Shinkansen tickets: prices, the official booking sites, when to buy and what happens if you miss your train

Shinkansen ticket prices on the main routes

The prices below are the official fares on smartEX, the online booking service for the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen — the line most visitors ride, from Tokyo through Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka to Hiroshima, Hakata (Fukuoka) and Kagoshima. Each price covers both of the tickets a Shinkansen ride needs, for one adult travelling one way on a regular-season day. The fare tables are dated "As of April 1, 2025".

All prices in yen. In a reserved seat, the fastest trains (Nozomi and Mizuho) cost 210 to 1,060 yen more than Hikari, Kodama and Sakura on these routes; a non-reserved seat has one price whichever train you take. The Green Car — JR's first class — is a little cheaper on the slower trains than on a Nozomi: 19,070 yen from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, 25,970 to Hiroshima and 29,810 to Hakata. Two more from Tokyo: Shin-Kobe is 15,290 yen in a reserved seat on a Nozomi, and Kagoshima-Chuo, at the end of the line, 32,590 yen in a reserved seat on the fastest trains, with a change on the way (30,670 non-reserved, 43,510 in the Green Car).

These are online prices. Tickets from a station counter or machine cost more — JR Central's booking page says online tickets are "Always Cheaper than Paper Tickets" — but the official English pages do not list station prices, so this guide does not quote them.

Why a Shinkansen ride needs two tickets

"There are essentially two types of tickets in Japan," JR Central explains: a "Basic Fare Ticket", which every train needs, and a "Limited Express Ticket", which you add for a Shinkansen or limited express and which is "valid for the specific train you are going to ride". A seat in the Green Car adds a "Green Car Ticket". Local and rapid trains without seat reservations need only the basic fare ticket.

That is why a station machine or counter may hand you two tickets for one journey, or a single ticket with both printed on it. Either way, you need both parts.

smartEX takes care of this for you: its price combines the basic fare and the limited express ticket into one booking, from one Shinkansen station to another. Anything beyond that — the JR local train from Shin-Osaka into central Osaka, for example — is paid separately, and smartEX notes that its price plus the local fare can then come to more than an ordinary undiscounted ticket for the whole journey, depending on the section. If you start and finish at Shinkansen stations, as on Tokyo to Kyoto, this does not affect you.

Children's Shinkansen fares

JR Central's ticket rules divide passengers by age:

JR counts a 12-year-old still at elementary school as a child, and a 6-year-old who has not started school as an infant, but those exceptions "apply only when the 'elementary school' is established under the Japanese law" — so for most visiting families, age alone decides. Each part of a child fare is halved and "5 yen is rounded down", which is why a child's price can be slightly under half. On smartEX a child's reserved seat on a Nozomi costs 6,980 yen from Tokyo to Kyoto, 7,250 to Shin-Osaka, 9,780 to Hiroshima and 11,800 to Hakata.

In practice a toddler on your lap rides free, but a toddler in a reserved seat of their own needs a ticket: JR Central's Nozomi page says that if a child aged 1 to under 6 or a baby under 1 "occupies an ordinary car reserved seat or a green car reserved seat, a child fare and fee are required".

Peak and off-peak Shinkansen prices

On smartEX, reserved seats and the Green Car cost more or less depending on the season of the travel date. Compared with the regular-season prices above, they are 200 yen cheaper in the off-peak season, 200 yen dearer in the peak season and 400 yen dearer in the top peak season. If your trip straddles two of the lines — Tokyo to Hiroshima or Hakata, for example, runs from the Tokaido onto the Sanyo Shinkansen — the amounts are 400, 400 and 800 yen. Non-reserved prices stay the same all year. Children's prices also vary by season.

Earlier in 2026 the top-peak days were 1–6 May (Golden Week), 7–8 and 15–16 August (around the summer Obon holidays) and 18–23 September. The dates come from smartEX's season calendar and may change, so check it before you book. For the holidays themselves, see our Japan holiday calendar.

