Other trainsĪside from the Shinkansen, the fastest services are limited express ( tokkyū 特急) trains, so-called because they make a limited number of stops. Get to the door in good time before the train arrives, as you’ll generally only have a few seconds in which to disembark before the train shoots off again. On the train there are announcements and electronic signs in English telling you which stations are coming up. If you’re travelling from Tokyo to Fukuoka, the Nozomi shaves an hour off the six-hour journey on the Hikari, but for shorter hops to Nagoya, Kyoto or Ōsaka the time saved isn’t generally worth the extra expense. Three types of Shinkansen services are available: the Kodama (こだま), which stops at all stations the Hikari (ひかり), which stops only at major stations and the Nozomi (のぞみ available on the Tōkaidō–Sanyō line only), the fastest service, for which you’ll have to pay an extra fee (and which you’re not allowed to take if you’re travelling on most types of rail pass). To travel by Shinkansen you’ll pay a hefty surcharge on top of the basic fare for a regular train. The Kyūshū line connects Kagoshima with Hakata. There are plans to extend this line from Nagano to Kanazawa by 2014. The Jōetsu line heads north from Tokyo, tunnelling through the mountains to Niigata along the Sea of Japan coast, with the Nagano line (also known as the Hokuriku line) branching off west at Takasaki to end at Nagano.
The Akita line runs from Tokyo to Akita on the north coast, while the Yamagata line to Shinjō, in the middle of the Tōhoku region, splits off west from the Tōhoku line at Fukushima. This line will extend through the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate by 2015. The Tōhoku line is the main northern route, passing through Sendai and terminating at Shin-Aomori. The busiest route is the Tōkaidō-Sanyō line, which runs south from Tokyo through Nagoya, Kyoto, Ōsaka and Hiroshima, terminating at Hakata Station in Fukuoka (the Tōkaidō line runs from Tokyo to Shin-Ōsaka Station, while the Sanyō line continues from there to Fukuoka).
They are also frighteningly punctual – two seconds late on the platform and you’ll be waving goodbye to the back end of the train – and reliable: only the severest weather conditions or earthquakes stop the Shinkansen.
You’ll barely notice the speed of these smooth-running trains, which on the top-of-the-range E5 series can reach 320kph. Shinkansenįor many visitors, riding the Shinkansen (新幹線) or Bullet Train (so-called because of the smooth, rounded design of the earliest locomotives) is an eagerly anticipated part of a trip to Japan. If you have lots of time, and are travelling during the main student holiday periods, the Seishun Jūhachi-kippu is also an excellent buy. If you plan to travel extensively by train, the various Japan Rail Passes provide the best overall deal, while the discount tour packages by the Japan Travel Bureau’s Sunrise Tours arm are also excellent value. Individual tickets can be pricey, especially for the fastest trains, but many discount tickets and rail passes are available to cut the cost. Smaller rail companies, including Hankyū, Kintetsu, Meitetsu, Odakyū and Tōbu, are based in the major cities and surrounding areas, but in the vast majority of Japan it’s JR services that you’ll be using. JR is run as a single company as far as buying tickets is concerned. The vast majority of services on Japan’s brilliant rail network are operated by the six regional JR (Japan Railways) companies: JR Hokkaidō, JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR Shikoku and JR Kyūshū. Also incredibly useful is the Hyperdia Timetable, an online resource maintained by Hitachi Information Systems, which will provide a whole range of travel options, including transfers by air, bus, train and ferry between almost any two points in Japan. If you’re going to travel around Japan a lot, get hold of a JR English timetable for all the Shinkansen and many major express train services, available from JNTO offices in Japan and abroad and at major train stations. There’s always a jikokuhyō available for consultation at stations, and most hotels have a copy too. The staff in these agencies have access to the jikokuhyō timetable, an incredible source of information, updated monthly, on virtually every form of public transport in Japan. Domestic travel agencies, such as JTB, can book all types of transport and are also useful sources for checking travel schedules.