Part III: Getting on the Haruka Express for Shin Osaka Station

You made it out of the airport. You bought your tickets. You entered the JR Station (NOT the Nankai one, right???). You went down the escalator and waited for the Haruka Express to arrive. Well, it's here. So what are you waiting for? Get on!

Here is the Haruka Limited Express, bound for Shin-Osaka. Get on the car that is written on your ticket. As soon as you get on, you will see a section for your luggage. Put it all here because there is not space for it where you will be sitting. This train is designed for travelers with suitcases. Go and find your seat, then sit down and relax.

The Conductor will come along after a little while and record the seats that are taken, making sure everyone has the right tickets for the trip.

When it comes your turn to pass over the tickets, for simplicity sake, just give him all three tickets. If for some reason you misread the tickets and are sitting in the wrong seat, he will let you know. Most likely either in Japanese or broken English. Don't fret, everything will be OK.

Now that you have shown the conductor your tickets, you can sit back and relax for the next hour. The train will take about one hour to get to Shin Osaka. See how nice this train is? See how relaxed everyone is? Enjoy it! Oh, above the glass door you will see stuff scrolling by. The names of the stations will be on there in Japanese and English. Also, if you listen to the announcements, you will find that all announcements are in Japanese and English so you should have no trouble at all here.

Here is the sign I was just telling you about. When you see it saying "Next Shin-Osaka" you know it is going to be time to start getting your stuff ready. But don't rush or panic. You will be able to tell when the train is starting to slow down, and when others start to move toward the door. Relax.

OK, the train stopped and you got out. Now you are at Shin Osaka Station and ready to transfer to the next train that will take you to Fukui Station. As I said, it is very easy this way. Look at this platform; you got off on the left side, and the Fukui train comes on the right side. Just follow the arrow, and walk across the platform here. You may want to ask someone at this time where your car will come and stop at because lots of different kinds of numbers are on wire up top signifying the different kinds of trains that come. Each is a different size, and therefore the cars stop slightly differently. Remember this #11, because when you come back from Fukui and have to get on the Haruka to go to Kansai Airport you will be coming down some stairs to this platform once again and getting on the Haruka that goes to Kansai Airport.

You might have panicked at one point, thinking that you didn't have enough time to change trains from the Haruka to the one that goes to Fukui. But now that you know you only have about 5 steps to the other train, you can rest at ease. Well, the train should be coming soon, so we had better take a look, don't you think?

Part Four: Getting on the Train Bound for Fukui Station from Shin Osaka

Here is some review for you once again, just in case you are starting to feel a bit nervous:

Part One: Getting Out of Kansai Airport

Part Two: Getting Into JR Station

Cam Switzer
October 4th, 2003