The official sites to buy Shinkansen tickets online

Each JR company sells tickets for its own trains online, in English, so the site to use depends on where you are going.

smartEX: Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka

For the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen, the official booking service is smartEX (in full, the Tokaido Sanyo Kyushu Shinkansen Online Reservation Service), shared by JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu, the three companies that run those lines. JR West's English ticket page calls it "our ticketless boarding service" and says it lets you "reserve and pay on Tokaido-Sanyo-Kyusyu Shinkansen train tickets before visiting Japan". The prices at the top of this page are smartEX prices. JR Central sums up the service: booking "Beginning one year prior to departure", from "Both inside and outside of Japan", "For up to 6 people at once", with "No annual fee or service fee required".

What you need before you book:

• A credit card in your own name. Registration needs "a compatible credit card", and smartEX says "Credit card payments need to be made by the member himself/herself; therefore card holders must be 18 or over." It recommends "a regular credit card" — see credit cards in Japan.
• 3-D Secure. If your card has not been set up for the card issuer's online identity check (3-D Secure, which smartEX calls the "personal authentication service"), does not support it, or the check fails, smartEX warns that you "may not be able to use" the service.
• Yen payments. You pay in yen, so your card company may add a foreign transaction fee. Each change takes a new payment for the new fare before the old one is refunded, so "foreign transaction fees may be charged each time a change is made".

On the day, you board in one of three ways:

• QR-Ticket. JR Central: "NO need to stop at the station counter before boarding the train; simply display your QR-Ticket and go directly to the ticket gate."
• An IC card. Register "one of ten types of IC card for public transportation that are reciprocally accepted nationwide", such as Suica, and touch it at the gate. A children's card cannot be the member's registered card, a card with a name on it can only be used by that person, and the visitor versions of these cards are "valid for 28 days from the purchase date". See Suica and other IC cards.
• Paper tickets. Otherwise, smartEX says to "pick up your tickets from the ticket vending machines, etc. before boarding".

JR-EAST Train Reservation: Sendai, Niigata and Nagano

For JR East's Shinkansen lines from Tokyo — north towards Sendai and Aomori, and to Niigata, Yamagata, Akita and Nagano — JR East's English booking site is JR-EAST Train Reservation. This guide could not open its pages to check its prices and conditions, so read them on the site before you book. The rules on this page are smartEX's and JR Central's.

JR West and JR Kyushu

JR West's English ticket page also offers "Regular Ticket Online Reservations", to "Reserve regular tickets, limited express tickets, and more". JR Central names JR-WEST ONLINE TRAIN RESERVATION and JR-KYUSHU Train Reservation, alongside smartEX, as the online services where you can book a Shinkansen seat with an oversized baggage area. For the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen, JR West's own page points to smartEX.

Buying Shinkansen tickets at the station

You can still buy tickets the traditional way. JR Central's Nozomi page says to buy "at a JR station counter, ticket vending machine, or travel agency". The staffed ticket office is called Midori-no-madoguchi, and opening hours vary by station — JR asks you to check each JR company's website. Not every station can sell a reserved seat from a machine: "Some stations may not have a reserved seat ticket vending machine."

Two differences from smartEX matter:

• Price. Station tickets cost more than the smartEX prices above. The official English pages do not list the station prices, so this guide does not quote them.
• Changes. A station ticket can be changed once, free apart from any difference in price; smartEX allows unlimited free changes.

The station is the better choice if you hold a Japan Rail Pass — smartEX "cannot be used with other tickets such as the Japan Rail Pass", and pass holders reserve seats free at a JR ticket office, a reserved seat machine, a Travel Service Center or online — or if your card will not register on smartEX.

Klook and other resellers

Travel booking sites such as Klook also sell Shinkansen tickets. They are resellers, not JR: the price, any booking fee, how you get your ticket and what happens if you change or cancel are set by them, so the smartEX rules on this page may not apply. Compare their total with the smartEX price for the same train before you buy, and check their change and refund rules. For the Japan Rail Pass the official site has been cheaper than overseas agents since 1 October 2026 — the figures are in our Japan Rail Pass guide.

Is there a Shinkansen discount for foreigners?

