How to reserve a seat of Japan Railway trains at the station and online

Timetable and reservation
Midori no Madoguchi (reservation window) and ticket window at Central Exit concourse. (C) JP Rail
2009.12.30
Tohoku Shinkansen E5 series run mostly as Hayabusa and Hayate. These trains have only reserved seat. You cannot take this train without seat reservation.
The Tohoku-Hokkaido Shinkansen Hayabusa has only a reserved seat car. You cannot take this train without a seat reservation.

When you take the Shinkansen or the limited express train, you may have to book a seat because some trains require you a seat reservation. Though some limited express trains have some non-reserved cars, you should book a reserved seat if you can.

Especially if you use JR Pass, Hokkaido Rail Pass, JR East Pass, Tokyo Wide Pass, Sanyo San’in Area Pass and Kyushu Rail Pass, these passes cover a reserved seat fee. Use this benefit to ride a train with a peace of mind.

I also strongly recommend you to secure a seat if you travel in the peak seasons, such as late April to the first week of May (a.k.a. Golden Week), August 10 to 20 (It is called “Obon” which is a summer break.) and the year-end/New Years holiday (December 29th to the first week of January.)

I would like to explain you how to book a reserved seat in this post

Before you make a reservation

If you intend to use Japan Rail Pass (a.k.a. JR Pass), JR East Pass, Tokyo Wide Pass, Sanyo Sanin Area Pass, Takayama Hokuriku Area Pass, Hokkaido Rail Pass and Kyushu Rail Pass, you MUST turn in your exchange order to the actual Pass before booking your seat. You have to show your pass when you make a reservation. Exchange order does not work to book a train seat. Once you turned in, you can go ahead to make a reservation at any reservation windows and anytime. But if you use JR Easts’ online reservation, you can book a seat in advance before exchanging an actual pass. I will explain about this online reservation site later in this post.

Explaination by movie

You can watch the movie below which explains you about the booking in the station:

If you buy the JR Pass on the official reservation site, you can book a seat online. I explain how to use this site in the movie below:

I explain how to use JR East online booking step by step in the movie below:

Where you can book

Midori no Madoguchi (みどりの窓口)

First of all, I would like to tell you how to book a seat at the station. I will explain you about online booking later in this post.

You can book a seat at the ticket reservation office that is called “Midori no Madoguchi (みどりの窓口)”. You can find “Midori no Madoguchi” very easily. You will find a big green sign easily like the images above and below.

The logo of Midori no Madoguchi

“Midori no Madoguchi” is located at most of major JR stations. If you are in major cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Sapporo, you cannot miss “Midori no Madoguchi”. 99% of JR stations in these cities have “Midori no Madoguchi”. Some major stations have a few Midori no Madoguchi.

The signage is different in JR Central area.

If you travel in JR Central (JR東海) area, you cannot find Midori no Madoguchi. Because “Midori no Madoguchi” is JR East’s trademark and JR Central avoids to use it. In JR Central area, such as Nagoya, Mishima, Shizuoka, Gifu, Takayama, it is shown as “Shinkansen and JR Line Tickets (新幹線・JR線きっぷうりば)” like image below.

JR Central ticket office. It does not have any green signage. It looks very simple.

JR Central operates the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. JR Central has a ticket office outside JR Central operation area, such as Tokyo, Shin-Yokohama, Kyoto and Shin-Osaka. In these stations, you can find two different kinds of the ticket office, “Midori no Madoguchi” and “Shinkansen and JR Line Tickets”. But you can use either ticket office to book any JR train tickets. This difference does not matter.

What kind of information you need

Please make sure the following information before you make a reservation:

  • Date and time
  • Train name and number
    This is not required. But if you want to take the specific train, please tell the train name and number. It is much easier to make a reservation for the staff and you can save your time. All Shinkansen trains and most limited express trains have the combination of the name and number. e.g. “Hikari 246”.
  • Departure and Arrival Stations
  • Smoking or Non Smoking
    Smoking seat is still available on a few trains. If you really want to have a seat in the smoking car, you may ask a staff to look for. If you do not mention, usually you will be assigned a seat on non smoking car. If a seat is available on only smoking car, usually a staff let you know and make sure that you accept it or not.
  • Passport
    If you use JR Pass or other JR passes, you always have to carry your passport. You may be asked to show it by a station officer or a conductor when they want to check it.

