Timetables
Maps
Tourist Info
Rail Passes
City Day Passes
At the Station
Reservations
Updates on Train Services
Other Notes
Eki-Ben
Train Vocabulary
Timetables
Maps
Tourist Info
Rail Passes
City Day Passes
At the Station
Reservations
Updates on Train Services
Other Notes
Eki-Ben
Train Vocabulary
The extensive railway system of Japan is the best way to travel around for tourists and locals alike. There are some bus routes that will take you to some out-of-the-way places, and I have a separate Section on Japanese Buses. But trains will probably be your main method of transport over any distance.
The national system of railways is now called Japan Railways, or "JR" in Japanese (pronounced "jay-ahru"). It actually consists of a number of regional JR companies (see the map, below), but you don't need to care.
In addition to the Japan Railways, the largest urban areas are served by several private railway companies, as well as a number of private subway lines. These are mainly commuter lines, but you can also use some of them to get way out into the countryside. You can often buy tickets that include changing from one company's trains to another's, but this usually costs a little more than if you could stay on the same line. The Japan Rail Pass is not good on private lines, non-JR buses, or subways.
These urban-based private railway companies long ago became quite successful, and many of them also run their own big-name department stores and hotels along their routes; several of them own professional baseball teams, whose stadiums are served (sometimes exclusively) by their own rail lines. The big "Shibuya 109" ('One-Oh-Nine') department store in Shibuya is owned by the company that operates the Tokyo Kyuko ( = "Tokyo Express") rail service. The department store's real name is "Tokkyu" (short for Tokyo Kyuko) which can also be translated as "ten-nine"... get it?? 'Ten-Nine' = '109'; cute.
But if all you want is a quick look at Bullet Train Routes, that was the link!
Every month the Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) publishes an up-to-date
schedule of every public train, bus, boat, subway, trolley car,
tram, cable-car, rope-way, chair-lift, airplane, ferry,
sightseeing bus, and rickshaw that operate inside the
country. (OK, I was just kidding about the rickshaws.)
You can buy this schedule at any railway station bookstall (or any
other bookstore, anywhere) and there are two
varieties. The big one is the size of a thick Spiegel catalog, and the
'pocket' version is the size of a good paperback novel, with
finer print and less advertising. The proper name for the big book is
the "jikokuhyo" 
),
This is the bible of getting around by public transport in Japan. You should use it in planning any trip, and take it along with you for when your plans change, or are changed for you. If it's not in the book, it doesn't move. The jikoku-hyo lists the time that every conveyance leaves every station, bus stop, or dock, and the prices for most routes. For main stations, it even lists the track number from which each train leaves. Pretty good, huh?
Just one thing -- it's all printed in Japanese characters. Even if you find the characters for the place you want to go, it can take a while to locate it in the book, especially if you are not familiar with the general geography and main routes. That's why you need to study it before you go. At the front of the book are pages of maps of Japan with all the train and bus routes, listing the page number where you'll find the timetables for each route. You still need an English map to try and decifer your destination. If you can decipher just enough of this book, you can plan a schedule to get to anyplace that can be got to. And (almost) everything invariably runs on time.
But, wait, the good news is that the Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) publishes an abbreviated schedule in English. Of course it only covers the fast express trains on the main rail routes, but if that's where you're going, you've more or less got it made. Unfortunately it will not take you everywhere you want to go, including a number of the rural destinations I recommend herein. Ask at an English bookstore or a JTB office in a large station for the "Eigo no Ji-Kan-Hyo" (jikanhyo is a schedule; Eigo is English).
Just to make things more complicated, JTB now publishes a "Speed timetable" ('speeedo jikoku-hyo') -- in Japanese -- which looks alot like the pocket version of the jikoku-hyo (it's a little smaller but just as thick) but contains only express trains, down to kyu-ko (regular express) class. If you can make your way through a Japanese timetable, you might as well get the full-on one that shows all the local trains that will take you into rural areas like those described herein. And this book doesn't seem to have the detailed route maps.
