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. jez says:

    hi, we will arrive in Japan on January 20 and wish to travel to hakodate on January 21 using JR pass. i read that Hayabusa required us to reserve seats for the trip. Can we just appear on the station on the 21st for same day reservation? i am planning to spend 3 hrs in hakodate and then leave for sapporo. thankyou in advance

    • Hi Jez,

      As long as the seat is available, you can book a seat even 10 minutes before the departure time. But you must receive a seat ticket. You cannot take Hayabusa only by JR pass. Reserved seat fee is covered by JR pass. So please receive a ticket before on board. As I mentioned in the post above, you can book it online at JR East reservation site. But you have to correct a ticket one day before. You also can book a seat right after Japan when you exchange JR pass. Advanced reservation is recommended.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

      • jez says:

        I saw on the news about the bad weather in sapporo that caused delayed flights. tho we are going to use trains going to sapporo, will it affect us? i am worried that we are not be able to reserve seats. 🙁 our trip is on the 21st. do u think the weather will still be this bad and we are not be able to go out and tour the city? lol . i just need ur advise- if we will still continue the trip or just stay in Tokyo. thankyouuuu 🙂

  2. Jacqueline Leung says:

    Hello,

    I’ll be travelling from Nagano to Osaka on Jan 18 and hope to reserve train tickets. However, the JR East website only enables me to buy the ticket from Nagano to Kanazawa. So, does that mean I’ve to buy the Thunderbird ticket at Kanazawa upon arrival? Alternatively, is it possible to buy one ticket for the trip from Nagano to Osaka at Nagano JR station? Thank you!

    • Hi Jacqueline,

      You can buy one base fare ticket for Nagano to Osaka at Nagano station or other major JR stations. For example, if you will be in Tokyo before going to Nagano, you can buy it in Tokyo too. If you arrive in Narita Airport, you can buy it at Narita airport station too. And also if you purchase the base fare ticket for Nagano to Kanazawa and Kanazawa to Osaka separately, the total cost is higher. You should buy it altogether at same time.

      In this case, I don’t recommend you to use JR East website. You should buy it after you arrive in Japan. It’s a low season. It’s not hard to book a seat even if you do it after you arrive in Japan.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  3. Fong says:

    Hi Takeshi, i am travelling from shin hakodate to tokyo on jan 6, i am holding green jrpass with 7 other family members. Out of 7 jrgreen pass, 6 ppls get green seats and 1 have to go ordinary seat since it says full on the system. My question, if half way to tokyo i found an empty seat on the green is it possible to move to green from ordinary (since i’m holding jr green pass) and what happen if they happen to check ticket And found out my ticket is orginally ordinally ticket? Thanks

    • Hi Fong,

      Please talk to the conductor before you take a seat when you find an unoccupied seat. Please do not take a seat before you contact to the conductor.

      And also please check the availability for Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Tokyo just before on board. Someone cancel a seat in the last minutes and you may be able to get a seat. And also ask the availability for other segment, such as Sendai to Tokyo, Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Sendai. As you thought, you cannot get a seat for whole part of the journey but you may be able to get a seat for a part of the trip.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  4. Deb Mayes says:

    Hi

    Should I get the JR Rail pass? I arrive July 16th, and depart July 30 (so 15 days). My stay looks like:
    Narita Airport to Tokyo (5 nights)
    Tokyo to Osaka (3 nights)
    Want to do Nara deer reserve from Osaka.
    Osaka to Kyoto (4 nights)
    Kyoto to Tachikawa (2 nights) (Do I have to go via Tokyo?)
    Tachikawa to Narita Airport

    I know that if I get the JR Rail pass, I will pay for one way on arrival day, then activate pass on the 17th, so that the 14th day is the return to the airport. Also, if I do get the JR rail pass, can I go to the Tokyo station office and book all the Bullet trains and the return NEX on the 17th?