When you can start booking

You can make a reservation anytime within one month prior the departure date. The ticket is on sale one month prior to departure date at 10:00am

e.g.
Departure date — August 23 at 10:00 am. the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka
Ticket is on sale at 10:00 am on July 23.

e.g.
Departure date — August 24 at 00:34 am. Sunrise Seto from Osaka to Tokyo
Ticket is on sale at 10:00 am on July 23, not July 24. Because this train originally depart from Takamatsu at 21:26 on August 23. Overnight trains are very few in Japan currently. But if you book a seat on overnight booking, please check the departure date at the original departure station.

The reserve seat on most trains can be reserved at Midori no Madoguchi only. So you have to be in Japan when you book. Online booking is still very limited.

Online booking

Japan Rail Pass official site

If you buy the JR Pass at the official site, you can make a booking through this website.

Japan Rail Pass official reservation site

Japan Rail Pass official reservation website

You can book a seat on most JR trains. However the price of JR pass is higher than the prices at the authorized dealers. If you buy the JR pass at the authorized dealer, you cannot book a seat on this site.

JR East Train Reservation

This online reservation system is operated by JR East. Unfortunately this JR East Shinkansen Reservation is only English online reservation for the traveler who use JR Pass, Hokkaido Rail pass and JR East Passes. If you intend to use a regular ticket, you can use this site too.

This site offers a seat reservation for the trains which run in JR East and JR Hokkaido areas. So you CANNOT make a reservation for the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen (Tokyo-Kyoto or Osaka) and other limited express trains which does not run in JR East and JR Hokkaido area. And also there are some restrictions. The biggest restriction is the ticket pick up. You must pick up a ticket one day before the travel date. You cannot pick up a ticket on the day of travel. Please read Guide (FAQ) before you make a booking.

Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen Reservation App “EX”

This app is available in a few countries only. And also this app is available for a regular ticket user only. You cannot use this app to book a seat for JR Pass or other rail passes. However any rail passes do not meet your trip plan and this app is available in your country, this is very convenient. You can book it in advance from your smartphone.

JR West Online Train Reservation

JR West has launched the online reservation site. However this online booking system does not cover any train pass user. You can use this online reservation as the regular ticket user only.

If you use a regular ticket, this online site may be a good choice. This online booking covers most of JR trains.

Eki-net (えきねっと)

I have received a comment from one of my readers, Tak. He mentioned me that we can use this Japanese online reservation system even for Japan Rail Pass or other travel passes users. This online reservation is in Japanese. So unfortunately this is not available for all of you. However some of my readers asked me that we can use a friend in Japan to make a reservation for Japan Rail Pass user in outside of Japan. You can do it with your friend in Japan and use this site.

This reservation system covers all over Japan. You can book for the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka which is not available on JR East Train Reservation.

How to reserve a ticket from outside Japan in advance

As you saw, online reservation does not cover all trains. I really wish Japan Railway have full online reservation system.

If you want to secure your seat before departure, the local travel agent may be able to help you. This is only way to reserve a ticket before you depart from your country.

One of my frequent visitors, James in Australia, left a comment. He did this way many years ago. But I would like to share this information:

*JTB actually charge MORE than $55 Australian dollar($56 US dollar March 2011 currency) per ticket, in fact JTB charge $75 Australian dollar(US$76) per ticket.

The $75 came from $55 service fee plus $20 courier fee to deliver your ticket to your hotel in Japan, $55+$20=$75 Funny my ticket for SL-Yamaguchi express is only $60 therefore altogether I need to pay $135 to get SL-Yamaguchi express ticket!

So, all I can say is, if you want to get a JR train ticket before you get to Japan, make sure you are ok with paying at least $75( $76 US dollar), it helps if you really need to get on a particular train that is very hard to book or if you are travelling during peak season. But if you are not in a hurry, travelling in leisure pace across Japan, perhaps think twice.

I hope is worthy many people told me SL-Yamaguchi express is the best steam train experience ever in Japan.

Unfortunately this is only way to do it. You can find Japan Rail Pass authorized agent at JR Pass official site. They may be able to reserve a ticket for you too. But some of the agent do not want to reserve your seat. They want to book whole things, like hotel, air ticket, attraction tickets. Because it is too small profit to make a reservation for only train ticket.

Comments

  1. Kenneth Vien says:
    March 30, 2016 at 1:47 am

    Hi Takeshi,
    This is the first time we visit Japan by ourselves. Please help us to answer the following questions
    I and my wife will arrive at Narita airport on 11 April 2016 and will stay in Nippori for 3 days to explore Tokyo.