On-Line Timetables in English!Here's a web site providing instant route and fare information on Japanese trains, buses, airplanes, subways too! You input the origin and destination stations, it gives you various routes, times, and costs. It's theTimetable site, and when you get to your routing, you can also lookup the entire day's train schedule for any leg (click on "Time Table"), or every stop that train makes (click in "Info"). Have fun! -- Check it out! And check my Japan Links section for updated links and information. Hyperdia
Reading the Japanese Timetables! -- Yes this is a daunting
task -- even for those who can read Japanese. Here
is a website with an explanation by a Japanese using a
Partial
New 11/2004: After some effort, here is a new page with my own attempt to show you How to Read the dreaded Jikoku-Hyo.
indicates an external link to someone else's web site.
Get a Map!
The Japan Pocket Atlas for some reason went out of print 20 years ago, but I have my copy. It has detailed maps of the entire country and the larger cities, in English. It is 270 pages long, including a 100 page index that lists every name found on every map, next to its Japanese characters. Don't you wish you had one?
Kodansha International -- a
Japanese publishing house -- now has two bilingual maps of Japan.
Their "Bilingual
Map of Japan" (ISBN: 4770016212), is a big fold-out map, and
their Atlas of Japan is a thin book with numerous area maps. Both
are reasonably detailed, with topographic features and thousands of
cities and towns listed in both English and Japanese. It's worth
getting one of these for their utility in getting around and reading
train schedules, etc. These maps are available in the usual English
bookstores in Japan, and in Japanese
bookstores (such as Kinokuniya**) in other
countries. Or you can order them on-line from Amazon.com,
Powells Books, or from Kodansha.
Otherwise, you'll just need to use the old two-map system; one in English and one in Japanese -- well you already have the Japanese map in the schedule book. Even then, you will certainly appreciate all the help you can get from a Japanese friend or someone at the Tourist Information Center. A good guidebook should list names in Japanese, as do the latest Lonely Planet Japan guide editions. (10/'02 -- Hey! Even Randy has now added lots of Japanese characters to the destination descriptions in this book!)
Update -- 11/'02: - Kodansha International now publishes
** Here's a
List
of Kinokuniya Bookstores around the World -- U.S.: Seattle,
Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Costa Mesa, New York and
New Jersey; plus Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan,
and Sydney, Australia. Kinokuniya also carries the Japanese
Rail Timetable book, the Ji-koku-hyo; it costs about US $15.
Visit Kodansha's
Map and Atlas page. Lots of other interesting Japan books at
Kodansha International. As
mentioned elsewhere, Kodansha now publishes a very thorough
Tokyo
Tourist Information
Both Tokyo and Kyoto have superb Tourist Information Centers (TIC), specifically for foreign tourists. They speak great English, have lots of printed information (yes, in English) about most of the country, and they can be very helpful if you remember to ask all the questions you need to ask before you leave for the countryside.
The Tokyo TIC office is still in Yuraku-cho, but it has moved to the back side of the Yuraku-cho station on the 10th floor of the Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan building! Same place and JNTO. In Kyoto, the TIC is across the street (Shichi-jo Dori) from the front of the main station, around the corner from Kyoto Tower, on Karasuma Street. (The Japanese city infomation center is 100 yards in front of the station, but before you cross the street to Kyoto Tower.)
They also have a telephone hot line -- the Japan Travel Phone -- that you can call from anywhere within Japan during daytime hours (9am to 5pm) only, every day of the year. For toll-free English information dial 0088-22-4800 (except for Tokyo and Kyoto). In Tokyo call the TIC office at 03-3201-3331. In Kyoto, call the TIC at 075-371-5649. These last two are not available when the TIC office is closed -- weekends and holidays; and they must be local calls. [This info is current as of 11/2002]
The next recourse is the JTB (Japan Travel Bureau), or another travel agency that is used to foreign tourists. There are JTB offices in many large stations, and they can usually (but not always) find someone who can speak enough English (slowly, now) to figure out where you want to go. They can also read the schedule book much better than you can. The JTB can sell you tickets on any Japan Railway line, airlines, and larger ferry lines; but maybe not on the smaller private lines or on buses. But they can work out a schedule for you. I think you may pay a small fee for buying tickets from them.
JTB's phone number in Tokyo is (03)-3276-7777. JTB has sales offices in or near the following railway stations: In Tokyo: Tokyo Station (Shinmaru Building across the street), Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya, Yurakucho, Shinagawa. Elsewhere: Sapporo, Sendai, Niigata, Omiya, Chiba, Yokohama West Entrance, Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka Umeda, Shin-Osaka, Kansai Airport, Kobe Sannomiya, Fukuoko (Tenjin), Oita. Two other travel agencies you may find in various stations are Nippon Travel, and (in Kansai) Kinki Nihon Tourist.
