[alliejay]

Me again! Just wanted to report back on this discussion. As I mentioned, I ended up not requesting station assistance as my husband was able to push me onto most of the metro trains we took and I was able to step onto the shinkansen myself. However, I do want to point out that station staff were very helpful in pointing out where the closest elevator to the platform was since some of them are not close to the stairs going to the same platforms.

I will add that what really saved a lot of time when exchanging our JR pass order and booking the trains ahead of time was to make sure I had the time options we wanted clearly written down and some backup options in case our preferred option was unavailable. If you are going to request station staff assistance, definitely give yourself more time between transfers!