Japan/Yokohama
 

We are moving to Japan in July, my husband will be working near Tokyo Station and we are trying to decide where to live. We like the look of Yokohama but could someone give us an idea of how long the commute would be from Yokohama to Tokyo Station and whether or not it is possible to reserve a seat on the train?

I like Yokohama alot. There are trains with reserved seats, and, of course, the shinkansen, but that would be an expensive commute.

If I may ask, why the need for a reserved seat?

Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan, so it would really depend on where you live to determine how long it would take.

mmm is right, the tokaido line from Yokohama goes to Tokyo station and takes about 25-30mins

Obviously, how far you live from Yokohama station could add upto 20mins of commuting to the journey plus walking time...

Japan/yokohama
 

We're planning to live within 15 mins from Yokohama station if possible. the idea of reserved seat is only because we've been told the commute will be really packed and nasty - I'm open to other ideas but we really want to keep the total commute to 1hr each way - is this possible?

Those images of white-gloved station men pushing people onto trains is the exception, not the rule. Round trip from Shin-Yokohama to Tokyo station on the shinkansenn would be about 5000 a day. (About 50 bucks). Reserved seats on slower trains would be a little less. Taking the train every else does will be about 20% of that (with monthly passes)...maybe less.

It's not as bad as you think.

yeah, rush hour CAN be a bit of a nightmare, but it is fine if you get to the platform 5-10mins before the train arrives... even at the busiest times, you can usually grab a seat then from Yokohama because many people depart the train there

is the OP talking about taking the shinkansen? if you are...well i dont recommend it. like MMM said its expensive. people commute everyday using the JR and other lines and it really isnt a problem. if you live in a city with 12 million people and most people commute by train, of course its going to be crowded. that really cant be helped. some of my friends commute from saitama to hachioji to go to university. if you live in tokyo you know that thats a loooong commute so yokohama to tokyo station is nothing compared to that.

Does the Shinkansen even pass through Yokohama? Are you sure you don't mean the narita express or have I somehow managed to not see the shinkansen here in the 9months I have used Yokohama station hahaha

It's actually goes through Shin-Yokohama, not Yokokama station...

ahhhh, my mistake - I tought you were talking about Yokohama lol!

(actually, I didn't know it went through shin-yokohama either!!)