For help before you leave home, take advantage of the info on JTB's website, and get lists of JTB offices in the US and around the world. I keep these links current on my Japan Links page section for JTB.
Japan Rail Pass
Japan Railways has a couple of nation-wide Japan Rail Passes available for one, two, or three weeks, which you must buy outside the country. They obviate the need to buy tickets, especially since they are good on express trains, right up to the bullet trains -- except they are still (Oct. 2006!) not good for the highest-speed Nozomi bullet trains which do some of the runs between Tokyo and Kyushu. First Class passes (for the "Green" cars) are also available for more money. Naturally, if you want a reserved seat, you still need to go to a ticket counter for that, but Japan Rail Pass holders no longer need to pay the extra seat reservation charges -- getting a reserved seat is free. Also notice that if you use the pass without a seat reservation, then you have no tickets at all; that's fine if you know where you're going, but sometimes it's handy to have a ticket in your hand to help others help you find your train and tell you when to get off!
The Rail Pass is good on Japan Railways train and JR-bus lines, but
there are still several private bus and train lines on which they are not
valid, and they don't apply to local city buses, subways, trams, or
ferries. I had one once, and I used the heck out of it, but they are
expensive. In fact, if you are only going to go from Tokyo to Kyoto
and back on the bullet train, it is a bit cheaper to buy the tickets
yourself (¥13,000 each way).
But if you want to spend a long rainy day just riding from Kyoto to
)
Example prices are ¥28,300 for 1 week, ¥45,100 for two weeks
for a regular adult pass. Children are half price, and the 1st class
passes are about 35% more.
(Exchange
In Japan, take the voucher to a railway office that will exchange it for the Rail Pass -- the duration of the pass begins at that time, so don't activate it until you are ready to hit the rails for some major milage! You can activate your pass at the airport when you arrive, and use it for the Narita or Kansai Express trains to get into town. But if you're going to spend the next 3-5 days sightseeing in Tokyo or Kyoto, it's a bit of a waste of the pass, isn't it? You can get an Airport Limo-Bus instead, if you like.
The Japan Rail Pass web site lists 45 travel
service centers and ticket offices -- including at the major airports --
Where
Regional Passes
There are also a wide variety of regional passes, which are always
being reinvented. "Four days of unlimited travel within
ten days on the Jo-Etsu Line during springtime, except Friday
night to Sunday night."
I could never figure one into my plans; in fact I could never
figure out how good a value it was. But here is a nice (English)
Web PageOther
Shushin
18
And you can choose which days to use it -- it does not have to be 2 or 3 days in a row! The pass is activated (for 1 day) the first time you use it on that day. The ticket goes right into the automated ticket-checker machines at stations and on some buses.
Note that if you ride on extra-charge Kintetsu or Nankai line Express trains, you will have to purchase a separate Express ticket -- be sure to show your pass, so you don't pay for the regular fare, too! You may be able to just get on some of these trains, and pay the express charge when the conductor comes around.
You can purchase the Thru Pass at the Kansai International Airport (KIX) Travel Counter, the Kyoto City Bus Center at Kyoto Station, or at the Shin-Osaka station subway information center; you'll probably need to show your passport with tourist visa. You just might be able to purchase a coupon from your travel agent overseas (as for the JR passes) which you can redeem at the above locations for the Thru Pass. Last price check was ¥3,800 for 2 days or ¥5,000 for 3 days; half-price for children 7-11 years. (That's approximately US$36/$48 or €34/€45 for adults.) The pass also entitles you to a few minor discounts, souvenirs, and services at various locations.
Here's the English Kansai Thru Pass
website, including a Map of the
Valid Routes; this site leads to a 1.6 MByte .PDF file with the
big map!
JR-WestJR-West
Local Day Passes (Update May, 2003):
Here is some recent information on new Day Passes for riding Trains, Buses, and Subways within local areas around Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. A few are for foreign tourists only, but many can be purchased by anyone at station vending machines.
For more information, see this Tokyo Rapid Transit
Authority website in English. Go their
"Ticket and Service Information" page.
For more information, see this Kyoto
City Bus and Subway Guide website.
