If you want to build your itinerary by yourself, Hyperdia will help you a lot. This site is transportation search engine. You can search the timetables and routes of all trains, flights and airport shuttle bus. I think this site is most convenient site. But this site may be too many functions and options for you. You may be overwhelmed to use this site.
In this post, I will show you all functions of Hyperdia to understand using this site. I hope you will be a good friend of this site after reading this post.
How to use Hyperdia by movie
You may learn how to use this by the movie below if you like.
Basic search
Please access Hyperdia.
You see several fields. If you look for the simple timetable and route, such as Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, just type station’s names at “From” and “To”. Then select your trip date and time. At the last dropdown menu, you can choose one of those, “Departure”, “Arrival” and “Average”. In most of cases, you will use “Departure”. But if you want to arrive somewhere by the certain time, you may select “Arrival”. “Average” gives you some results between Arrival and Departure. But I have not used this mode many times.
e.g.
If you fly from Narita Airport terminal 2 on December 15. You will leave Tokyo station and you want to be Narita by 15:00. You will type “Tokyo” and “Narita Airport terminal 2”. And then select “December 15”, “15:00” and “Arrival”.
Search with some conditions
When you use JR Pass, you can’t take Nozomi on the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen. And most kinds of the pass that are issued by JR Group do not cover most of the private railway lines and the subways. On the other hand, some non JR railway’s deals, such as Kansai Thru Pass do not cover JR train. You can sorth the schedule and the route with these conditions.
Please see the bottom at the entry fields. You can find “Search Details”. Just click it and you will find many choices.
Via 1, Via 2 and Via 3
When you search the route and the schedule, sometimes the multiple routes are shown. If you want to fix the route, put the station name on the way to your destination at Via 1.
e.g.
If you want to get Takayama via Nagoya from Tokyo, input Tokyo at “From”, Takayama at “To” and “Nagoya” at Via 1. You will get the timetable of Tokyo-Nagoya-Takayama route.
You may input maximum three station names at Via 1, 2 and 3.
Order
You can choose the order of result. If you do not touch, the best departure time will be shown. If you choose “Transfer”, the fewest transfers route will be shown on the top. If you choose “Money”, the route of the lowest cost will be shown at the top.
Check box
You can check or uncheck to get the right schedule for your trip.
e.g.
If you use JR Pass and try to find the route from Shin-Osaka to Hakata, you should uncheck at “NOZOMI / MIZUHO / HAYABUSA (SHINKANSEN)” because Nozomi and Mizuho are not covered by JR Pass. But if you travel by the Shinkansen to the north, such as Shin-Aomori, Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, you will take Hayabusa. Hayabusa is categorized at same train type as Nozomi and Mizuho. But Hayabusa is covered by JR Pass and other JR deals.
Private Railways are not covered by JR Pass either. So you may uncheck at this field too. And also you should uncheck at “Airplane” and “Airport Shuttle Bus”. Hyperdia shows you the domestic flight schedule as well. As long as you use the rail pass, any result of the flight schedule is not required.
You can make some changes for these above conditions at the result page too.
Advanced function
When you get a result, you can see more detailed information.
Train timetable
If you click this link, new window is opened. It shows all station’s departure and arrival time of the train. If you travel with you friend. He/She will join you on the way to your destination, you can tell the time to join.
Interval timetable
Actually this function is very useful. Click this line open new window. You will see all other trains in same segment. If you want to compare earlier or later train, this function works very well.
Station timetable
If you click this link, new window is opened and show you all train’s departure time. There are links on all trains. You can click it to get detailed information of the train.
When you cannot find station’s name
This is tricky to use this site. Sometimes you cannot find the station name that you want to depart or arrive. There are several cases.
Hyphen in the name
Some station names have a hyphen in the name.
The station name which contains “Shin”
If you look for the name that starts from “Shin”, you may have to put hyphen (-) after “Shin”.
e.g.
Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, Shin-Yokohama, Shin-Aomori
These names are seen on the Shinkansen lines very often. Because “Shin” means “New”. These stations are built for just the Shinkansen lines near the major cities.
e.g.
Osaka and Shin-Osaka, Kobe and Shin-Kobe
However some station’s names does not have hyphen between “Shin” and name.
e.g.
Shinsapporo (means New Sapporo)
Shinimamiya (means New Imamiya)
And also the names itself include “Shin” do not have any hyphens.
e.g.
Shinsaibashi
The station name which contains the cardinal directions
When you look for the name that is started from “Higashi”, “Nishi”, “Minami” and “Kita”, you may have to put a hyphen after these words. These four words mean East, West, South and North. These types of stations are located near major cities too.
e.g.
