in Hakata (Fukuoka) with seat reservations -- so that it took me only about 5 to 6 hours each way including connection times. This is pretty consistent with the information in JNTO's practical travel guide for Nagasaki and the surrounding areas found at http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtg/pdf/pg-703.pdf. (The fares may have gone up a bit since the publication of the guide.) Going between Osaka and Nagasaki would be a little cheaper, but not much.  Moreover, yesterday I paid 6,480 yen just to go one way from Kurashiki to Kyoto, using the Shinkansen between Okayama and Shin Osaka -- a much shorter distance than to go to Nagasaki. JR's train fares are complicated and for fast trains usually include a basic fare, a surcharge for the fast train and seat charges -- perhaps the hyperdia information quoted was not inclusive. If you already have a JR Pass you would not have to worry so much about the cost of the fare, but you will be limited regarding what trains you could use and would not be able to take the fastest trains -- for example, you could not take the Nozomi, Therefore, more time would be necessary for train travel.Flying from Osaka to Nagasaki is an alternative, and is what I did when I visited Nagasaki on my first trip there. Perhaps you could bring the airfare down by making arrangements as part of your main air ticket. However, a very quick Internet search showed that the only airline flying directly between KIX (the Osaka international airport with some domestic flights) and Nagasaki is Peach so you would likely have to go from KIX to Itami (the Osaka domestic airport) to get a flight.Obviously you must decide where your interests lie, but to be very honest, there are so many interesting places to see in and around the Kansai area which includes Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe, as well as places between Hiroshima and here, that I think that any extra time you have in Japan could be well spent just sightseeing in this area.I hope the above info is useful.    

Hello Karyn.Here's a link to the Hyperdia search.  I changed the date to May 15 2014 - can't access next year yet.This shows pricing for  shinkansen and nozomi, which as you say is not available to JR Rail pass holders.  It shows price breakdown with and without reserved seating.  If we knew if aicitn would have a rail pass this wouldn't be of interest.  I'm not sure if the search will keep the info for long and certainly it will lose it after the 15th.http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=OSAKA&arv_node=NAGASAKA&via_node01=&via_node02=&via_node03=&year=2014&month=05&day=15&hour=07&minute=16&search_type=0&search_way=&transtime=undefined&sort=0&max_route=5&ship=off&lmlimit=null&search_target=route&facility=reserved&sum_target=7

Hi Jbh,Thank you very much for sending me your link to the Hyperdia search you referenced in your previous message.My feeling based on extensive experience that the fare quoted was too good to be true was confirmed. It appears that there was a typo when doing the search and the train info in the link is to travel from Osaka to Nagasaka, which is located in Yamanashi Prefecture, and not from Osaka to Nagasaki in Kyushu. Japanese names are often very similar.A link to a Hyperdia search for May 15 for train as well as flight information from Osaka to Nagasaki is:http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=OSAKA&arv_node=NA...(NAGASAKI)&via_node01=&via_node02=&via_node03=&year=2014&month=05&day=15&hour=08&minute=54&search_type=0&search_way=&transtime=undefined&sort=0&max_route=5&ship=off&lmlimit=null&search_target=route&facility=reserved&sum_target=7In any event, as you stated, if a JR Pass will be used the fare info is irrelevant. However, I think we both agree that the amount of time necessary for train travel from Osaka for an overnight stay in Nagasaki would be proportionately considerable. If a railpass is used, the fastest trains cannot be used and even more travel time than the approximate 5 hours each way using such trains will be needed -- time which I am sure you'll agree needs to be considered when deciding whether or not to make such an overnight trip.Cheers,Karyn

Karyn,

You are absolutely correct - the quote was too inexpensive. My Hyperdia failed me - even though for the past trip, and the one before, and for untold number of train journeys it worked perfectly. I must admit it is my other half who does most of our train routing.

When I put in Nagasaki as the destination Hyperdia offered several choices; when I choose Nagasaki I didn't bother to check to see what it actually gave me, which as you so correctly noted, was Nagasaka! I see that my link no longer works: Hyperdia is fussy that way.

