Which stations sell shinkansen tickets

When buying your tickets you will need to decide on your seat preferences. There are two classes of carriage on shinkansen trains: Ordinary and Green Cars. The seats on Ordinary Cars are comfortable enough, but the seats on Green Cars are larger and offer a little more comfort, quiet and leg-room.

Naturally, tickets for the Green Cars are more expensive and must be reserved in advance. The reserved seats will cost you a little extra.

However, during busy periods particularly national holidays the non-reserved carriages do fill up, so it may be worth making a reservation to avoid the risk of standing throughout the journey. For more details on buying tickets please check the JR Central website. When you purchase your tickets you will receive three cards. On many trains reserved seats do not get booked out, but on some they do.

On particularly busy travel days e. For peace of mind seat reservations are always recommended, especially when traveling in groups and preferring to sit together. On a few shinkansen trains along the Tohoku Shinkansen , Hokkaido Shinkansen and Hokuriku Shinkansen seat reservations are mandatory. Regular paper tickets for the shinkansen can be purchased at ticket counters , at ticket machines or online.

Alternatively, IC cards can be used on selected shinkansen lines. Last but not least, there are several rail passes and other types of discount tickets that can be used on the shinkansen.

Fees that make up a shinkansen ticket A shinkansen ticket is made up of the following fees:. Shinkansen passengers typically receive two pieces of tickets: a base fare ticket and a supplement ticket. In some situations the two tickets are combined into a single ticket, while more than two tickets may be issued if multiple trains are involved one base fare ticket and one supplement ticket for each train.

Shinkansen tickets can be purchased at any ticket office found at all major and many minor JR stations nationwide. Credit cards are accepted at most ticket offices. In order to purchase a ticket, the following information is needed:. If you do not speak Japanese , it is recommended that you write the data on a piece of paper and present it to the salesperson in order to make the purchasing process smoother.

Salespersons are generally familiar with the English vocabulary needed for the purchase of train tickets and seat reservations, but many have limited English conversation skills. Selected ticket machines can be used to buy shinkansen tickets.

Most of them offer English menus. Some machines sell only non-reserved seats, while others can also be used to make seat reservations. Although ticket machines can be very useful if you know how to use them, the process of buying shinkansen tickets is not always straight-forward and some machines do not accept credit cards that are issued outside of Japan. Although such websites exist in Japanese , there is currently no single English website for buying tickets for shinkansen nationwide.

Instead, there are multiple systems that each cover only selected lines. Instead, actual tickets need to be picked up from ticket machines before boarding the train. Furthermore, tickets can only be picked up in the region covered by each system. IC cards can be used on selected shinkansen lines and need some set-up before use.

There are currently three different systems:. To access tickets, click on the tab on the top left :. Click the large button in the middle-left of the screen to continue:.

Nagano Station is on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line. Click the button on the top-right to continue:. You also have the option to search by calendar, if you want to check which dates are currently available online. Once you have selected the options you want, click the button at the bottom to continue:. The fares listed in blue are e-tickets for which you must have a registered IC Card and onto which your ticket will be issued.

The fares listed under green heading will be issued as printed tickets :. Once you have the correct fare, click the bottom button to proceed:. This is a chance to review the details and make changes before finalising. Leave the bottom option selected so you receive email conformation after completing your booking. Buying shinkansen bullet train tickets online is easy to do before you arrive in Japan.

And rightly so — as someone who has made a lot of shinkansen journeys over the years, the experience never gets old. 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. Buying shinkansen bullet train tickets online is simple through an official agent like GoVoyagin. Follow the links to make your purchase for a one way or round trip shinkansen ticket on a specific route:. Order shinkansen tickets at least 3 days in advance. You can buy either regular or green car first-class tickets.