    On 14 April 2016 We will go to Nagoya and then Takayama , Kyoto , Hiroshima and then back to Tokyo on 20 April 2016. The total is seven days and we will use the JR pass.
    This is a part of our Itinerary as a result of HyperDia search as follows

    14 April 2016 From Nippori 9:34 am to Tokyo 9:45 am by JR Keihin-Tohoku/Negishi Line Local for OFUNA for 2 person and non smoking.

    14 April 2016 From Tokyo at 10:33 am to Nagoya at 12:17 pm by SHINKANSEN HIKARI 509 for 2 person and non smoking.

    15 April 2016 From Nagoya at 7:45 am to Takayama at 10:02 am by LTD. EXP (WIDE VIEW) HIDA 1 for 2 person and non smoking

    15 April 2016 From Takayama at 16:44 pm to Nagoya at 19:03 pm by LTD. EXP (WIDE VIEW) HIDA 18 for 2 person and non smoking
    And some more….

    1) Can we request to have seats reservation for all of them in one time on the first day when we have arrived Narita airport on 11 April 2016 ?

    2) In the first part of our itinerary, there is a train name JR Keihin-Tohoku/Negishi Line Local for OFUNA that is not Shinkansen , so will we have a ticket for this train as well ?

    3) What happen if we miss a Shinkansen train that we already booked for seating ? Can we make seats booking for the next train ?

    4) During the first 3 days to explore Tokyo, should we buy a Pasmo card or Suica ?

    Thank you in advance,
    Regards,
    Kenneth Vien ( Melbourne – Australia)

  2. liliana says:
    March 23, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    Hello Takeshi

    I bought japan rail pass 7 days consecutive, i arrive at narita airport at 7 am of 14 may and i want to go by train to Kioto, i want to reserve the seat because its weekend and i dont really know if i will have problems this day to catch my train to Kyoto,
    Then i will go by train to Osaka, Hiroshima, Hakone and Tokyo.

    I bought the correct pass?

    Where i can reserve my seat to Narita to Kyoto.

    Thanks

    • Takeshi / JPRail.com says:
      March 23, 2016 at 9:43 pm

      Hi Liliana,

      JR pass 7 days is a right choice.
      Actually it’s not hard to book Shinkansen to Kyoto. You can book when you exchange your pass at Narita. You can book all train booking at once if you want. Whenever I use JR pass, I usually complete all train bookings when I exchange the pass.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  3. Shy says:
    March 20, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    Hi Takeshi,

    I’m travelling to Osaka during 20-25 May 2016. I have planned my itinerary this way:

    Day 1- Reach kansai airport 8.30am. Travel around osaka
    Day 2 – Travel around Osaka
    Day 3 – Kinosaki Onsen for 1 night
    Day 4 – Travel to Kyoto
    Day 5 -Travel around Kyoto
    Day 6 – Return to Kansai airport from Kyoto

    1) May i know which is the best transport to travel around? Drive or JR pass?
    2) Should i buy ICOCA card or JR West 5 day pass?
    3) If i choose for non-reserved seats, do i need to make reservation, or i have to buy at the counter?
    4)Will the JR be full and i can’t buy ticket from Osaka to Kinosaki Onsen?

  4. shoko hisayama says:
    March 14, 2016 at 3:12 pm

    hi takeshi

    great site. can we make reservation on japan eki net site
    using jr pass. planning trip during golden week. would
    like to travel to hiroshima. possible?

    aloha shoko

  5. Ron says:
    February 28, 2016 at 5:06 am

    Hello Takeshi san!

    My group will be visiting Osaka/Kyoto this March. May I ask your advise for the most convenient way to get around for the following:

    1. Kansai airport to Kyoto Station (our hotel is right across the station so it is pretty convenient)

    2. Kyoto Station to Namba Station (we will be staying at the Namba Oriental Hotel)

    3. Namba Station to Kansai Airport

    My main concern is the convenience especially for transfers because we do have some big luggages with us and I will be travelling with 2 seniors and 2 individuals with health concerns, so I want to try to make the transfers as smooth and easy for them as possible.

    Any advice or help you might extend would be greatly appreciated.

    Arigatou gozaimasu!

