The Shinkansen Ride Everyone Wants to Book Before Anything Else in Japan

When people start planning their first Japan trip, the bullet train comes up before Kyoto does, before sushi does, before any temple does. I tell them to stop thinking of it as transportation and start thinking of it as one of the things they came for.

I lived in Japan, in a town called Fujigaoka, before Adam and I had kids. I rode the Shinkansen more times than I can count, for work trips and weekend trips and once just because Adam wanted to see if it was as smooth as everyone said. It is. You can set a full cup of water on the tray table at 200 miles an hour and it will not spill.

Here is what actually matters when you are planning around it. The Tokyo to Kyoto route on the Nozomi, the fastest train, runs about two hours and fifteen minutes. The Japan Rail Pass does not cover the Nozomi or the Mizuho, only the slightly slower Hikari and Kodama, which add maybe thirty to fifty minutes depending on how many stops they make. For a family doing Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka in one trip, a rail pass can be worth it or it can cost you more than paying per ticket, and it comes down to how many long-haul legs you are actually riding. Pass pricing has changed more than once in the last few years, so I would check current numbers before assuming the old math still holds.

Sit on the right side of the train heading from Tokyo toward Kyoto or Osaka, seats D, E or F depending on the car layout, somewhere around Shin-Fuji station on a clear day. Mount Fuji shows up on that side for a few minutes and then it is gone. I have missed it because I was digging through a bag for snacks. Do not be me. Have the kids’ eyes up before you hit that stretch.

Buy an ekiben, a boxed meal, at the station before you board. Every major station sells them and they range from a simple grilled fish set to elaborate regional specialties, and eating one while the countryside goes by at high speed is its own kind of fun for a kid who has never done it. Green Car seats, the first class option, get you more legroom and a quieter car, and for a family with younger kids it is worth pricing out for at least one leg of a longer trip.

The other thing I tell people. The trains leave on the posted minute. Not close to it, on it. I have seen a platform attendant bow to a departing train that left twenty seconds ahead of a passenger jogging up the stairs. Build in the buffer, especially with kids and luggage, because the train will not wait for you to figure out which platform you are on.

This is the kind of detail that decides if a Japan trip feels smooth or feels like a scramble, and it is exactly what I work through with families building their full route in my Japan family travel guide.