How To Come To Yamagata
(Fri Jul 28 09:47:58 JST 2000)
(I) Starting from the Narita International Airport
(We suppose you will arrive at morning or early in the afternoon at the
Narita airport).
(A)From the Narita Airpot to the Tokyo Station:
When you arrive at the Narita Airport, there are
two kinds of trains and the stations are separate.
One is called Keisei line, and this train leads to
Ueno station. You must not take this line (things
will be complicated). The other line is JR (Japanese
Railways - formerly the Japanese National Railways).
You must take this line.
At the JR ticket office
(not the vending machine) you may purchase a ticket
from the Narita (via the Tokyo station) to the Yamagata station.
After buying it you have two choices to arrive at
the Tokyo station. One is to use "the Narita express"
which starts from Narita Airport and reach Tokyo station
in 60 minutes, but you must pay an additional fee of approximately
1600 yen (=about 15 US$)for the sheet ticket. It goes at every one
hour.(take a look at the time table exhibited at the ticket office.)
Time Table for the Narita Express (Partial)
| Train # | Narita (No.1 ) | Narita (No. 2) |
Tokyo |
| 8: | 9:13 | 9:16 | 10:15 |
| 10: | 9:43 | 9:47 | 10:47 |
| 12: | 10:13 | 10:15 | 11:11 |
| 14: | 11:13 | 11:16 | 12:12 |
| 16: | 12:13 | 12:16 | 13:10 |
| 18: | 13:13 | 13:16 | 14:10 |
| 20: | 14:13 | 14:15 | 15:15 |
If you want to save your money (additional 1600 yen), you
just take a rapid train whose body is colored by blue (the lower part)
and by creamy yellow (the upper part). It takes 90 minutes
from Narita to Tokyo station and all the seats are free of further
charge (except the green seat). On your time of arrival, you have
better to use Narita express if you pass through the customs smoothly
and have a time to catch an immediate Narita express.
(B)From the Tokyo Station to the Yamagata Station
Whichever train reaches at the underground plathome of Tokyo station.
You go up to the ground level. The Tokyo station has two entrance sides
(Marunouchi side and Yaesu side). When you go up, you are near the
Maruno-uchi side. And the bullet trains are near the Yaesu side, so you
may go across in the station area. If you lose the right direction,
then you may ask some people around there where the plathome of
the Yamagata Shinkansen is.
In the Tokyo station every bullet train varies
its proper entrace accoding to its direction (south ,north or west). Yamagata
Shinkansen and Touhoku Shinkansen (it directs to Sendai and Morioka)
have the common entrance and plathome. At the entrance to Yamagata
Shinkansen (bullet train) you are asked by the ticket inspector to show
the traveling ticket (which you already purchased at Narita) and the
exprees ticket (you must pay it ) which costs 4500 (?) yen from Tokyo
to Yamagata. Concerning the express ticket you have some choices.
The researved seat express ticket and the non-reserved one and the smoking
train and the non-smokng train. Each researved seat express ticket is assigned
its proper time of departure and car number and the seat place.
Time Table for the Yamagata SuperExpress (Partial)
| Train # | Tokyo | Yamagata |
| Tsubasa 103 | 11:24 | 14:15 |
| Tsubasa 127 | 12:12 | 15:00 |
| Tsubasa 129 | 13:00 | 15:33 |
| Tsubasa 105 | 14:12 | 16:54 |
| Tsubasa 137 | 15:22 | 18:14 |
The non-reserved one has no such assignment but at bad situation you
must go to Yamagata by standing. You can buy the researved seat express ticket
at Narita, but if the train from Narita arrives lately (by traffic accident)
Tokyo and the miss the train (of the assigned time) then you will lose the
right for the seat. In that case your researved seat express ticket are
valid as the non-researved seat express ticket. One way to avoid this danger
you may buy the convenient researved seat express ticket at the ticket office
of the Tokyo station. (You can go outside the station area by showing
your traveling ticket but keeping it ). Perhaps at Narita the officer
estimates the connection time and issues you the adequate researved seat express ticket. Every Yamagata Shinkansen goes with Touhoku Shinkansen till
Fukushima station (at Fukushima the two directed trains will be separated).
Remember that the former part is for Yamagata (you have no trouble
if you buy a researved seat express ticket - it shows the car number).
If you think it necessary to verify your right train (many trains which
does not go to Yamagata starts from the same plathome) you may ask people.
(II) Starting from the Kansai International Airport (KIX)
(We suppose you arrive at morning or early in the afternoon at the
Kansai International Airport (KIX))
There are two flights from the Kansai International Airport
to Yamagata domestic airport available.
The departure time will vary according to the month or seasons.
Mostly they depart afternoon, so you have a fair chance
to take one of two flights. The flight company is JAS in both flights.
From the Yamagata Airport you can come to Yamagata city by using
a bus (a cheaper vehicle) or a Taxi (much expensive). The bus starts
15 or 20 minutes after the arrival of the airplane.
From the Kansai International Airport you can go
to Sendai Airport, but from there it may take
more than two hours, using two buses (change at Sendai
station) to Yamagata and the connection is complicated
to a foreigner. This course is not recommendable
but usable in the worse cases (there will be many reasons for that).
(III) After arriving at Yamagata station (or Yamagata city)
When you arrive at Yamagata city you may call one of us,or
on any further problem in Japan you may call us, and the our phone numbers
are:
Ozeki
023-632-2570 (home)
023-628- 4530 (office room)
Harada
023-631-3737 (home)
023- 628- 4533 (office room)
some person will pick up you.