Are these passes "worthwhile"? Well, if you designed your day just
to make maximum use of transport, you could certainly save money. If you
just want to go to Osaka or Nara for a day and leisurely see the sights, you
might pay more for the Kansai Thru Pass than you save.
But, navigating the complex and various transport systems in Japan
is daunting enough as it is for a foreigner (see just below),
so the boon of not having to purchase
individual tickets is one of the major benefits that can make a pass
worthwhile.
indicates an external link to someone else's web site.
At the Station
If you find yourself in a station wondering which train or bus to
catch, when, and from where, look for the local information desk
(an-nai-jo
)
that will be found in medium to large stations, and
most tourist places. There is a very good chance that they will speak
no English at all, but all you really need to tell them is the name of
the next place you want to get to. Be sure to ask for the price
(ikura?), because nowdays most stations have automated ticket
machines and the buttons only list the price. Over the machines will
be a huge map listing the prices to all the other stations on that
train line (written in Japanese).
Note that in Tokyo and Osaka, the price of most subway and rail tickets -- even within the city -- depend on the destination. So you still have to check the big map over the machines, decifer which one is your destination, read the price, then find the correct machine for that particular subway/rail line, and pay the correct fare. (Unless you have a pass.)
If you find an actual ticket counter with a human behind it, you might
get a ticket with the name of your destination on it. Otherwise, your
ticket probably does not say where you are going. Medium to large
stations have rows of ticket counters where you tell the person where
you want to go and receive a printed ticket. Naturally this is
required whenever you want a reserved seat, but they may not sell
unreserved tickets on short-distance trains, which are available at
the machines. The large ticket counters are mostly for buying tickets
in advance, but they may have a separate window for today's tickets.
Most ticket counters have all their signs in green, and can be found
by looking for the green sign like the one shown at the right.
These ticket counters are called "Midori Mado-guchi"
which means "green window". In really large stations serving
multiple train lines, there are separate queues for different areas
of the country; if this all baffles you, you should be able to get
the ticket from a JTB or other travel agency in (or
near) a larger station -- they will probably have someone
(somewhere) who can speak some English, which is one of the main
reasons to use a travel agency.
Hang onto your ticket! Unlike in Europe, you are required to show your ticket when going back into the station at your final destination. If you have an incorrect ticket, you can pay the difference right there. If you overshoot your station, you can just change platforms and get on a train going back the way you came; no one checks your tickets on the platforms. Conductors will sometimes pass through the cars for the benefit of those who need to change their tickets. If you are on an extra-charge express train, conductors may ask everyone to show their express tickets; and they will often check for reservation tickets in the reserved cars.
If you can count to 10 in Japanese; then just (show your ticket and) ask any station worker "<town name> nam-ban-sen?" (which track-number for "town"), someone will tell you the track number of the train you want. You can usually find a railway employee or two on the platforms. If someone keeps telling you "go-ban-sen", it means you catch the train on track 5 (go). While the word noriba means platform, and sen is a track or line, they are interchangeable when specifying a platform number in a station.
Here is another subtle sidelight that only affects those who think they understand some Japanese. When you ask a trainman (or any other traveler) on the platform what time a train is coming, he will almost always tell you the actual arrival time, not how much longer it will be -- for example: "five o'clock and ten minutes". But in Japan, this is often abbreviated to mention only the minutes, so when he says "ten minutes", he means "ten minutes after the hour", not "ten minutes from now". And if the trainman says "Fifty minutes", then if it is now 10:45, you may have no more than five minutes -- not fifty -- to run for a snack or the toilet before your train leaves.
Even in small stations, there will be an electronically controlled board above the wicket (ticket gate) listing the next trains to leave, their train number, destination, the time of departure, and the track number. Aside from bullet trains, these only occasionally have English also. Mercifully, numbers are always written the same as in English. Every train run has a unique number, which is only useful to you if you have identified it in your schedule book; then you can tell from the train number and departure time on the board which track to go to. In medium to large stations, there will be boards on each platform listing similar information for the next train or two stopping at that platform.
No matter where you are in the country, trains heading in the
direction of Tokyo are the "up"
(nobori 
) trains, and those heading away from Tokyo
are "down" (kudari 
) trains. The words
themselves are seldom spoken, but timetables (in the books and on the
walls of train stations) tend to have two columns with only the
characters for up and down at the top (or side) to indicate direction.
Local, Express, or What?
