JR-Central Ticket Office, Kyoto Station Shinkansen Hachijo Entrance — Local services in Kyoto

I’d never thought that I would be reviewing a train ticket office, but the JR Shinkansen ticket office in Kyoto Station was exceptionally poor.

TLDR: Low point of our trip. Either show up with 2 hours buffer time and locate where you need to pick up your tickets, have an app or something to translate Japanese screens (we ended up using Google Lens), or be prepared to be extremely frustrated.

Long vers: We got there an hour early to collect tickets and chill. Couldn’t find the right ticket machines at first to redeem our Klook tickets, so we did the natural thing and ask the info booth. The staff on duty looked at our ticket and said we CANNOT use the ticket machines to redeem and had to go to the counters. Counters were poorly staffed - we missed our train queuing, but luckily with Shinkansen you can ride on the next train if you miss your first. Waited an hour and a bit in the queue only to be told that they CANNOT serve us, and we have to use the ticket machines. “Look for the green redeem button” she said. For extra laughs, the green redeem button was only available on the Japanese language screen and not the English one 🥲 which was our problem in the first place.

Missed our train, can’t get on connecting bus -...

I recently needed to change my Shinkansen ticket from Kyoto to Narita Airport. The original ticket had just 18 minutes, which is insufficient to comfortable connect at the gigantic and confusing Tokyo station. Google Maps showed I had better connect (between the same trains) at Shinagawa, a more compact station. ChatGPT agreed.

Three tips for other travellers:

Allow plenty of time — the queue here can be long (I saw it stretching outside).

Bring your actual paper ticket, as they usually need to physically exchange it.

3.If your connection time feels too short, don’t hesitate to politely insist on changing it.

The staff were helpful and courteous and, on my second attempt, were able to solve the issue efficiently as I had brought my...

The young man with glasses on the first floor was the most unfriendly person I've ever met this year. It was my turn, but he didn't say hello or nod. He just stared at me. So I asked if I could go forward if it was my turn. He shook his head without saying a word. I went forward and said hello, but he ignored me, and he looked angry all the way. I simply bought a ticket, didn't have a conversation that offended him, and I still don't understand why I should have been treated like that. I know that it is difficult to deal with many tourists. But isn't that the job he chose? And we're customers. He is a person who undermines the image of JR,...