Kyoto/Tokyo train ticket questions
 

Hi All/Any,

I'm going to be going from Tokyo to Kyoto in mid- to late May of this year. I'll be going by Nozomi or Hikari Shinkansen out of Ueno Station (sound right so far?). Then I'll be coming back about 4 days later

Three questions:

1.) These trains leave more or less constantly from both Tokyo and Kyoto, right? Given that this is a vacation and not business, it's not that important that I pick a specific time and then pound the pavement to get there on schedule, right? (In other words, this ISN'T like Amtrak, right?)

2.) Regarding buying the actual tickets: Should I make time during the days I be in Tokyo beforehand to buy tickets beforehand? Or, going back to question 1, is it okay just to roll into the train station whenever I'm ready to leave and buy tickets for whatever the next departure is?

3.) Should I buy round-trip tickets or just buy tickets one a time, one way, in both Tokyo and Kyoto before I leave each city?

1) Several trains leave every hour most of the day. I thought the shinkansen left from Tokyo station, not Ueno, but I could be wrong.

2) You can buy the tickets just before you leave. Rarely is the there not a single open seat, and if that is the case you can wait 15 minutes for the next train. Roll in and buy when you are ready to go.

3) It is cheaper to buy a roundtrip ticket by a little bit. So you will need to know your return time in advance.

Well, I'm catching a local out of Ueno 'cause it's closest to where I'm staying but then transferring to--I assume--the Shinkansen in Shinagawa.

But thanks for the info! All of that is pretty much what I was able to piece together from guidebooks and other websites, but I wanted confirmation from a real live human being (or, y'know, someone on the internet :-)

Isn't Tokyo station closer to Ueno than Shinagawa?

Ueno to Tokyo central is a short hop; direct line i think it took about 15 -20 mins... not to bad :)