[Joan Pahisa]

Hi Maria,

I lived nearly one year in Osaka and I went several times to Kyoto for one-day trips. With the JR Pass you can either take the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka station (15 minutes to Kyoto station) or a fast JR train from either Umeda station (30 min) or Shin-Osaka. There are also slower trains that take around 45 minutes, but I think that they aren’t JR. 

In Japan many touristic sites close quite early (some at 6pm), so going back to Osaka the same day shouldn’t be a problem. I would suggest waking up early to be in Kyoto when your desired sightseeing spots open, as there’ll be less tourists, and visit between 2 or 3 sites per day. That’s what I used to do and it worked pretty well.

Osaka is also a great base for one-day trips to Nara or Kobe, so I think that staying at the same hotel would work fine. 

I hope that you enjoy your stay there!

[Accessible Japan]

Hi Maria,

I guess it depends on what station you stay near in Osaka.  It is only 30 min (and 560yen) by train from Osaka Stn to Kyoto Stn.  So, totally possible.

I think the JR pass will mostly be related to which airport you land at.  If you come into Narita or Haneda and then travel to Osaka/Kyoto, then it will be worth it.  If you land in Osaka (Kansai Intl), then the JR Pass will likely not be worth it if you stay in the Kansai area.

[schroth-sensei]

Hi Maria,

I know many of the trains are great in the area, so that may work out well, and I’d refer to the great advice above. I don’t know if a car would be an option for you, depends on your needs and if you can be transferred into the car. Nonetheless, when I stayed in Osaka for about a week, we rented a car and put my collapsible manual wheelchair in the trunk (with just enough room for it). We also had a Japanese friend of mine drive us, which took away the need for my caregiver to learn how to drive in Japan (we are from the US). Besides visiting Osaka (downtown was fun), we drove from there to Kyoto (awesome temples and traditional art), Kobe (my caregiver bought us Kobe beef, both price & taste are rich), Nara (magnificent Buddha!), and Iga Ueno (the shadows may hide Ninja). All places were day trips, except multiple day trips to Kyoto, and we only used 1 tank of gas surprisingly. Parking at the locations we visited wasn’t too bad, we had to park a little bit away from some of the places we visited in Kyoto (but honestly, that only added to the trip because we found nice shops & dining options on the way).

I realize this isn’t an option for everyone, but here are a few things to consider with renting a car:

• GPS is a must (bring one or rent a phone with one that has English/your native language, a rental car GPS may only be in Japanese, check ahead if possible)
• Expect to pay tolls (if you take non-toll routes you will add hours to trips)
• Book a parking spot with your hotel booking (I did not, got chewed out, my fault, but they luckily had 1 available in a VERY limited parking garage)

My trip was awesome, and I highly recommend it to anyone you like Japanese Art, Culture, Food, and more!

I hope that helps,

-Justin

[Accessible Japan]

You may want to contact Terry from this company – https://www.angelo-services.com/travel-english

I think he can help find a hoist as well.

[maria]

Thank you all for the useful information! ^_^ 

Thank you Josh for the hoist company! I will contact them as soon as I book my hotel.

In case I decide to not buy the JR Pass, do you maybe know the cost for traveling to Hiroshima from Osaka?

[Accessible Japan]

Hi,

It is about 10,640 yen to go from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima one way.  So 21,280 yen to go there and back for one person.

[Joan Pahisa]

As Josh said, I remember it being around 10.000 yen per way. Aside from the JR pass, you should check getting an IC card for local trains, metro rides and buses all around Japan. In the Kansai area the IC card is called ICOCA. You can get it from any major JR station or airport at the Midori Madoguchi (the green ticket window). This card is rechargeable and it allows you to pay for rides without having to buy single tickets for each ride. It can even be used to pay at convenience stores, such as Seven Eleven. I used it in Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Tokyo, etc. for subways, buses, tramways, trains… Aside from long distance trains and some special transportation (e.g. rope-ways, boats), it works for most everything else. It works for JR lines and for other companies too. When leaving Japan, you can return the card and they’ll give you back the money that  it may have left as well as the 500 yen that it costs.

In the end, you pay the regular fare, so it’s more expensive than one-day passes (if you use lots of transportation everyday), but it eases the hassle of having to buy tickets all the time. Anyway, I thought that it’d be interesting for you to know. 

[maria]

Thank you for your replies.

I have a PASMO card. It works in Osaka, right?

[Joan Pahisa]

Yes, PASMO also works in Osaka : )

[maria]

Great then ^_^ Thanks