Pre-Season Tickets

- I was wondering if I should take advantage of this, or if I could walk up easily before the game and purchase them myself.

I would see if the group arranging your trip could get the tickets. With Yomuiri the tickets could quite well be sold out by the time the game takes place. Though, I'm might well be wrong and have never been to Japan at all, so I would suggest to take an wait and see approach.

I can't recall an open-sen game selling out at Tokyo Dome. You'd be extremely unlucky if it did. As for the Shinkansen, it takes about 2.5 hours from Kyoto to Tokyo on the fastest service, the Nozomi. The first service leaves around 6 am, giving you plenty of time to get to Tokyo before the game. Most large stations have lockers so you shouldn't have any problems there.

In terms of storing your luggage, depending on where your hotel is, they may hold it for you since luggage transport from one hotel to another is the norm in Japan. As long as you're checking in that day, I don't see it as a problem. You may have to pay a nominal fee but even if you used the lockers, you'd have to pay about 600 yen for a large suitcase anyway. You can call the hotel beforehand to see if they can accommodate you.

If that doesn't work, you can try storing your luggage at JR Tokyo Station when you get off the Shinkansen. There are countless regular-sized lockers there (especially on the lower level of the Marunouchi side), though you may have to hunt for a large one that could accommodate big suitcases. I doubt you'd find large lockers at Suidobashi or Korakuen - those are just subway stations - I didn't see any when I was there last week. You'll have to double back to Tokyo Station after the game to get your bags before going to your hotel, but with the Metro, it's not that much of a hassle.

Sorry - one last thing. If you're coming from Kyoto on the Shinkansen, you'll have to disembark at Tokyo Station. There's a Ueno stop on the Shinkansen on the Tohoku line but there's no Akihabara stop, and unless you have a JR Rail Pass, you may as well take the Metro or Yamanote Line from Tokyo Station. I think you can take the Marunouchi Line to Korakuen from Tokyo Station.

As noted, the Shinkansen does not stop at Akihabara. From western (and southern) Japan, your choices would be either Tokyo or the new Shinagawa Shinkansen terminal. Ueno acts as the hub for JR East (which I consider to be north). At least, Ueno and Tokyo were the two major Tokyo hubs going in the two directions before the Shinagawa Shinkansen stop was opened. I don't know if things have changed since then. Anyone?

Your best route would be to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo Station where they do have large sized lockers. Going down toward the Yokosuka Line and Metro connection is where some are located that I know of.

After dropping your luggage off, head up to the Chuo Line, up an escalator that's at least two stories tall. Take the Chuo Line (an orange colored train) two stops to Ocha-no-mizu Station and cross the platform to the Sobu Line (a yellow colored train, sometimes metalic with a yellow stripe). Take that one stop to Suidobashi and go out the exit at the front of the train. Follow the masses from there.

If you want to hit Akihabara first, take the Yamanote Line or Keihin Tohoku Line (green and dark blue respectively) north from Tokyo two stops (*some Keihin Tohoku trains are express trains, making it one stop) to Akihabara. After returning from your shopping expidition, the Sobu Line is on the tracks above the Yamanote and Keihin Tohoku lines. Suidobashi is two stops from there going toward Shinjuku.

I used to work at Ocha-no-mizu and thought it was a wonderful place. It was a short walk down one hill to Tokyo Dome or down the other side of the hill to Akihabara. The perfect location for a techie baseball fan.

What is Ocha-no-mizu?

Ocha-no-mizu is the train station between Akihabara (Electronic Avenue) and Suidobashi (Tokyo Dome) on the Sobu Line (yellow colored trains).

If going to Suidobashi Station from Tokyo Station on the Chuo Line (orange colored trains), the order is: Tokyo -> Kanda -> Ocha-no-mizu (change here to the Sobu Line) -> Suidobashi.

If you mean, "What does Ocha-no-mizu mean?" it literally means "tea's water."