Tokyo - Kyoto on the Nozomi Super Express Shinkansen

Mount Fuji seen from the Bullet Train

I have had the luck of travel to japan on two occasions and in April 2016 I am starting again on a 20-day trip to continue discovering the wonders of this Asian country.

If there is a country where it is easy, fast and efficient to travel, that country is Japan. It has a great transportation system in which the rail system excels. It runs throughout the country and for many years the bullet train service has covered long distances in a short time. In Japanese, the bullet train is called shinkansen.

The shinkansen good for long distances but also travels short distances, between nearby cities, in a very short time. It is suitable for Japanese men and women but especially for the tourist who is always short of time. And one of the routes covered by the Japanese bullet train is the travel between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Trains in Japan

Japanese Train

As I said above, the Japanese railway system is very efficient and the network is thinking to connect the country quickly, whether they are the large metropolises or the most remote areas. It is characterized by its punctuality and good service.

If we talk in general lines about the trains in Japan we must say that there is the bullet train, the shinkansen, but there are also regular, common and night trains. In addition, there are special passes for Japanese and for tourists.

The trains link the four main islands of the country, Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu and Hokaido. Near 70% of Japanese trains are state-owned and they are managed by the Japan Railways company, while the remaining 30% is in private hands.

The Japanese bullet train

Japanese Bullet Trains

The shinkansen is the Japanese bullet train. Is a RED of high-speed trains composed of several lines that began to operate in 1964. Over time the network grew in kilometers, trains and speed as technology advanced.

Today the shinkansen network exceeds 2600 kilometers in length and its trains reach speeds of between 240 and 320 kilometers per hour. Almost all lines have their own tracks and the oldest and most popular line is the Tokaido. This is precisely the one that connects Tokyo with Kyoto, two of the most touristic cities in Japan.

The Shinkansen

Shinkansen

The route between Tokyo and Kyoto is done by the Tokaido shinkansen, the oldest and most popular line of all since it connects three huge metropolitan areas: Tokyo-Yokohama-Nagoya-Osaka-Kyoto. It was the world's first bullet train.

Each shinkansen line has different services that vary in speed and the number of stops they make along the way. The fastest shinkansen of all is the Nozomi and runs within the Tokaido line. It only stops at the most important stations and is therefore the fastest.

Nozomi

The Nozomi shinkansen has a great design and reaches speeds of 300 km / h and more. Its design has changed over time and since 2007 the rolling stock is the N700. This fast train It only stops in Tokyo, Nagoya, Shin-Osaka and Kyoto, while in the Sanyo line other more distant stations are added.

Nozomi trains have more frequency, they depart sometimes every ten minutes for the nearest cities and every 20 for the most distant ones. It also has smoking wagons, something that in the other Japanese bullet trains there is not.

shinkansen interior

The Nozomi it does not have a dining car so you can buy the food before boarding or buy it on board. There's a stewardess service It runs every 20 minutes offering snacks and there are also vending machines for food and drink, hot and cold. Do you have service WiFi? Yes, and also public telephones on board and very clean bathrooms.

What else can be said about the Nozomi shinkansen and the other bullet trains? Their seats don't turn, you always look ahead, there are no video screens or inflight entertainment. Under the windows there are plugs to charge the mobile, the tablet or the camera and also between the seats and in the bathroom.

Nozomi

It must be considered that each wagon has a sector dedicated to storing luggage. It is not very big so if the train is very loaded you can have problems. Anyway, if you have a backpack, the space between seats is large, much more than on the plane, so you can take the backpack with you.

The shinkansen offers two types of seats, or two classes, Ordinary and Green. Rows of seats are generally three and two seats per side. The Green wagons can be compared to the Business class of the plane and the rows are two by two.

Bullet train

A reserved seat in the Nozomi costs 14.000 yen, about 105 euros. Unfortunately you cannot use the Japan Rail Pass on this train. The Nozomi is the only one outside the pass and it is not worth taking it if you have the pass as the seven-day pass is the same as a round trip on the Nozomi.

Prices are calculated from season to season and seat reservations have an extra cost of between 320, 520 or 720 yen depending on the season of the year in which you travel and between 100 and 120 yen for the distance, in the case of the Nozomi and other trains.

How to use the Nozomi shinkansen

Entrance to the shinkansen

Actually this information is valid for Japanese bullet trains. The use of these trains is simple, there is nothing strange about it. You simply buy the ticket, you go through the special doors, through the turnstiles that are in all stations and are automatic (if you have the Japan Raill Pass you must go through the guard booth).

You pass the ticket through the reader, they give it back to you and that's it. Following the bilingual signs You arrive at the shinkansen platforms. They are usually separate from the regular train platforms, but sometimes they are located in parallel. It depends on the season. You pass another set of automatic gates, the ones that separate the shinkansen platforms from the other trains, and voila.

shinkansen station

There are information screens That provide data on the services, name, time, find your car if you have reserved seats, if you do not wait in front of the drawings on the platform, they indicate the doors of the train. The row is formed in an orderly manner, in the Japanese style.

Finally, in shinkansen, between Tokyo and Kyoto the journey is 140 minutes.


6 comments, leave yours

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  1.   gabriela lopez said

    With american express they sell me the Tokyo Kyoto train Nozomi route reserved seat at 250 dlls one way per person. Is expensive?

  2.   angel said

    Hello, a small rectification, the seats can be turned to go backwards or to go face to face, both the row of 3 seats and the row of 2, for this they have a small pedal that must be stepped on before turning the seats .
    Greetings (from the Shinkansen Nozomi himself)

  3.   Luna said

    Hi! I am traveling to Japan and I have a question about these trains. I will go from Tokyo to Osaka. My question is, is it necessary to pay for the reservation or can you buy the ticket without it? And does the ticket have to be bought before or does it have to be bought before leaving?
    Thank you very much!

    1.    Mariela Lane said

      Hi Moon. You can buy the ticket without having reserved it and you can even buy it before boarding but my advice is that you do all that in advance because otherwise you will be subject to seat availability. You can even buy the ticket without any reservation and get on the carriages that do not have numbered seats but you have to be on the platform beforehand and queue. You just have to go to the ticket offices that are in all JR stations, to anyone, and buy the ticket. Lucky!

  4.   Ayelen said

    Hi! I want to know if the JR Pass will help me to visit Tokyo and go to Kyoto? Do you suggest I buy the ticket for 7 days or should I take Kyoto apart?
    Thank you very much for the info.!!

  5.   Patricia jimenez said

    Is it possible to buy a one-way ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo on the Nozomi train? What is the link to buy it in advance?

    Thank you