User blog comment:Omega natsu2/Chapter 359: Fairies vs. Hell, Predictions./@comment-11966702-20131102134724/@comment-7418318-20131102142648

Isn't soul society the whole dimension/plane/whatever, including Seireitei, Rukongai and the court of souls, at which Ichigo was training?

If so Ichigo never left soul society and thus can't "reach" it, since he's been in it all this time, though he can return to Seireitei, which is a specific place within soul society.