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
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. hua ding says:

    I am planning my trip to Japan next summer. Unfortunately I need to take the train from Tokyo to Kyoto on 8/15/2019, the peak week.1. I will be in the airport on 8/12. Do you think I can get three reserved seats for 8/15 train? I found a app smartex which can reserve seats but it is more expensive than JR PASS. If I cannot get the tickets in airport, I might consider to use smartex to reserve seats. 2. I am planning back from Kyoto to Hakone on 7/18/2019. Is there possible for me to get the reserved seats too? 3. Do I need to get back to Tokyo then to Hakone, or there is better way from Kyoto to Hakone?

    Thanks.

  2. Zachary says:

    Hi Takeshi-san,
    First of all, great site and your response to the comment is promptly and amazing!
    My itinerary is below:
    13th Dec Chitose / Sapporo
    15th Dec Sapporo – Hakodate
    17th Dec Hakodate – Osaka (fly)
    (in Osaka, will travel to Kobe, Himeji, Nara)
    20th Osaka – Kyoto
    (in Kyoto, surrounding areas, Arashiyama etc.)
    24th Kyoto – Tokyo
    28th Tokyo – Haneda airport

    I was planning to get a 7 days JR Rail Pass for the train rides after arriving Osaka, but from a site japan-guide.com comparing the cost and the pass does not pay off. So i would get day pass in Osaka and local trains. What is your opinion?

    Travel from Kyoto to Tokyo on the 24th Dec by train, is there an official site where I can buy the ticket outside of Japan? If no, can I buy the ticket for this route when I am in Sapporo or Osaka? Should I be worried for not having a ticket due to fully booked (Christmas Eve)?

    Is there an official site where i can check all the train numbers, schedules and stations for all over Japan?

    This could be irrelevant but i will try my luck. I plan to do a day trip from Tokyo to Fuji on the 26th Dec. A lot of recommendation suggested bus over train. Do you have an opinion and do you happen to have a site where i can buy bus ticket online?

    Many thanks for your help.
    Zach

  3. Max says:

    Hi Takeshi. What about the smartEX reservation app? You didn’t mentioned it. Not for JR Pass users but you can book up to 1 month in advance the Tokaido / Sanyo Shinkansen trains. I think it is very useful and in some cases you can have a small discount on the rate

    • Hi Max,

      This app is available in only 6 countries so far. That is why I don’t mention this now. When it’s available in some more countries, I will put this info.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JRPail.com

  4. Kotchakorn C. says:

    HI,
    I have inquiry about online seat reservation. I plan to go to Sapporo and travel around Tohoku area on peak period ( end of December until January)
    I will use JR east south Hokkaido pass (I plan to buy pass on November). I want to do online reserve seat to book the seat in advance. I’ve checked all train that I need to reserve is in the list. My question is normally JR pass includes seat reserve charging that mean I have not to pay for any reserve seat cost. How about if I reserve through online. Do I have been charged or not charged for seat reservation? I got some confusing explanation from Japan travel agent in my country.They said I have to pay for reserve seat if I use online reserve process because it’s booking advance that I don’t think it makes sense. Can you help to explain clearly for this inquiry.

    • Hi Kotchakorn C.,

      No extra fee is required even if you book a seat online. However you have to put your credit card info when you book because it will be charged if you will not pick up your ticket. As long as you pick up a ticket and show your JR pass when you pick it up, they don’t charge you.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

      • Nathipatn says:

        Takeshiさん、
        I’ve more questions about online reservation.
        If I do online booking for 3 person in advance, but on effective date I can pick up ticket only 2 person, because 1 person can not come to japan. I’ll be charged whether or not? Although i take the exchange order to Japan with me for 3 person.

        • Hi Nathipatn san,

          I think you will use JR pass or other rail pass and you want to book online. Am I right? If I’m right, unfortunately you cannot correct 3 tickets. Because when you pick up tickets, you have to exchange all passes. You cannot pick up tickets by exchange order. You must exchange the pass before pick up. And you cannot exchange the pass without an actual passport with short term visitor stamp.

          Cheers,

          Takeshi / JPRail.com

  5. M Y says:

    Hello, we plan to arrive at Narita on Aug 8 around 1:30pm. Then go to JR office to get round trip NEX Tickets plus activate Rail Pass and reserve seats to Kyoto that same afternoon. Is that doable since it’s a busy travel week in Japan? We hope to reserve seats for the return to Tokyo on Monday at the same time

    If we go from Kyoto to Osaka using the rail pass, do we also need to reserve seats for such a short trip? Can we get on a train for unreserved seats with the rail pass only or without getting a ticket?

