Shinkansen Timetable and Stations

About Hello Kitty Shinkansen Hello Kitty Shinkansen is a Shinkansen Kodama train with special design of Hello Kitty for both exterior and interior. It has a ribbon motif exterior with pink as the main color. (It looks very different from regular Shinkansen train with blue color.) And, Hello Kitty Shinkansen has an special interior for car No.1 and car No.2.   Car No.1  Car No.1 is a display space, HELLO! PLAZA. Passengers can shop souvenir, have a break at a rest corner, watch a movie of various regions, and take photo at a photo spot. This is a car to enjoy Hello Kitty world at Shinkansen. Car No.1 is operated between Shin-Osaka Station and Kokura Station. Car No.2 Car No.2 is non-reserved seat car with special design, KAWAII! ROOM. There are non-reserved seats and a photo spot. To have a seat at Car No.2 does not require any extra charge. Passengers just need regular Shinkansen tickets.   Operating route Hello Kitty Shinkansen operates in Sanyo Shinkansen area, between Shin-Osaka Sta

JR Hokkaido announced that it will operate Hokkaido Shinkansen faster than usual during the obon holidays, from August 12th, 2021 to August 16th, 2021. Currently, the fastest Shinkansen takes 3 hours 57 minutes from Tokyo Station to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station (or Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station to Tokyo Station). During the obon holidays in 2021, some Hokkaido Shinkansen will take 3 hours 54 minutes, 3 minutes less than the current fastest operation, between Tokyo Station and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station. This time saving will be achieved by operating faster in the Seikan Tunnel, from 160 km/hour to 210 km/hour.  The same operation was done during the golden week holidays, from the end of April to the early May in 2021. This operation will be applied to in the total 14 trains, 7 trains from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and 7 trains from Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Tokyo. From Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Hayate No.91 Hayate No.93 Hayabusa No.95 Hayabusa No.1 Hayabusa No.7 Hayabusa No.13 H

Tohoku Shinkansen suspended operation for safety inspection and resumed operation 5 hours later. Due to the earthquake on May 1st at 10:27, Tohoku Shinkansen suspended operation for safety inspection. It resumed operation on all lines by about 3:30 pm on the same day. Because of this suspension, 88 trains were suspended and about 35700 people were affected. Akita Shinkansen and Yamagata Shinkansen also suspended operation. Akita Shinkansen resumed operation by 3 pm. Yamagata Shinkansen suspended operation between Omiya Station and Fukushima Station and resumed operation by 3:30 pm.

  Well, it depends... If you never take shinkansen and are interested in shinkansen, you can go to Kyoto from Osaka by taking shinkansen. Please be careful that shinkansen does not stop at JR Osaka Station. Shinkansen stops at Shin-Osaka Station, 4 minutes from Osaka Station by local train. Therefore, if you are around JR Osaka Station (Umeda area), you have to take a local train from Osaka Station to Shin-Osaka Station. And then, you transfer to Shinkansen. Here is an example of time schedule from Osaka to Kyoto by shinkansen. Departure Osaka Station at 8:01 Take a train of JR Kyoto Line Arrival Shin-Osaka Station at 8:05 Move to shinkansen platform  Departure Shin-Osaka Station at 8:15 Take JR Tokaido Shinkansen Nozomi No.92  Arrival Kyoto Station at 8:29 The total time is 28 minutes, including 18 minutes in train/shinkansen.  (the total time depends on transfer timing. It may take less or more.) For this plan, you can enjoy 14-minute ride of Shinkansen. The total cost of this plan i

  Kyoto is one of the most popular places to visit in Japan for both Japanese and visitors from outside of Japan. Many tourists visit Kyoto by trains including Shinkansen. Kyoto Station is the main terminal for most of visitors from outside of Kyoto. It is easy to access Kyoto from Osaka area as Kyoto is located closed to Osaka. It takes less than 1 hour to go to Kyoto from Osaka. How about visiting Kyoto from Tokyo? Is it easy to access Kyoto from Tokyo? Is it possible to go to a day trip to Kyoto from Tokyo? The answer is YES.   How to access Kyoto from Tokyo It is very easy to access Kyoto from Tokyo. Tokaido Shinkansen directly goes to Kyoto Station from Tokyo Station or Shinagawa Station in Tokyo. It takes about 2 hours 11~15 minutes from Tokyo Station to Kyoto Station by Shinkansen Nozomi train. How to access Kyoto from Tokyo with Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) Nozomi trains can not be used with Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) without extra fee. However, it is also possible to go to Kyoto

Tohoku Shinkansen will operate on the normal timetable from 26th of March, 2021. Due to the earthquake occurred on 13th of February, Tohoku Shinkansen has been operating on a temporary schedule. Its operation will be on the normal timetable from 26th of March as all restoration work will be completed.

Tohoku Shinkansen operation has resumed on all lines from February 24th. Tohoku Shinkansen was suspended from operation between Nasushiobara Station and Ichinoseki Station due to the Fukushima earthquake on February 13th. JR East announced that restoration work and safety has been ensured in all sections of Tohoku Shinkansen. It also announced that it is necessary to slow down between Nasushiobara Station and Ichinoseki Station for the time being, therefore Tohoku Shinkansen is operated with the temporary timetable with reduced the number of trains, about 80% of the normal timetable.  Due to the temporary timetable, it takes additional 1 hour from Tokyo to Sendai or Morioka. Please check the latest timetable before your trip.