    Best regards,
    Ron

  6. Adimas says:
    February 27, 2016 at 12:39 am

    Hello Takeshi-san.
    Can we reserve multiple ticket in Midori no Madoguchi at once.
    I mean, is it polite in Japan to reserve more than 4 or 5 trip per queue, or will I only be able to reserve 1 set of the ticket then take the queue again to reserve my other set?

    Thank you very much

  7. Andrian Wen says:
    February 22, 2016 at 11:02 pm

    Hi Takeshi, my name is Wen.
    Planning to visit Japan in the mid of this year for 7 days and we will be 10 of us.
    We never been there before, so really hope that you can help us.
    Few questions that I want to ask,
    1. We will be staying in Hotel Gracery Shinjuku for few days, what is the best and convenience transport to get there from Haneda Airport? How and where can we purchase those tickets?

    After few days, we are going to Kyoto and Osaka but decided to stay in Osaka.

    2. Whats best for us to get there from Shinjuku?
    3. Also it means that we will travel around Osaka – Kyoto and go back to Osaka, still I really need help so i might know what is the best and convenience for the transportation.

    Is there anything for us to buy once and can be use for those whole week?

    Thanks Takeshi

  8. Agnieszka says:
    February 9, 2016 at 7:30 am

    Dear Takeshi-san,

    I’m planning a trip to Japan (March/April), which will last almost 30 days. Please find below my detailed itinerary.

    1) For first 6 days of my stay in Kansai I’d like to buy some Kansai pass – I know there’re a few of them. Do you think that in my situation (use of subway in Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara and trains between these cities) Surutto Kansai 3 Day Ticket (I will have to buy two of them) is the best option? If not, would you please suggest me another Pass or Card that is the most convenient solution in my case?

    2) I will also but JR Pass for 21 days and will start using it from April the 9th until the end of my stay. I checked the connections between the places I’d like to go to. Would you please have the look at the trains I chose and tell me if all of them will be covered by my 21 days JR Pass? And if any option is not covered by the Pass, please recommend me another solution.

    3) Is it possible to use JR Pass to get from Osaka to Kansai Airport April 26th?

    4) As far as I’m concerned the reservation of the seats can be made only in Japan and not via internet, is that right?

    Please help me!
    Kind regards,
    Agnieszka

    MARCH 29
    Arrival Kansai Airport (hotel Osaka)

    MARCH 30
    Kobe (hotel Osaka)

    MARCH 31-APRIL 2
    Kyoto sightseeing (hotel Osaka)

    APRIL 3
    Nara sightseeing
    night bus Kyoto to Tokyo

    APRIL 4-APRIL 9
    Tokyo sightseeing

    evening train Tokyo to Yokohama

    Train: Tokyo 8.02 p.m.
    JR Tokaido Line for NUMAZU
    Yokohama 8.31 p.m.

    APRIL 10
    Kamakura

    Train: Yokohama 8.02 a.m.
    JR Yokosuka Line for KURIHAMA
    Kamakura 8.26 a.m.

    Return Kamakura 8.03 p.m.
    JR Yokosuka Line for TOKYO
    Yokohama 8.28 p.m.

    APRIL 11
    Hakone

    Train: Yokohama 8 a.m.
    JR Tokaido Line for ATAMI
    09:07 Odawara
    Hakone Tozan Railway for HAKONE-YUMOTO at 9:17
    Hakone-Itabashi 9:21

    APRIL 12
    Yokohama sightseeing
    Evening train to Kanazawa

    Train: Yokohama 7:29 pm.
    7:57 Tokyo
    SHINKANSEN HAKUTAKA 577 at 8:12 p.m.
    Kanazawa 11:13 p.m.

    APRIL 13-14
    Kanazawa sightseeing
    Evening train to Nagoya

    Train: Kanazawa 8:06 p.m.
    LTD. EXP SHIRASAGI 66
    Change: MAIBARA 8:01-8:11 p.m.
    SHINKANSEN KODAMA 696
    Nagoya 10:35 p.m.

    APRIL 15
    Nagoya sightseeing

    APRIL 16
    Nagoya-Himeji

    Train: Nagoya 7:36 a.m.
    SHINKANSEN HIKARI 495
    Himeji 9:18 a.m.

    Himeji-Nagasaki

    Train: Himeji 5.50 p.m.
    SHINKANSEN SAKURA 569
    Shin-Tosu 8.15 p.m.
    8.25 p.m. LTD. EXP KAMOME 45
    Nagasaki 9:57 p.m.