    Are there unreserved seats available on the Hikari even when all the reserved seats are booked? Or can all seats be booked during busy season and there are no unreserved seats available?

    Are the unreserved cars usually 1 to 3 or 1 to 5 in the front? How does standing on the train work? Are we only allowed to stand in certain places?

    Do we assume correctly that getting a 7-day rail pass would be beneficial in our case, even if it limits the trains that we can take?

    Thank you for your help and any suggestions. MY

  6. G Sun says:

    Hello,
    Will appreciate it much if you could explain how to use the JR Pass from Kyoto to Koyasan-World Heritage site(Mt Koya)? We plan to visit this site when we are in Kyoto next month.
    Also, is my understanding correct that we can use our JR Pass to go around Hiroshima and Miyajima?
    Thank you.

  7. Janet says:

    Hi,

    If I am traveling during Golden Week and buy a JR Pass that cannot be activated until my arrival April 27 (meaning I cannot reserve any seats until then as well) what is the likelihood that all the bullet trains will already be booked? What are my options for bullet trains and/or to ensure my husband and I will be able to sit together on our longer trips?

    I am concerned we need to be in certain cities on certain days (and within certain time frames for some) and may have not have a guaranteed way to get there after spending the $$ to buy the passes.

    Also wondering which JR Pass (Central or regular) to buy and for what length? Although we are in Japan for 14 days, the cost of the 14 Day Pass is more expensive than the actual tickets we will need. However the 7 Day Pass will not cover all of our major travel dates. Does the 14 Day Pass offer additional value beyond the ticket prices (in-city travel, ease of travel, complimentary discounts to restaurants, purchases, admission, or other)? Or should we buy the 7 Day Pass and activate it for our most expensive 7 consecutive days and just buy supplementary tickets for the other travel dates?

    Do you suggest purchasing other rail passes (ex. Hanoke Pass or Kansai Pass) in addition to the JR Pass?

    TRIP DETAILS: My husband and I are arriving in Tokyo (Haneda airport) on 4/27. We travel to Hakone on 4/30 (via already booked tickets on the romance car). On 5/1 we travel to Kyoto. While in Kyoto we’d like to take day trips to Osaka and Nara. On 5/6 we travel from Kyoto to Fukui. While in Fukui we may take a day trip to Kanazawa before having to be back in Tokyo by 5/9.

    Thank you in advance for any suggestions or assistance,

    Janet

  8. Vianca Avery says:

    I am going to Japan quite soon and I want to get this straight.

    I arrive in Japan on the 10th April. I go to the exchange office and state on the application form that I want to start using the JR Pass from 11th April.
    Am I able to make a seat reservation on 10th for 11th April with the Pass? Or do I have to wait till the next day to make seat reservations?
    I’m planning to go to Tokyo to Sapporo taking the earliest train possible (6am-8am) on the 11th April.
    Sorry if this confusing, this is my first solo travel so I want it to be as smooth as possible.

    • Hi Vianca,

      You can book right after you exchange JR pass. Even though you don’t use it on 10th, you can go ahead to book a train for 11th. Whenever I use JR pass, I will complete all bookings when I exchange the pass.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

      • Vianca says:

        Thank you!

        And also, what do I say to the person at the counter? I want to book all my Shinkansen on the day I arrive.
        (Tokyo>Sapporo, Sapporo>Hakodate, Hakodate>Tokyo, Tokyo>Osaka etc)

        I can’t seem to find any YouTube video or website that tells me what to say when booking these tickets.
        A few videos says the staff at the Tokyo station will book the tickets for you at the exchange counter (only the Tokyo Sta.) Is this true?

  9. Jim says:

    Thank you for a great post! 🙂
    Is it possible for me to make reservations and/or pick up tickets in Tokyo even if I want to ride trains in other areas? (i.e. JR Kyushu)

  10. Weih says:

    I booked a day tour to Shirakawago on 24 Dec and the trip will be end at 21:00pm at Nagoya Station. I want to take Shinkansen to go back to Kyoto. What is the time for last train? And, I want to purchase Kodama ticket. How do I purchase?

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