Ordinary Shinkansen tickets cost the same for everyone, whatever your passport. The products made for overseas visitors are rail passes: the nationwide Japan Rail Pass and regional passes sold by individual JR companies. A pass saves money only if you ride enough — a 7-day Japan Rail Pass costs 50,000 yen, while a smartEX return from Tokyo to Kyoto, in a reserved seat on a Nozomi, is 27,940 yen.

The discounts open to everyone are smartEX's early-booking fares, called Hayatoku. With EX Hayatoku 7, which you book between one month and 7 days ahead (until 23:30 Japan time), a reserved seat costs:

Prices in yen, from smartEX's fare sheet "As of Feb 27, 2026". The Hayatoku price is the same on every day it is sold, but "The number of seats available is limited for each train. As a result, you may not be able to make a reservation even if you have a vacant seat on the desired train", and it is "not available during busy periods (Golden Week, Obon, the New Year's holiday, etc.)". smartEX also sells EX Hayatoku 1, 3 and 21 and a family version, each with its own conditions; this guide quotes only Hayatoku 7.

When Shinkansen tickets go on sale

JR Central: "Reserved seats go on sale from 10:00 AM one month before the departure date of your train (the same day of the previous month)." That is 10:00 a.m. Japan time (JST, UTC+9), so seats for a train on 15 December go on sale at 10:00 a.m. on 15 November.

Online, some seats open earlier: "With Shinkansen Online Reservation, only some products will be released at 5:30 AM one year before the boarding date (same day of the previous year)." Most Hayatoku fares, S Work seats, wheelchair-accessible seats and seats with an oversized baggage area cannot be booked that early, and "the seats that can be reserved one year in advance for each train are limited in number". Bookings made more than a month ahead are confirmed later: the train number, times and seat are finalized "after 8:00 AM one month before the boarding date" and sent to you by email, although "In principle, when a reservation application is completed, the seats for the number of applicants are reserved."

JR Central's advice is simple: "We recommend that you make a reservation as soon as your plans are made."

Are Shinkansen tickets cheaper in advance?

Only with a Hayatoku fare. The standard smartEX price depends on the season of your travel date, not on when you book, so a seat booked a month ahead costs the same as one booked on the day. Hayatoku fares are cheaper but have to be booked ahead — EX Hayatoku 7 by 23:30 seven days before — and have limited seats. Booking early carries little risk either way: smartEX lets you change trains free until 4 minutes before departure, and a refund costs 320 yen.

Do Shinkansen tickets sell out?

Reserved seats on a particular train can, especially around the big holidays. JR Central's FAQ asks "What should I do if the reserved seats of the train I want are full?" and answers: "Please consider boarding at a different time or on a different day so that you can reserve a seat on a train with vacant seats." Non-reserved cars never "sell out", because they have no seat numbers — but you may have to stand.

During the busiest holiday periods JR Central runs every Nozomi with reserved seats only: the "non-reserved seats (165 seats) on Nozomi trains will be switched to reserved seats". Without a reserved seat "you will not be allowed to sit". You can still board with a non-reserved ticket, but you stand — on the deck or in the passageway of an ordinary car, not in the Green Cars ("Car No.8 to 10") — and "there is a risk that you may not be able to board the Shinkansen you wish to due to overcrowding". The Hikari, Kodama, Mizuho, Sakura and Tsubame keep their non-reserved cars, though those on the Hikari and Kodama "may be overcrowded". JR Central's Nozomi page lists the 2026 dates; the last New Year period ran from 26 December 2025 to 4 January 2026. During those periods JR Central also recommends that you "book reserved seats for the other legs of your trip".

Shinkansen seat types

Nozomi, Hikari or Kodama?

On the Tokaido Shinkansen the Nozomi makes the fewest stops. JR Central says you will "arrive in Kyoto from Tokyo in about 2 hours", and notes that the journey from Tokyo to Osaka took four hours when the Shinkansen first opened; "in 2020 that was cut down to just 2 hours and 21 minutes". The Hikari makes more stops and the Kodama stops at every station. With "a maximum 18 trains, per hour", you rarely wait long for the next one.