    APRIL 17-18
    Nagasaki

    Evening train
    Nagasaki-Kumamoto

    Train: Nagasaki 8: 22 p.m.
    LTD. EXP KAMOME 48
    Shin-Tosu 9:55 p.m.
    10:04 p.m. SHINKANSEN TSUBAME 353
    Kumamoto 10:39 p.m.

    APRIL 19
    From Kumamoto to Aso

    Train: Kumamoto 8:35 a.m.
    LTD. EXP KYUSHU ODAN TOKKYU 2
    Aso 9:43 a.m.

    Return
    Aso 8:28 p.m.
    LTD. EXP KYUSHU ODAN TOKKYU 101
    Kumamoto 9:34 p.m.

    APRIL 20
    From Kumamoto to Kagoshima

    Train: Kumamoto 7:01 a.m.
    SHINKANSEN TSUBAME 307
    Kagoshima 7:57 a.m.

    APRIL 21
    From Kagoshima to Beppu

    Train: Kagoshima-chuo 12:40 p.m.
    SHINKANSEN SAKURA 556
    Kokura 2:24 p.m.
    14:39 LTD. EXP SONIC 29
    Beppu 3: 49 p.m.

    APRIL 22
    From Beppu to Hiroshima

    Train: Beppu 2:53 p.m.
    LTD. EXP SONIC 40
    Kokura 16:03
    16:25 SHINKANSEN SAKURA 560
    Hiroshima 17:16

    Ferry to Miyajima

    APRIL 23
    Miyajima-Hiroshima-Tokyo

    Train: Hiroshima 5:17 p.m.
    SHINKANSEN SAKURA 560
    Shin-Osaka6:42 p.m.
    19:16 SHINKANSEN HIKARI 534
    Tokyo 10.10 pm.

    APRIL 24
    From Tokyo to Osaka

    Tokyo 5:03 pm.
    SHINKANSEN HIKARI 481
    Shin-Osaka 8:03 p.m.
    20:15 JR Kyoto Line Rapid Service for ABOSHI
    Osaka 8:19 p.m.

    APRIL 25
    Koya-san

    APRIL 26
    Osaka sightseeing
    Evening flight from Kansai Airport

  9. Tat says:
    February 6, 2016 at 11:09 pm

    Hi Takeshi-san

    Would you happen to know, if I can make a reservation for JR hokkaido at Kansai Airport?

    I have a JR Pass green, and would like to make reservations for Super Hotoku, which I read is very popular for its Green Seats. So it will be good if I can make the reservation when I arrive in Japan at Kansai Airport.

    Appreciate your kind reply.
    Regards
    Tat

  10. Fiona says:
    February 6, 2016 at 11:13 am

    Hi im planning a trip for my family (10) soon and need help just yo be surr as we are all first time visitors. Pls allow me to nake mistakes as i purely based everything on google 🙂 for your kind feedback pls:

    MAY 29 – arrive in Nagoya and go straight to Osaka (sleep 1 night in osaka)

    MAY 30 – JUNE 2 – enjoy osaka, kyoto, kobe, himeji, nara, hiroshima (sleep 4 more nights in osaka)

    JUNE 3 – shopping in osaka until afternoon then back to Nagoya (sleep 1 night in Nagoya)

    JUNE 4 – go to Tokyo for a whole day trip then back to Nagoya (sleep 1 more night in Nagoya)

    JUNE 5 – whole day Nagoya sightseeing (sleep 1 more night in Nagoya)

    JUNE 6 – flight out of Japan via Nagoya

    Questions:
    1) is this itinerary do-able or too much? If too little pls let me know what else i can add to have a great time

    2) what is the cheapest way to travel? I read about jr passes that have 2 types: one w reserved seats and one basic non-reserved. Is this accurate? If yes, do i need reserved seats for the places we will visit? Also, is this peak season making it hard for us to get seats if we dont reserve?

    3) since it is more than 7 days and we dont want to get a 14-day jr pass as too expensive, how much if we get unlimited passes for osaka area (that covers all the places we wanna visit) + jr pass? Or can we just use the unlimited pass in osaka + pay each shinkansen ride from nagoya to osaka and vice versa, nagoya to tokyo and vice versa & unlimited pass in nagoya?

    4) is it cheaper to get unlimited pass vs renting a van in osaka & nagoya? This is considering we are 10 persons.

    As you can see we want to travel cheap as we’d rather spend money on sightseeing, shopping and food! Hope you can help us 🙂

    Best regards! And hope for your feedback the soonest!

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