I arrive in Tokyo and will stay near Tokyo station. I then need to hop a train to Fukuyama can anyone explain to a dumb American how to do that?
Tokyo to Fukuyama is a straight shot on the Shinkansen. Go a Green Window (Midori no Madoguchi) at JR Tokyo station and buy a ticket at the counter. They’re will be signs saying “JR Tickets” which will guide you. When buying the ticket there are two choices you’ll have to make. The first is whether you have assigned (shiteki) or open (jiyu) seating. An assigned ticket costs a little more, but you’ll be allocated a specific seat on a specific train. An open ticket doesn’t tie you to any specific train. They might also ask you if you want a seat in the Green Car, which is their name for 1st class. You might also consider looking at airfares, since the price will be comparable.
I guess more specifically what trains. Right now From the information I can gather I’d leave Tokyo on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen and take that the full length to Osaka then hop onto the Sanyo-Shinkansen for 7 stops to Fukuyama. I’m currently looking for schedule/frequency that trains leave tokyo station
Like I said, it’s a straight shot on the Shinkansen. Get on in Tokyo, get off in Fukuyama. There’s no reason to change at Osaka unless you’re in a hurry and the next train only goes that far.
I wish you had specified that you were just looking for the schedule. That’s easy:
http://www.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperWeb.cgi
Its a work in progress. Doing research on my side as I go. Those sites cover my needs.
You may want to consider buying the JR pass. I get one every time I go to Japan - it’s currently JPY 28,300 for one week. This allows you free travel on the JR network and probably works out cheaper than the return fare to Fukuyama.
Two caveats: you have to buy it before you go, and you can’t use the fastest (Nozomi) shinkansen. It’s about a 4-hour trip on the Hikari.