On main rail lines, you may still have to worry about whether you want an express or a local train (or a couple of flavors in between!). For example, I mentioned that to get to Nagiso, you take an express train to Nakatsugawa, and change to a local train to get to Nagiso. So if you don't know the number of the specific express train you want, you may need to ask the track number of the "express train to Nakatsugawa", instead of the "train to Nagiso". You only need the one ticket to Nagiso, but you have to get off at Nakatsugawa and go to another platform to find the (hopefully connecting) local train.
This is where the schedule book comes in handy for calculating connections; and for larger stations it even lists the platform number for each train. Quite often, express and local trains heading in the same direction arrive conveniently on opposite sides of the same platform. It is also quite useful to learn the characters for the various kinds of trains (local, express, etc.), as these are also displayed on the boards. [I've now got the characters displayed below, under Train Vocabulary]. The information is all there, you just can't always understand it!
If you are lucky, you can tell when to get off by depending on the train to arrive at its scheduled time. Stops are announced on the train, but may be unintelligible. If you ride at the front of the train you will have the opportunity to (try and) read many more of the station signs as the train pulls in. Often there is at least one sign in English over the main entrance, at the center of the platform. It's best to just let your neighbors know where you want to get off, and depend on their assistance.
On some main lines -- but not all -- you must pay more depending on the type of train you take. The regular express (kyu-ko) and the local train may be the same price, but there may also be a special-express (tok-kyu) or/and(!) a limited-express (ko-soku, or sometimes jun-kyu) with an extra fee. Back in the old days, you got two (cardboard) tickets: the regular fare ticket (josha-ken), and the express surcharge ticket (tokyu-ken); nowdays both "tickets" may be all on one print-out.
Note that it can cost plenty more to go on an Express Train, but it gets there a lot sooner. The most important thing is to get on the train that will stop where you want to get off, and not go flying through for another 40 kilometers before stopping. If you need a supplementary Express-train ticket, a conductor will point this out to you, and you just pay the difference. Of course if you get stuck on a local, it could take forever; but you meet much more interesting people on the local trains. What's the hurry?
As you can see, there are several easy ways to make a mistake, miss a connection, or overshoot your station. If your connections are close, you can foul up (trust me) even if you are familiar with the train system, speak Japanese, and can read the schedules. It isn't always all that confusing, but having someone along with at least one or two of these skills can make it a lot easier.
Reservations -- Reserved and Non-Reserved Cars
Reservations are another matter. As far as I know, there are only a very few tourist-destination special-express trains that do not have any 'free seating' at all and require seat reservations. Even the bullet trains all have cars for non-reserved seats (new super-duper nozomi trains did not have such seats originally, but they now do). However, where there are reserved seats (on most fast-express trains), they will be in different cars from the unreserved seats. If you have an unreserved ticket, you must go to an unreserved (jiYU-seki) car, and hope for a seat. There is usually no standing allowed in the reserved cars, but plenty of it in the unreserved cars.
Unless you travel at peak times you usually won't need a seat reservation (sh'TE-seki), but if you are buying tickets in advance at a counter, you can pay a little more (a couple of dollars worth of yen) for that luxury. It won't seem like such a luxury when you find yourself standing in the cubicle between the cars with 15 other people; and that's exactly what will happen on any Sunday, trying to get back into Tokyo. If you miss a train for which you have a reserved seat, you can use the same ticket to ride in an unreserved car on the next (or any later) train.
If you do get reservations on a specific train, this can make finding your train a little easier, since you now have a ticket with your destination and train number (seat and car number, and maybe even the platform) printed on it; you can show this to anyone (probably several people along the way) and have them direct you to exactly where you need to be!
For example, if you have a Japan Rail Pass and no other ticket, this will get you through just about any railway wicket in Japan. But now you are faced with dozens of platforms and more dozens of trains. You still need to ask people how to find a train that goes where you want, and which cars you can ride on.
The Japan Rail Pass is naturally only for non-reserved seating (in non-reserved cars). But, if you want, you can go to a ticket counter and get a reserved seat ticket for a specific train by showing your pass and telling them where you want to go. Seat reservations are now free for Rail Pass holders (they must have folded it into the price increase...) Unless you ask for a specific train, they will give you a ticket on the next train (or you can say "tsugi no" for "the next one") for your destination. This is still an effort, but it may come in handy if your Japanese skills are rudimentary. Once you learn your way around, you will be able to just take your Rail Pass and jump on any train without buying any tickets -- and hope it's the right one.
