How To Buy Shinkansen Bullet Train Tickets

Buying shinkansen bullet train tickets online is easy to do before you arrive in Japan. It’s also easy buy them in Japan from train station vending machines. We’ll show you how to do both.

[300 series SHINKANSEN © tmizo]

Travelling by Japan’s shinkansen, or bullet trains, is a must-do for visitors to Japan. And rightly so — as someone who has made a lot of shinkansen journeys over the years, the experience never gets old.

While it’s easy to buy tickets at train stations in Japan, you might want to buy tickets in advance. This is a good idea in busy seasons, when reserved seats can sell out in advance and queues for tickets at ticket counters can be LONG. Buying tickets in advance gives you peace of mind and assures you a seat. Of course, if you’d like to buy the tickets in person at a train station, we’ll give you all the details

Buying Reserved Seat Shinkansen Tickets In Advance Online

Buying shinkansen bullet train tickets online is simple through an official agent. Follow the links to make your purchase for a one way or round trip shinkansen ticket on a specific route:

• Buy Tokyo to Kyoto shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Tokyo to Osaka shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Tokyo to Hiroshima shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Tokyo to Kanazawa shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Tokyo to Nagoya shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Kyoto to Tokyo shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Kyoto to Osaka shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Kyoto to Hiroshima shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Osaka to Kyoto shinkansen tickets from Klook

• Buy Osaka to Tokyo shinkansen tickets from Klook

Order Shinkansen Tickets At Least 3 Days In Advance

Order shinkansen tickets at least 3 days in advance. You can buy either regular or green car (first-class) tickets.

You can collect your shinkansen tickets in Tokyo or, more conveniently, have them delivered to your hotel anywhere in Japan for a small extra fee. You must order at least 3 days in advance before the day of travel.

I would advise you to book your shinkansen tickets as far in advance as you can, during peak season like Christmas and New Year, cherry blossom season (April) and fall foliage season (November). It gets extremely busy and trains are often fully booked.

Green Cars Vs Ordinary Cars

Here’s my advice on green cars (first class cars) versus ordinary cars on Shinkansen trains.

How to Buy Shinkansen Tickets at Train Stations in Japan

It’s very easy to buy shinkansen tickets in person at train stations in Japan. Any JR ticket office or ticket window can sell you shinkansen tickets. In larger train stations like Tokyo and Kyoto, they also have dedicated shinkansen ticket offices. Here’s the one in Tokyo Station on the Yaesu side.

[Shinkansen ticket office in Tokyo Station — image © Chris Rowthorn]

You can also buy tickets for other JR lines in these offices. The problem is, during busy times, there can be long lines at these offices. There’s a solution: Use the shinkansen ticket vending machines! These are either inside the shinkansen ticket office, or right next door.

These machines offer services in English, Korean, simplified and traditional Chinese. Here’s one in Kyoto Station:

[Shinkansen ticket machine]

In the upper right corner of the screen, you will find the buttons for language choices:

[Shinkansen ticket machine language choices — image © Chris Rowthorn]

Here’s the top page of the English version. Once you land here, it’s all self-explanatory.

[English top page of the shinkansen ticket machine — image © Chris Rowthorn]

Note: you must pay in yen cash. It’s handy to have a few Y10,000 notes, as well as some ¥1,000 notes for this. You can put all the bills in together. The machine gives change and will issue a receipt if you’d like. It’s very easy! And you can feel superior to all the folks waiting on line at the ticket counters.

Should You Get A Japan Rail Pass?

In October 2023 the price of the Japan Rail Pass dramatically increased. As such, you now have to be planning to do a lot of train journeys in Japan to make buying the Pass truly worthwhile. See our page Japan Rail Pass: Is It Worth It for a breakdown of the cost and how much you need to use it before you start saving money. For most travellers to Japan, it will be cheaper and easier to just buy individual train tickets.

Seeing Japan By Shinkansen — Multi City Itineraries

Here’s some useful Japan itineraries to help you plan your trip using the shinkansen to move between cities:

Tokyo-Kyoto 1-Week Itinerary
If you have only one week in Japan, then Tokyo and Kyoto are the two places you should visit. These cities will give you the best experience of modern and traditional Japan. Here’s the ideal one-week Tokyo-Kyoto itinerary.

Osaka-Kyoto 1-Week Itinerary
If you’ve got one week in Japan and don’t want to travel much, an Osaka-Kyoto itinerary is a great way to see both modern and traditional Japan. Here’s how to do it.

Osaka-Kyoto-Tokyo 10-Day Itinerary
Ten days is the perfect amount of time to spend in Japan. Here’s a great Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka itinerary that will allow you to see the best places efficiently and easily.

Classic Japan itineraries — here’s six Japan itineraries that explore the country’s major cities. A Japan Rail Pass is probably the best way to proceed for those cities with more than 3 cities.

Nagoya Legoland
Nagoya’s Legoland is an easy day trip from Kyoto or Osaka on the shinkansen — it’s less than hour’s journey time.

Universal Studios Japan Theme Park, Osaka
Take the shinkansen from Kyoto (only 11 minutes to Osaka by shinkansen!) or Tokyo to visit the huge USJ theme park.

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