Hi. We are flying into Narita, and plan to stay overnight in a hotel near the airport. Our plan is to travel the next day to Nagano, the Yamanouchi (I know this is a local train not on the JR line) for an overnight at an onsen and visit to the Snow Monkey Park the next day. Then we would travel to to Tokyo.
Is there a Shinkansen we can pick up at Narita that would take us to Nagano? Is it on the same line, or would we need to train into Tokyo first, and then pick up the JREast?
Will the JR Pass work from Tokyo to Kyoto on the super fast trains (Nozumi?) We will travel from Tokyo to Kyoto on Dec. 29, and then from Kyoto to Narita (to fly home) on Jan. 2. If the JR Pass won't work for the fast trains, does it make more sense for us just to buy separate tickets for all of these trains (Narita-Nagano, Nagano-Tokyo, Tokyo-Kyoto, Kyoto-Narita)?