Japanese Transportation / Bullet Train / 新幹線 /しんかんせん

Hi, this is Yuyujin.

Have you taken a Japanese bullet train, 新幹線(しんかんせん) ?
That is fast, punctual and convenient.

When you come to Japan, let’s try Shinkansen.

Shinkansen (Yamabiko)

新幹線(Shinkansen) has started their business since 1964.
The first Shinkansen is 東海道新幹線(Toukaidou Shinkansen) that runs from Tokyo to Shin Osaka.
It takes 2hours and 22minutes from Tokyo to Shin Osaka.

There are 9 lines of Shinkansen now.
The maximum speed is 320 km/hour.

There are 5 companies that do Shinkansen business.
So when you find the Shinkansen information, you need to access each web site.

Originally they were one national railway company.
But now they became 7 separate private companies.
5 of 7 companies do Shinkansen business.

JR北海道  (JR Hokaido)

JR Hokkaido’s English site is here.

JR東日本 (JR East)

JR East’s English site is here.

JR東海 (JR Central)

JR Central’s English site is here.

JR西日本 (JR West)

JR West’s English site is here.

JR九州 (JR Kyushu)

JR Kyushu’s English site is here.

Seats in the Shinkansen is like below photo.
There are three kind of seats.
There are reserved cars, non-reserved cars and green cars.
The reserved car and non-reserved car have same seats.
The difference is only whether you reserve or not.
The seat in the green car is wider.

Shinkansen Cabin

OK, that’s it.
Thank you so much.
Have a good trip.