In a reserved seat, the Nozomi costs 210 yen more than the Hikari or Kodama from Tokyo to Nagoya, 320 yen more to Kyoto or Shin-Osaka, 850 yen more to Hiroshima and 1,060 yen more to Hakata. In a non-reserved seat the price is the same. Japan Rail Pass holders cannot ride the Nozomi or Mizuho on the pass alone; they need an extra ticket, the NOZOMI MIZUHO Ticket.

Changing and cancelling Shinkansen tickets

On smartEX you can change trains free as often as you like; a ticket bought at the station can be changed once. Cancelling costs 320 yen on smartEX before departure; at the station it costs 220 yen for a basic fare or non-reserved ticket and at least 340 yen for a reserved one.

smartEX bookings

Changes and refunds are made in the smartEX app or on the website: tap "My Trips", then "Change" or "Refund" next to the booking. Refunds can be made around the clock, "Except during system maintenance between 23:30 and 5:30" Japan time.

How far you can move a booking: "You can change within 3 months of the travel date of the initial purchased reservation", but only to a train up to one month after the day you make the change — or up to a year, if you booked more than a month ahead. smartEX's example: book on 1 July for a train on 15 July and you can change the date as many times as you like "as long as it is by October 14", but a change made on 10 July can only move to a train up to 10 August.

Once you pick up a paper ticket, or pass the ticket gate with a QR-Ticket or an IC card, you can no longer change the booking yourself:

• Passed the gate and want another train? Speak to the staff at the gate before your train leaves; smartEX says they will "arrange it so that members can again process the changes themselves".
• Holding a paper ticket? Before your train leaves, a ticket machine or ticket office at a main JR Central, JR West or JR Kyushu Shinkansen station can change it once, free, to another train on the same day, between the same stations, in the same class and of the same type — you cannot swap a Nozomi or Mizuho for a Hikari, Kodama, Sakura or Tsubame, or the other way round. Hayatoku fares, valid only on the train you booked, are excluded. Any other change, also before departure, means buying new, non-discounted tickets at a main station's ticket office, which refunds the old ones to your card with no refund charges.
• Cancelling a paper ticket? It "will not be automatically refunded". Take it, with the card you paid with, to the main station counter of JR Central, JR West or JR Kyushu by the day of travel.

One more smartEX rule: "No stopovers are allowed." If you get off at a station on the way, the rest of the booking becomes invalid.

Station tickets

JR Central's rule: "A valid unused ticket can be changed one time to a ticket of the same type for free", and you pay the difference if the new ticket costs more. "Reserved seat, limited express, express, and Green Car non-reserved seat tickets can only be changed one time." To cancel an unused ticket, the refund fees are:

If your limited express and Green Car tickets are printed as one ticket, the fee applies only to the Green Car part.

If you miss your Shinkansen

Missing a reserved train usually does not mean buying a new ticket. smartEX: "In the event that you are late for boarding your reserved train, you may board a Shinkansen leaving later on the same date, using a non-reserved seat in an Ordinary Car." That is the rule for the standard smartEX price; Hayatoku fares come with their own conditions, so read them when you book.

A reserved ticket from the station works the same way: "Limited express reserved seat tickets can be used to ride on non-reserved seat within the same day of a missed train." The seat itself is gone — reserved tickets "cannot be used and refunds cannot be made after the scheduled departure time" — and to sit in a reserved seat on a later train, "You must pay the full price of the limited express reserved seat fare".

Two things help:

• Change before the train leaves. A smartEX change is free until 4 minutes before departure, so if you know you will be late, move to a later train on your phone and keep a reserved seat.
• Watch the busy periods. When every Nozomi is reserved-only, missing a Nozomi means standing on the next one, or taking a Hikari or Kodama, which keep their non-reserved cars.

