Japan in-country transport, how to get around?

By train

Kanazawa's train station, a futuristic marvel that integrates a traditional wooden temple gate with glass and steel, is located on the West Japan Railway's Hokuriku Line.

From Tokyo Station, there are two routes that can be used to reach Kanazawa. One way is to take the hourly Tokaido Shinkansen Hikari train and transfer at Maibara (米原) to the Shirasagi (しらさぎ) limited express for the run to Kanazawa. This takes approximately 4 1/4 hours, and a regular ticket for this run costs around ¥15000. The journey is fully covered under the Japan Rail Pass.

The other route is to take a Joestu Shinkansen train (Toki, Max Toki, Tanigawa or Max Tanigawa) to Echigo-Yuzawa (越後湯沢) and change to the Hakutaka (はくたか) to get to Kanazawa. This northerly route takes four hours and a regular ticket is much cheaper at around ¥13000. A portion of this journey is on the non-JR Hokuetsu Railway between Echigo-Yuzawa and Naoetsu; Japan Rail Pass holders will have to pay a ¥1450 surcharge each way. The JR East Rail Pass will cover both the Shinkansen and the Hakutaka as far as Naoetsu; beyond that it costs ¥5500 to continue the journey on the Hakutaka to Kanazawa.

A third route exists by taking the Joetsu Shinkansen further to Nagaoka (長岡) and changing to a limited express there. While this particular journey is also covered under the Rail Pass, express trains from Nagaoka are very sparse, whereas journeys to Kanazawa via Maibara or Echigo-Yuzawa are more frequent.

All three of these routes will likely be replaced by one convenient route in the future, as the Hokuriku (Nagano) Shinkansen is in the process of being extended from Nagano to Kanazawa. Travel times will decrease dramatically with the extension of this bullet train line to Toyama in 2012; the line will eventually reach Kanazawa by 2014.

Frequent Thunderbird (サンダーバード) and Raichō (雷鳥) limited express trains run to Kanazawa from Osaka and Kyoto in Kansai. The one-way ride from Osaka lasts around 2 1/2 hours on the fastest service and costs ¥7640 (No charge for Japan Rail Pass holders).

The overnight Hokuriku (北陸) and Noto (能登) trains make daily runs to Kanazawa out of Tokyo's Ueno station, and it is also a morning stop on the Twilight Express (トワイライトエクスプレス) from Sapporo and Nihonkai (日本海) trains from Aomori.