I hope all our chit-chat has proved that this train trip needs to be reconsidered.

As a side note, we use Hyperdia to plan and execute our travels. We print out the likely options for our routes and connections and decide which we might prefer on the ground. When we go to the JR ticket reservation desk we are able to show them the exact route we prefer and it saves a lot of time and discussion. On occasion, Hyperdia is incorrect by a few minutes or the schedule has shifted and the clerk suggests a better option, but 99% of the time it has been spot on. We also had a strange occurrence on this trip, for the first time a LATE train in Japan - well, actually four late trains. Unheard of! What is the world coming to????

Hi Jbh,  Your reply brought up a very important point which must be considered by aicitn as well as others travelling in Japan and elsewhere:  unexpected delays can always occur and “wiggle room” must always be included when making transportation arrangements.  Although Japanese public transport systems are world-renowned for clockwork efficiency, there can also be delays. In fact, on my return on the Nagasaki trip I mentioned in a previous message, my train was delayed and I had only about a minute to make my connection to the last Shinkansen for the night (actually I think they might have held the train), even though the JR attendant had assured me when I bought my tickets that there was more than adequate time to make the connection. On another trip to Takayama a few years ago, we were stuck in the train for four hours and finally arrived at Takayama Station at 2 AM after the train struck and killed a person riding a bicycle.    I experienced major transport delays most recently in February this year. First, on a trip between Abashiri and Sapporo in Hokkaido on a fine sunny day, the train I was on first stopped for about 40 minutes after the crew spotted a deer and then later could not continue past a station due to mechanical trouble. We had to wait for and take the next train, all of which resulted in us arriving two hours late in Sapporo and in a number of people having to stand for about three or four hours because there were not enough seats in the second train. Even worse were the delays and ensuing problems experienced during a trip to Nagano that month due to a record snowstorm. On the way to Nagano and to go to see the snow monkeys, trains and buses were significantly delayed causing missed connections with the result that we actually arrived at the snow monkey park after it had technically closed, although fortunately they kept it open an extra half hour. After the train and bus journeys and trudging on snowy and icy roads and paths for about 40 minutes I got to see a few snow monkeys outside of their onsen (the plug had been pulled) for all of about five minutes.  [This situation was also the direct result of a too-tight schedule and extremely poor planning on the part of the local tour operator who did not have the foresight to leave any wiggle room at all in case of possible delays or other problems which were definitely foreseeable.] But an even more significant delay transpired with respect to our trip from Nagano to Tokyo – on that day all of the trains and buses linking those two places were cancelled due to the snowstorm. We had to spend an extra night in Nagano and were not able to leave there until about 7:30 AM, about 21 ½ hours after originally scheduled. Unfortunately, the day we actually travelled from Nagano to Tokyo was the scheduled day of departure from Japan and as soon we arrived in Tokyo people had to make a mad dash for the airports. Emails from some group members reported that people were able to reschedule flights for that day or the next day and some were even able to catch their original flights due to flight delays because of the snow. My favorite report was from one traveler who managed to catch her flight – when she arrived at her gate they had just closed it but they let her on because she had no luggage (our luggage had been forwarded from Kyoto to Tokyo during our Nagano side trip and was stuck in the snow somewhere; it was not delivered to our respective homes until about a week later).   In summary, it is always important when travelling to allow some extra time for delays due to various causes or other problems as our experiences demonstrate.    I would like to end this chit-chat message on a positive note after my tales of doom and gloom above. In case you or other readers interested in Japan plan to visit Takayama, I highly recommend the guest house where I stayed there during my aforementioned trip – the Yasuda Pension (http://www.pension-yasuda.jp/en/english_top3.htm) and its extremely friendly and helpful owners. They were waiting to pick me up at the train station at 2 AM (I had called to alert them to my delayed arrival), which was really appreciated since there was no other means of transport – not even taxis – at that hour.Cheers,Karyn