Making Train Reservations with JR Pass in Advance

[haggage]

I'm planning to spend a few days in Kyoto then travel to Sapporo for the Snow Festival on the 8th Feb. I'm aware the trains will probably be very full with people going to Sapporo at that time.

I already have a JR Pass exchange coupon, but don't plan to exchange it for an actual JR pass until the day I head to Sapporo. My question is, is it possible to make reservations before you have exchanged your JR Pass exchange coupon for an actual JR Pass?

Not sure if I'm explaining this well but surely there are others out there who have been in a similar situation...?

It's a long way to go and it would be nice to have the reassurance that I am actually going to get there on the day!

Thanks in advance,

Hannah

[Belton]

I know what you mean, however I think you will need the actual pass rather than the coupon to make reservations. As well as the reservation ticket they also made an annotation on my rail pass when I made reservations.

I'm trying to remember about when I exchanged my voucher. I'm pretty sure you can set a start day which can be in the future ie get your pass a week before it becomes valid and then you should be able to make reservations for the period the pass is valid. I got my pass in Nagoya but was using non-JR transport for the start of my trip to Kanazawa, so I set it to start there. However I didn't make reservations until I got there.

I never had any problem getting a reservation bar on one limited express train over the new year busy period. And I've also made a reservation about 10 mins before the train was due into the station.
There are also unreserved cars, as seat reservations cost more (for those without a pass) not everyone has them.

[haggage]

Thanks for the helpful reply. If that is the case that gives me a bit more time for making reservations so that's great.

Yeah hopefully it won't be too busy, will be the longest time I've ever been on a train so a smooth journey would be nice!

[a_cubed]

According to the information on the JR Pass site (http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en004.html):

Within three months from the date the Exchange Order was issued, you must turn in your Exchange Order to obtain your JAPAN RAIL PASS. At that time, you have to specify the date that you want to start using the PASS. It can be any date within one month from the date the PASS is received.

Hopefully, once you've got the pass you can get a seat reservation. However, the pass is refundable if you turn it in before it starts, so that might still be an issue. I'd advise asking at the JR office in the airport on arrival to check - the staff at the JR office at the airport should have reasonable English, while staff at many stations (even major ones like Shinjuku) do not. Once you've got the pass it's easy to learn (or write down) the phrase for "I wish to book a reserved seat on XXX train" but understanding the answer if there's a problem with that would be more difficult. Good luck.

[Yamanchu]

Haggage, if worst comes to worst, just get in an unreserved carriage. I once had to stand in a packed out shinkansen for four hours to get back to Tokyo, but I got back.