For the advanced traveler to Japan, it can be noted that in larger stations, there are many dozens of small metal "tags" suspended above each rail platform that tell you exactly where each car of each type of train will stop. For example, on the Express Train platform at Tokyo Station, a little tag hanging above the platform will tell you that just "here" is where "Car #12, Non-reserved, on the Super-Hato express #344" will stop. And just 20 feet on is where "Car #13" will stop.
When you really get out into the countryside, there are only little local puddle-jumper trains with no first class, no reservations, lots of empty seats, and the stations have only one platform. Relax, you've finally gotten away from it all!
By the way, one difference between the incredibly fast Hikari and Nozomi bullet trains, and the amazingly fast Kodama bullet train (which goes just as fast but stops at more stations) is that the Kodama is mostly unreserved cars, while the Hikari has a majority of reserved cars. So if you see huge queues waiting for the unreserved cars on a Hikari, you will have a better chance of getting a seat on a "slower" Kodama at a different platform. The proper name for the bullet trains is the Shinkan-sen. There is a bullet train leaving Tokyo Station for points west every eight to ten minutes! But they stop running by about 10:30 pm.
It is also worth knowing that Kobe (Shin-Kobe station) is the starting point of about half the bullet trains going up to Tokyo. This means that at least half the east-bound trains that pull in there are empty. By the time they get to Osaka or Kyoto, only a few (if any) seats will empty out at these stations. So, if you're headed back to Tokyo on a Sunday night without a reservation, it could be worth going back to Kobe (from say, Osaka) on a commuter train, so you can get a seat.
Updates on Bullet Trains -- Names, Routes, Prices
There are now several different Shinkansen (bullet train) lines around
the main island of Honshu. The original New Tokaido line
runs from Tokyo west via Nagoya, Kyoto, and Osaka to Kobe, and the
New San-Yo line continues (seamlessly) from Kobe to Hakata
(Fukuoka) at the western tip of Honshu island, next to Kyushu
Island. The newer Tohoku Shikansen runs northeast from
Tokyo to Morioka, and new spurs extend to Akita and Yamagata.
The New Joetsu line runs straight north from Tokyo to
Niigata on the Japan Sea coast, and the newest spur off of this line
is the New Nagano line to Nagano City, built in time for the 1998
Winter Olympics. You can now begin all these routes from Tokyo
Station.
The latest edition to the Shinkansen family is the
Kyushu Shikansen
which runs from Hakata to Kagoshima, at the southern
end of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island.
This route opened in March, 2004. In fact, the full high-speed
"bullet trains" (currently) only run the last one-third of the
route from Shin Yatsushiro to Kagoshima. The run from Hakata to
Shin Yatsushiro is on the rails of the regular JR Kagoshima Hon-sen
line. This line goes down the west side of Kyushu Island,
through Kumamoto and Minamata. The trains on this route are named
Tsubame (right). The trip from Hakata to Kagoshima now takes
less than 2.5 hours. Here's More
The trains on these lines all have different names, and it may be useful to know these train names to make sure you get on the right train to the right destination. The original Hikari and (slightly slower) Kodama-type trains on the New Tokaido line have recently been joined by the latest super-super-express Nozomi trains.
The super-sleek "500-series"
Nozomi trains (photos left and above) looks more like a
needle-nosed rocket ship, and can run up to 300 kilometers per
hour -- that's 180 miles per hour! In service, they are only
allowed up to 285 kpm. When introduced, this was about 15% faster
than the Hikari trains, saving about 20-25 minutes on the
trip to Kyoto; an hour and twenty minutes less from Tokyo
to Hakata (5 hrs. vs. 6:20)!
The newest "700-series" Nozomi trains (photo, left
& click)
are replacing many of the 500-series because they were designed
to be much cheaper to build and run. They are a bit "slower",
but still hit the service maximum of 285 kph. They are however,
not nearly as good looking, with a fat "duck-bill" front.
The earlier "300-series" Nozomi trains now run as
Hikari trains;
they go "only" 270 kph and look slightly more conventional (photo
left). The original 200-series trains, introduced in 1964, still make
some of the runs as Kodama's; they have
been upgraded over the years and now get up to about 230 to 250 kph.
