Hi,
i skip all the posts and jump to this... Dun stay in Japan but been
there for 4 times in the last 3 years. Kwik snip:
Change your pass at the JR reservation office at B1, you
can then use it for the Narita Express as the courteous staff
will help you reserve seats on the Marita Express
Most japanese are friendly and will help... write your english
request on a piece of paper, they are better at reading then
speaking[they are shy as they are afraid of pronouncing
wrongly]
in Ueno, there's a shop tt sells lots of snacks at wholesale
prices[2 storey full of them] its at a side lane along the main
shopping route, you walk down in the south direction from JR Ueno
station, its on ur right...
If you hitting Nagoya from Tokyo, there's the Hikari Super Express,
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THE KODAMA coz it will stop at every stop...You
can reserve your seats at the JR stationthe day before departure so
that you sit in the reserved coaches and not have people standing
in the shinkansen in the non-reserved section.
furthermore Car 3 is a smoking car so if u cant stand the smoke
stay away from car 2 & 4, the smole lingers there, if
you are in a big group n you have reserved tix, you can rotate the
seats so that ll of you face each other, simply use your leg to
step on a hingle below the seat...
Hikari Super express departure time from Tokyo station is 0643,
0703, 0723 if i m not wrong miss that n you take the Kodama
> super slow...
Tsukiji mkt, do go earli like 5am to queue for the good n fresh
sushi never miss it for the world n dun go to the wrong shop, the 2
sushi shops has a queue and is in a row of shop houses facing
the fish market where a lot of the trucks are parked... the
sushi shop door is made of bamboo n dun mix up the one at the
os of the mkt...
if you are os the mkt go to this store that bbq unagi live
taste n buy 1 slab WORTH IT...
In Osaka... go to HEP 5 and namba[including
underground] where all the shopping is... DO NOT MISS
Shinsaibashi shopping area, its noticeable with the remade canal a
GIANT Glico electronic poster.
At JR NAMBA station, if you need groceries, walk out, see the ACAT
building in front of you, head southwards along the small road, you
will see Aeon Valu supermarket... good value to be found
there...
Go to the west side of Kyoto to see the nature, i walk through the
bamboo forest and over the scenic bridge[cant recall the name] you
can the the branch line from Kyoto station and look at the posters
in the train which tells you which stop has which attraction.
kyoto is more historic...
if you are into shopping[ie buying female clothes] {ps i dunnoe
whether u male or female} there's CecilMcBee, Igni, Spiga at HEP 5
n the extension below the railway tracks, 4 floors of good
stuff at HEP5, furthermre walk up the main road from takashimaya,
on your left there are a lot of quirky boutiques and another
shopping centre full of female clothes!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for those excellent suggestions,
especially the one about which sushi stores to patronize at the
Tsukiji Fish Market. 
We'll be hitting 6 cities during the 2 weeks that we'll be in
Japan, and will consequently be spending a lot of time on the
trains. We've printed out the train schedules from Hyperdia.net and
have taken note of which Shinkansens to ride to get
to our destinations in the shortest amount of time.
Edited to add: 4 more days!
