Re: [76attendees] Kansai/Hiroshima Train Station: ATM/travel to hotel

[Rob Evans <[e-mail]>]

> Something that even seasoned travellers were surprised about: you get
> a pile of tickets and you stick them as a pile into the gate
> machines. The machine determines which ones to give you back. When
> you finally leave at Hiroshima, your last one gets sucked away.

I think I got to grips with this.  You will have a "fare" ticket and a 
"seat reservation ticket" for each journey, possibly more than one of 
the latter if you have multiple legs with reserved seats.  To get to the 
Shinkansen platform you will probably have to go through two sets of 
gates, the first gives you access to the general platforms and you can 
do this with just the "fare" ticket (putting both in didn't work at one 
of the stations).  The second gate is for the Shinkansen platforms and 
you'll need to put both the fare and seat reservation tickets in 
together, on top of each other (it doesn't matter which one is on top).

Leaving the train the process is reversed.  Put both tickets into the 
first gate, which will keep the seat reservation.  Put the remaining 
ticket, the fare ticket, into the second gate at the exit from the 
platforms.  The gate will keep that ticket, but you're now out of the 
station.

I'm sure there are going to be other subtleties (and I'm sure someone 
will point out this is already described on Ole's or the local host's 
website), perhaps if you're using a station only with Shinkansen there 
is just one gate, but this worked for me...

Cheers,
Rob