Minami-Chitose (means south Chitose)
Nishi-Akashi (means west Akashi)
But in this case, some station names do not have any hyphens even though the name contains the cardinal direction.
e.g.
Nishiumeda (west Umeda)
The station name which contains the historical domain name
In Japan, these are still many names remaining the historical domain name from Edo era.
e.g.
Aizu (inland of Fukushima prefecture), Kaga (near Kanazawa)
We see this type of name at the station too. You may have to put a hyphen when you look for the name which consist of the domain name.
e.g. Aizu-Wakamatsu, Omimaiko
Again some names have a hyphen and others do not have.
Anyhow when you cannot find the name, try to put a hyphen.
Same location but different names
In major cities, especially in Tokyo and Osaka, there are so many railways. We sometimes find the lots of station names in same area. The most well known case is JR Osaka station area. There are JR lines, Hanshin railway, Hankyu railway and three Osaka metro lines.
- Osaka (most of JR line)
- Kitashinchi (JR Tozai line)
- Umeda (Hanshin railway)
- Umeda (Hankyu railway)
- Umeda (Osaka Metro Midosuji line)
- Higashiumeda (Osaka Metro Tanimachi line)
- Nishiumeda (Osaka Metro Yotsubashi line)
This area is usually called “Umeda by the local residents. Osaka is the city name and the prefecture name. It is not the name of this area. But JR station is “Osaka”. This is very complicated but these all stations are located within the walking distance. We can find this type of the case at many places.
e.g.
Hamamatsucho (JR and Tokyo monorail) and Daimon (Tokyo subway)
Namba (Nankai and subway), JR-Namba (JR) and Osaka-Namba (Kintetsu and Hanshin railways)
The station name which contains the company’s name and the location name
This is very tricky. In case that there are multiple railway stations in same area, the railway company put their name in the station name.
e.g. Kintetsunara (Nara), Kintetsunagoya (Nagoya), Seibu-Shinjuku (Shinjuku), JR-Namba
In this case, you can never find these names if you put the location name. Especially the major private railway companies, like Kintetsu, Seibu have this type of names. You may use Google map to find the exact name if you do not know an exact name.
I hope this post helps you to understand how to use this train search.
Comments
Hi,
Please ignore/delete my previous post.
After re-reading your excellent blog I tried searching the trip again and …..it worked!
Thank you for the wonderful information you provide here.
Regards
No worries, Allan. 🙂
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
I am visiting Otaru Hokkaido in July and from here I plan to get to Toyama by train. Is there a direct train from Otaru to Toyama? How many hours? What is the cost? Can a JR Pass be used? What type of seating (example grand class or suite ) for entire journey?
Hi Choo,
There is no direct train. You have to go to Omiya where is a few station before reaching Tokyo. And then transfer to Hokuriku Shinkansen there. Please see the link below. You will find the way to get Tokyo from Sapporo. You can take local or rapid train to get Sapporo.
https://jprail.com/destinations/hokkaido-area/how-to-get-sapporo.html
https://jprail.com/trains/sort-by-departure-arrival-stations/stations-in-hokkaido/hakodate-shin-hakodate-hokuto/direct-access-to-hokkaido-from-tokyo-hokkaido-shinkansen-bullet-train.html
https://jprail.com/trains/sort-by-departure-arrival-stations/stations-in-kanto/tokyo/ueno/tohoku-shinkansen.html
https://jprail.com/trains/sort-by-departure-arrival-stations/stations-in-kanto/tokyo/ueno/hokuriku-shinkansen-direct-access-to-kanazawa-nagano-and-toyama-from-tokyo.html
All trips are covered by JR pass but Gran class is not covered. You have to pay full surcharge even if you use Green type JR pass. You can find the surcharge at Hyperdia. Please see the post above about using Hyperdia.
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
Hi there, I was reading all your post for my incoming trip. I have only one questions. If I buy the Japan Rail Pass, for example, I want to use it into Tokyo – I think Yamanote should be fine – and Narita Express, may I need to show my pass every time I want to ride any JR train? or it has bar code or something?
Thanks
Hi Juan,
Whenever you enter the station, you have to go through man gate to show your pass.
When you are in limited express train, the conductor may check your JR pass.
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
Hi, I will be arriving at Nagoya international airport and I would like to take an express train to Takayama.
Can I buy the ticket online? If yes, where can I find the online reservation?
