Shinkansen Guide: Passes, Discounts and More
If you asked me to choose between a one-hour plane ride and a five-hour Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) ride for the same price to the same destination, I would always choose the Shinkansen. In fact, I recently asked myself this very question, and I chose the six-hour Shinkansen ride for a return trip from Nagasaki over a two-hour flight back to Tokyo.
I wish I could say my choice was due to my heightened sense of eco-consciousness, but I have to admit it has more to do with my love of the Shinkansen. I find the Shinkansen, Japan’s extensive network of high-speed railways, with trains reaching up to 300 km/h and carrying 1 million passengers a day, to be one of the most peaceful modes of transportation. It is quiet, reliable, and undeniably fast. It is also shockingly frequent; it runs every six minutes between Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo during rush hour.
But, while the Shinkansen has many benefits over air travel, I only very recently realized that, thanks to friends from home who were planning their two-week trip to Japan, the booking process for a Shinkansen ticket can be a little confusing for travelers, especially when you do not use the rail pass. Since the recent dramatic price increase of the beloved Japan Rail Pass, getting the one-week or two-week pass no longer makes as much financial sense as it once did; many choose to purchase their Shinkansen tickets individually rather than rely on the Japan Rail Pass. And that is where, with various JR Companies operating in different regions, multiple official and third-party websites, and the well-known user-unfriendliness of Japanese websites, things start to get a little confusing.
As an avid Shinkansen enthusiast and resident of Japan, here are some suggestions to make the planning and booking for your Shinkansen ride a little less painful. For a more detailed post on the transportation part of the Japan trip-planning process, you may also consider checking out the paid feature of my Substack newsletter – Letters from Japan – Japan Trip Planning Q&A. There is also a more recent Japan Travel Frequently Asked Questions post that covers more than transportation, and an index of all posts focused on Japan trip planning.
What is Shinkansen?
As mentioned above, the Shinkansen (meaning new line in Japanese – 新幹線) is a network of railways operating in Japan where trains reach speeds as high as 300 km/hour. According to the official data, one million passengers ride the Shinkansen daily.
Regional Shinkansen networks and operating companies
Japan Railways Group refers to five companies (there is also JR Shikoku, but the island is not served by Shinkansen) that operate the Shinkansen network based on service area.
For northern Japan, there is JR Hokkaido, serving obviously Hokkaido Island, and JR East, serving Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku (where Kanazawa is located, jointly covered by JR East and JR West), and Koshin-etsu regions. For central Japan, JR Central covers the Chubu area and the busiest Shinkansen route from Tokyo to Osaka, including Kyoto. Another popular route, Osaka to Hakata (aka Fukuoka), is covered by JR West. JR Kyushu covers southern Japan, with an extensive network that makes travel to one of Japan’s most beloved islands easier and faster. While there is also JR Shikoku, the company does not operate any Shinkansen lines and carries passengers on ordinary trains within Shikoku Island.
Different types of Japan rail passes covering the high-speed rail network
If you buy the JR Nationwide Rail Pass (starting at 50,000 Japanese Yen for the one-week pass), your pass will cover rides on the Shinkansen trains operated by all these companies. However, if your trip is focused on a single region, the regional passes offered by each one of these companies may be a more economical choice. I wrote more about the regional rail passes in my Traveling Japan on a Budget post.
Trains that are not covered by the Japan Rail Pass
Various types of trains operate on the Shinkansen network, differing by maximum speed and other features (for example, some have first-class cabins, and some do not).
While the rail passes can be used for rides in the entire geographical network covered by the pass, Nozomi and Mizuho trains, which are faster than the other types of trains, are not, by default, covered by the rail passes. To ride these trains, holders of a Japan Rail Pass must purchase a supplement ticket. For the Nozomi, the time difference, while technologically significant, will probably not make much of a difference for a leisure traveler. The trip between Tokyo and Kyoto takes 2 hours and 22 minutes on a Nozomi train, whereas the ordinary Shinkansen takes 2 hours and 37 minutes.
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Tips for booking Shinkansen tickets
Now, the more confusing part. If you are not using the Japan Rail Pass or one of the regional rail passes, how can you buy single-ride Shinkansen tickets before arriving in Japan?
Buying your train ticket online
While in today`s world, buying your Shinkansen ticket online seems like the most obvious option, for those booking from abroad, online booking was not possible until 2019.
But now, fortunately, JR-East (also covering JR Hokkaido sales), JR-West, JR Central, and JR Kyushu all allow online bookings and ticket purchases.
For JR East and JR Hokkaido Routes, booking can be made on the Eki-net website. However, I have to warn you that the website is not very user-friendly, and getting past the authentication phase can take multiple tries. Fortunately, JR West, JR Central, and JR Kyushu tickets can be purchased using the much more user-friendly Smart-Ex website.
How to collect your Shinkansen tickets
Purchasing your Shinkansen ticket is only part of the journey. After that, depending on how you purchased your ticket, you may need to collect the physical ticket either from the vending machine with a QR code or from the ticket office. I highly recommend that you avoid leaving this part to the last minute, especially if your train departs from busy stations like Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto. There can be lines both inside the ticket office and in front of the ticket issuing machine.
On the alternative, if you are already in possession of a Suica or Pasmo card – including mobile ones (pre-paid transportation cards used in Japan that can be purchased from ticket machines for 500 Japanese Yen as a deposit that you can re-collect if your return the card at the end of your trip), you can register your card info with the official booking site and have your ticket assigned to your card. After that, all you need to do is scan your card as you pass through the electronic gates (the gate will then automatically issue your ticket showing your seat). This is the option I always use as it saves a lot of time. QR ticket option has also been recently introduced, which makes the process easier even if you do not have Suica or Pasmo.
Shinkansen ticket discounts
One of the best things about booking your Shinkansen ticket online is the opportunity to benefit from substantial discounts if you book early enough. The discounts sometimes reach 40% of the ticket price. I recently purchased my Shinkansen ticket between Tokyo and Fukuoka only a week in advance, and I could ride in the green car instead of the ordinary car for less than I would normally pay for the ordinary car.
While there are rarely any meaningful discounts on popular lines such as Tokyo to Kyoto, discounted rates are more common and substantial on Kyushu, Hokuriku, Hokkaido, or Tohoku lines.
Difference between gran, green, and ordinary cars
There are different categories of cars on Shinkansen trains: gran (not available on each train), green, and ordinary. While the name may be a little misleading, green cars are simply a slightly more luxurious version of the ordinary cars that one can ride in on the Shinkansen. It costs extra, there are only two seats on each side instead of the three seats sitting in ordinary cars, and the lighting is softer. So, the distinction between green and ordinary cars has nothing to do with one being more ecologically friendly. You will usually need to pay an extra 5,000 Japanese Yen or more for a ride in a green car.
There is also the gran class, which is the first-class version of Shinkansen trains. Not every train has this class, which comes with leather seats, a more spacious seating area, and constant attention from the car crew. A ride in a gran class requires an additional payment of 20,000 Japanese Yen or more.
These are some tips to make your Shinkansen booking a little easier. I hope you find the ride as enjoyable as I do. For more Japan travel planning guidance, you can also refer to the Japan Travel Frequently Asked Questions post.
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