Delays and cancellations

Long delays are rare: JR Central gives its average delay as 1.6 minutes per train for FY2023, including delays caused by natural disasters. When things do go wrong, there are refunds. If services are suspended and you cancel your trip, "The full fare and charges will be refunded"; if you have to stop part-way, the fare for the rest of the journey is refunded. And if your train arrives more than two hours late, JR Central refunds the limited express ticket — the Shinkansen part of your fare — in full.

smartEX follows the same idea: "If the Shinkansen is delayed for more than 2 hours", it refunds what it calls the specified amount for each section you rode. If a delay makes you miss a connection, smartEX says to "use a non-reserved seat on the following train".

Lost Shinkansen tickets

If you lose a paper ticket, JR Central asks you to "purchase the same ticket again (same section, train, and facility) as a reissue of the lost ticket". A discounted or travel agency ticket has to be bought again "without the discount". At the end of the journey, "receive your receipt for repurchased tickets from an attendant at the ticket gate and take it home". If you find the lost ticket within a year, take both tickets to a JR station; the refund fee is 220 yen for a non-reserved limited express ticket and 340 yen for a reserved one. Tickets bought through a travel agency go back to the agency. With a QR-Ticket or a registered IC card there is no paper ticket to lose.

Big suitcases on the Shinkansen

On the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen (Tokyo – Shin-Osaka – Hakata – Kagoshima-Chuo), the rules depend on the total of your bag's three sides — length, width and height added together:

Bring a 161–250 cm bag without the right seat and you pay "a baggage fee (1,000 yen including tax)" — and "Without a seat reservation, the oversized baggage space cannot be used." JR Central lets you bring strollers, musical instruments and sports equipment without a reservation, but the space behind the last row belongs to the passengers who booked those seats, so JR Central recommends booking one if you want that space.

What fits where:

• Overhead rack: "Tokaido Shinkansen luggage racks offer space stretching back approx. 42 cm, so baggage with total dimensions of 160 cm or less (e.g. 30 x 50 x 80) can generally be stored in the luggage rack."
• At your feet: bags of 120 cm or less (for example 25 x 40 x 55 cm) generally fit; "Green car seats have footrests so baggage is mainly stored in the luggage rack."
• Deck storage: JR Central describes these as a new service on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen, in some reserved cars of the Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama, for bags up to 160 cm; "No reservation is required." Some decks also have an oversized baggage compartment, which JR Central is opening as storage that can be used without a reservation, on a trial basis; bags over 160 cm still need a seat with an oversized baggage area.

To book one of those seats, use a reserved seat ticket machine or book online — JR Central names smartEX, JR-WEST ONLINE TRAIN RESERVATION and JR-KYUSHU Train Reservation — or, at a ticket office, "tell the staff member that you would like to reserve a seat with an oversized baggage area". It costs nothing extra: "Your seat reservation will not cost more even if it includes an oversized baggage area." On smartEX:

• Book on the day seats go on sale, one month before; these seats "cannot be reserved through after-hours or pre-sale requests".
• If you change trains, book a seat with an oversized baggage area on every train of the trip.
• "Non-reserved seat cannot be used."
• Up to 5 people per booking (4 in the Green Car), all in the same car.

Or skip the problem: JR Central points to LUGGAGE EXPRESS, a paid service booked in advance that takes bags up to 200 cm (78 in) from your hotel or station and has them "delivered to your destination hotel on the same day". Check your own bag with our Shinkansen oversized baggage checker, and see luggage in Japan for forwarding, storage and lockers.

Shinkansen tickets or a Japan Rail Pass?

A 7-day Japan Rail Pass costs 50,000 yen. A smartEX return in a reserved seat on a Nozomi, regular season, is 27,940 yen from Tokyo to Kyoto and 39,120 yen from Tokyo to Hiroshima. So the pass pays off only if you add more long rides within the 7 days — and it does not cover the Nozomi or Mizuho without an extra ticket, the NOZOMI MIZUHO Ticket. The pass cannot be used on smartEX; pass holders reserve their seats separately, free. Our Japan Rail Pass guide works through the sums, and the trip budget calculator adds up a whole trip.

To cite or link to this page: Shinkansen tickets: prices, the official booking sites, when to buy and what happens if you miss your train — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/plan/shinkansen-tickets/ Copy