After that, I am planning to take a train from Takayama to Nagano. What pass would be suitable for my trip?
Nagoya – Takayama – Nagano – Nagoya
Thank you!
Hi BK,
Online booking is not available. You have to book it after you arrive in Japan. You can book it at the reservation window. Most of JR stations have the window and you can book in advance. So you can book all tickets at once.
There is no deals to cover your trip. Single fare is the best option.
https://jprail.com/travel-informations/other-rail-passes/for-non-jr-pass-travellers-guide-to-use-jr-single-ticket-basic-rules-validity-and-stopover.html
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
Hi Takeshi, it’s me again. I am working with hydedia rates and as your example shows it has base fare and reserved/unreserved/express seat fee – so does this mean that for my trip say, from Kamata – Nagoya I will have to pay 200 +6260 + unreserved seat fee (cheapest) 4100 = Y10560 and not just base fare alone? This is if i use single ticket. And if I have rail pass does this mean that the pass will only cover base fares and if I choose reserved seat because it is peak season like in Dec or Jan I will have to pay extra? And is a reserved seat a guaranteed seat or should I go up to Green seat? My apologies for the many questions. Thanks heaps, kc
Hi KC,
If you purchase single ticket, you need to pay both. If you use JR Pass, it covers both single fare and reserved seat charge. You can secure your seat by JR Pass. If you just want to secure your seat, you don’t need to buy Green pass. It’s a sort of business class seat.
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
Great! Thank you very much Takeshi! 🙂 Cheers, kc
No worries, KC.
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
HOW CAN I GET FROM SAPPORO CTS AIRPORT TO HAKODATE BY TRAIN TQ
Hi Cheah,
You can take local train or rapid train to Minami Chitose. That is one station away from the airport station. And then transfer to limited express Hokuto.
https://jprail.com/destinations/hokkaido-area/hokuto-super-hokuto.html
You also can find some info at one of my trip report.
https://jprail.com/destinations/hokkaido-area/my-trip-from-sapporo-to-otaru-and-hakodate-on-march-20-2012-by-rapid-airport-and-limited-express-hokuto.html
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
Hi Takeshi-San,
Can you advise what is the cheaper and faster way to go to Kagoshima from Hakata.
Thanks & Best Regards
May Yong
Hi May san,
Shinkansen is the fastest but bus is cheaper. But I couldn’t fine bus info in English and I’m not familiar with bus either. You may find some more info at the link below:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4604.html
Cheers,
Takeshi / JPRail.com
Hi Takeshi-san,
About the trains and their departure tracks, does it mean if I missed one train I can just go to another track and ride another train that is coming?
Sometimes in my search results there are trains that need transfer (Tra.), does it mean I need to get off a train and get on another train?
If I’m not mistaken in reading the results, the difference of timing on one route to another can be very big, especially with those needing transfer. If indeed I missed one route, should I just take the ones with longer route/time, rather than just wait for another faster route?
Hope you understand what I’m saying.
Here’s one instance: http://bit.ly/1QPsIk7 from Kyoto to Okayama.
Please advise.
Thanks,
Dwi.
Hi Dwi san,
I checked the link that you gave me. There are some trains that go directly to Okayama from Kyoto. And you need to transfer at Shin-Osaka in some cases.
As long as you use JR pass, you can take any Hikari or Kodama or Sakura’s non reserved seat. So if you miss it, you can take next train’s non reserved seat. Even if you have reserved seat and miss it, you can get another reserved seat ticket for next train if you have a time to go to reservation window.
Regarding Shinkansen timetable, the following links show you PDF timetable. I think this is easier to build your plan.
http://english.jr-central.co.jp/info/timetable/_pdf/westbound.pdf
http://english.jr-central.co.jp/info/timetable/_pdf/eastbound.pdf
Cheers,
Takeshi / JP Rail
hai. thanks a lot for sharing this website. 🙂
No problem, Saadiah.
Cheers,
Takeshi / JP Rail
Hello- It’s our first visit to Japan.
We have JR pass voucher.
We are staying at Kansai Washington Hotel.
Kindly let me know which station to go to catch a train to Kyoto.
We are staying at Kyoto Tower Hotel Annex.
Than you very much for your help.
Hi Cyn,
Is your hotel located in Kansai airport? If so, just take limited express Haruka. It takes you to Kyoto station directly.
https://jprail.com/travel-informations/tips-for-japan-rail-pass/how-to-access-from-kansai-airport-to-downtown-osaka-kyoto-and-kobe.html
Cheers,
Takeshi / JP Rail