(yawn)
Car Order: On the regular Hikari trains, the first five (of 16) cars are for non-reserved seating, and cars 1, 2, and 5 are non-smoking. The Nozomi trains now have non-reserved seats on cars 1, 2, and 3, with cars 1 and 2 being non-smoking. On the Kodama trains, cars 1 through 7, and 14 through 16 are for non-reserved seats (a few trains have even more non-reserved seating). Of these, cars 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 14 are non-smoking. And, yes, the car-order information for all train types is in the back of the big train timetable book. If you get a reserved seat, just ask for non-smoking when you buy the ticket, if you desire. Note that most other bullet trains follow the trend of having most non-reserved cars at the front of the train, and (maybe) one or two more at the end. Also note that the "front" cars (1,2, etc.) become the "back" cars at the end of the train when going back towards Tokyo.
Dining cars are definitely disappearing on the newer trains and routes! You can still find a few of the older ones on the Tokaido line -- but on only four trains a day in each direction! The full dining car is really a double-deck car with the kitchen below and dining room above. Otherwise, they may have a double-decker with seating on the top deck and a "cafeteria" or "buffet" (food stand) on the bottom. The Nozomi trains appear to have no food service except the roving food carts. Say good-bye to leisurely afternoons over lunch in the top deck of a comfortable dining car, unless you plan carefully to find one on a train between Tokyo and Osaka. Hey! This is modern super-high-speed transportation, who has time to relax? Also note that the snack carts cannot possibly run down the aisles of non-reserved cars when they're packed with people, and you'll be standing without food all the way. Most cars on these routes are single-deck, and you walk right into the car without stepping up.
On the Tohoku lines, the Yamabiko trains run from Tokyo to Sendai and Morioka, while the "local" Nasuno trains only run to Nasu-Shiobara, almost commuting distance to Tokyo (if you take the bullet train!). The Tsubasa trains only run on the spur line from Fukushima to Yamagata, and the Komachi trains extend the main route from Morioka up to Akita at the northern tip of Honshu.
On the New Joetsu line, the Asahi trains run all the way to Niigata, while the Tanigawa trains only go as far as Echigo-Yuzawa, stopping at more stations. The New Nagano line trains are called Asama and branch off from the Joetsu line at Takazaki, but you don't need to change trains if you start on the right one. All these trains originate in Tokyo.
Some of the runs on the Joetsu and Tohoku lines -- especially around
rush hour into and out of Tokyo -- now use the new "MAX-E1"
series trains (photo); (Max is for "Multi-Amenity express"). These
are all double-deck cars with seating on both levels; the first four
(of 12) cars are all non-reserved seats, the rest are reserved. But
there's little room for snack carts (let alone a dining room), so they
sell snacks from a couple of places in the train and have vending
machines(!). Sounds like quite a crush of people to me. The non-Max
cars are single-deck and are set up similarly to the Hikari's
on the Tokaido line; they'll have a cafeteria or food stall, no dining
rooms. Yes, all this information on train and car layouts,
dining and smoking cars, is right there in the back of the big
timetable book!
For your information, here are the train names and their meanings...
Since these almost always appear in hiragana (phonetic script)
when referring to the trains in schedules an on platforms, I show them
in that form. (The generic words can also be written in more complex Japanese
characters):
Hikari () = (a ray of) light, Kodama (
) = echo,
Nozomi () = wish, hope, Yamabiko (
) = mountain,
Nasuno () = Nasu Plain, Tsubasa (
) = wings,
Asahi () = morning sun, Tanigawa (
) = valley river,
Asama () = Mt. Asama, Tsubame (
) = swallow (bird).
Here are a few web sites you can visit for more information and photos of the JR bullet trains:
JR-East
JR-West
site has a few photos as well.
Japan Rail
Group (New York) page. Check this Summary
of ServicesByun-Byun Shinkaksen
site, including a great Route
MapPrices (11/04) -- Example prices on the Bullet Trains are ¥13,020 (yen) from Tokyo to Kyoto reserved, or ¥12,710 non-reserved. If you want to go first class -- in the "Green Car" -- the cost is added by distance. From Tokyo to Kyoto, it's an extra ¥4,500 (yen) or so. And add ¥300 to these prices for the Nozomi trains. The Green Cars have rows of two seats and more leg room, while normal (second class) seating is three across. You could just about sleep in a reclining Green Car seat, but there is so much to see! Second class is really quite nice.
Miscellaneous Notes About Japanese Trains
),
not just to "Tokyo Station". When arriving at Tokyo Station,
you can change to the Yamanote Line or any other JR line within
the city without needing another ticket. Once you change to a private
railway line or the subway, you
need to pay again. I have friends who live west of Tokyo, just
outside the city limits. When I come from out of town, I buy a ticket
all the way through and the extra charge I pay for the local JR train
is not from Tokyo Station, but only from the city limits to my final
stop. And you can ride for well over half an hour on a local
train before leaving Metropolitan Tokyo.
Train Box-Lunch --
Virtually every train station in Japan has someone, somewhere, selling
several varieties of box lunches, called 
).
A number of stations are famous for their unique box lunches.
When the train pulls in to such a 'special' station, half the
people pile out to buy a special lunch box (even at dinnertime) on
the platform, and then try to pile back in before the train leaves.
Some of these lunches come in unique ceramic containers that make
good souvenirs.
Believe it or not, the big railway timetable book
(Ji-Koku-Hyo) also lists all the
various local specialty Eki-ben lunches you can buy in
each interesting station, and what they cost! If you don't know
what to order, some version of the 'Maku-no-uchi Bento'
)
While bento lunch boxes can be bought at every corner shop
in Japan, specialty Eki-ben can usually be purchased only
at train stations. But you can occassionally find some of
the special Eki-ben at seasonal "Ekiben Fairs"
in the basement (food area) of
large city department stores. And you can find entire web sites
(mostly in Japanese) devoted to various unique "train
station box lunches". The main one in Japanese is (of course)
www.ekiben.or.jp"Eki-ben: The Art
Yeah, print this out and take it with you!
local train
kaku-eki TEIsha ('stops at every station') or
futsu (ordinary)
regular express
KYU-ko (skips every few stations; usually no extra charge)
limited express
jun-kyu (skips a few more; not very common)
commuter express
kai-SOku (or "shin-kaisoku") Inter-city express in the Kansai region
(
)
special express
tok-kyu ("tokubetsu-kyuko"; possibly an extra charge)
The above terms may all be followed by "densha" (
) meaning train.
unreserved seat
jiYU-seki (separate cars are for unreserved seats)
reserved seat
sh'TE-seki
All 7 of the above may be followed by "-ken" (
), a ticket on such a train/car.
passenger
JO-sha (jo-sha-ken = normal (non-express) ticket)
super-express
shinkan-sen ('bullet train' is an English term)
train
den-sha ('electric train')
steam train
ki-sha (a very few still in operation)
railway car
re-sha (a generic term)
1st class car
green-sha ("green car" on special express trains)
2nd class car
ni-TO-sha (this is assumed unless you go "green")
no-smoking car
kin-EN-sha ("keen-en"; these are increasing)
smoking car
kitsu-EN-sha (As non-smoking becomes the rule, smokers have to search for these)
dining car
shoku-DO-sha (sit-down dining)
snack bar
BYU-fay (from 'buffet'; sells snacks to take back to your seat). Some trains now have what they call a Cafeteria
roving snack cart
sha-nai HAMbai ("selling inside the cars"; snacks, drinks (including alcohol), bentos, etc.)
station box-lunch
Eki-ben (Specialty bento box lunches sold at specific stations)
(rail) line
-sen (as in Shinkan-sen or San-In-sen)
'main' line
hon-sen (just means a long-distance route)
platform
NOriba ('getting on place' used for buses, too)
track number x
x-ban-sen (or x-ban-noriba; nam-ban-sen? means "which track?")
X-
Up train(s)
noBOri (going in the general direction towards Tokyo)
Down train(s)
kuDAri (going in the general direction away from Tokyo)
change (trains)
nori-KAE(ru) ('x noriKAEru' = change (trains) at x)
station
eki
railway tracks
sen-ro (the tracks themselves as in 'under the tracks')
next (stop)
TSUgi ("'tsugi wa Nagiso. Nagiso des")
end of the line
shu-ten ('last stop' everybody out)
last train/bus
sai-shu-densha/basu (last train/bus of the day)
exit
de-guchi
entrance
iri-guchi
ride, get on
NOru ("norimas" - I/you get on)
get off
Oriru ("orimas" - I/you get off [get down])
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