    Thanks for any help you can provide
    Deb Mayes

  5. Graham says:

    Hi Takeshi
    I have organised a walking holiday in your beautiful contry for a group of 16 friends in April 2019. At the end of the walking part we need to travel from Osaka to Tokyo on 27 April before leaving from Narita airport on 29 April.
    We want to experience the Tokaido Shinkansen but am aware too that it is the start of your Golden week and it will be very busy.
    1. We are in the UK, can I prebook and reserve tickets for the group before we leave the UK?
    If not we will arrive in Osaka on the previous day. Should tickets be purchased on that day?
    2. Other than the internal Tokyo subways the only other train journey we will take is to the airport at Narita on departure. I don’t believe that it is financially beneficial for us to purchase JR rail cards in this instance, can you confirm that this is correct?

    Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated

    Many thanks

    • Hi Graham,

      Unfortunately you cannot book a ticket online. You may ask a travel agent to book a ticket. Usually most travel agent do not reserve a ticket but you have a big group. Please try to contact to one of the JR Pass authorized dealers in the link below. These are Japanese travel agent as well and they may be familiar with booking a ticket.
      http://www.japanrailpass.net/area_05.html#U.K

      If you cannot find any travel agents, you have to book a ticket after you arrive in Japan. You mentioned you will try to book a ticket in Osaka one day before. But I think you will arrive in Japan earlier. If so, you can book a ticket right after you arrive in Japan. You will depart from Osaka but you don’t need to book and purchase a ticket in Osaka. You can do it at most of JR stations throughout Japan.

      If you still need to book a ticket in Osaka one day before, you have to do it anyway. It may be hard. Even if you can find a space, departure time may be very early morning or very late evening. Most travelers want to take the firstest train which is called “Nozomi”. But if you try slower train, such as Hikari or Kodama, it may be easier.

      JR pass is too expensive for your trip. You may take bus or Keisei railway to get Narita.
      https://jprail.com/sample-itineraries/airport-access/narita/the-list-of-deals-for-access-to-downtown-tokyo-from-narita-airport.html

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  6. JUAN says:

    Hello,

    Im going to take a trip to Japan in March.
    I have this itinary for 2 weeks:
    Osaka – Hiroshima.
    Hiroshima – Kyoto.
    Kyoto – Tokyo.

    Do you recommend any pass or buy single tickets?
    Is possible to buy online some nozomi tickets?

    Thanks for your help.

  7. Yasmin says:

    Hello, Takeshi-san.

    I searched for some JR Pass information then i found your website and it contains helpful informations and of course this reservation seat for JR Pass thing. Same as YH-san commented, i am going to Hokkaido from Tokyo on February 2019 with Shinkansen (JR Pass). My trip date is on the week of Snow Festival so i am considering to take a reservation seat in order to secure whether that day will be crowed by domestic or international tourists. From Takeshi-san opinion, is it worthed to make a seat reservation during those date? And i just want to make sure if by this reservation for JR Pass user, the seat reserved won’t be charged (is JR Pass cover all cost within Shinkansen ride, isn’t it?) because it need to register our cerdit card and we there’s payment needed on FAQ of JE East Train Reservation website, just as YH-san comented before.

    I hope you can help me with clear information about this. Thank you for your time.

    • Hi Yasmin san,

      JR Pass covers Shinkansen ride. So I highly recommend you to book a seat in advance. You have to put your credit card number but it won’t be charged as long as you pick up your ticket until one day before trip date. It’s just deposit.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  8. Dewi says:

    Dear Takeshi,

    I have questions about making seat reservation I hope that you can help me. I will be arriving in Tokyo on December 29th in the morning and plan to board the earliest Kagayaki train to Kanazawa we can take. I heard that Kagayaki train is all reserved seat so just say if all the seats are already reserved can we still board on the train without seats? Because we are really tight on the schedule and we are also going on holiday period.
    Thank you in advance.
    kind regards,
    Dewi

  9. Terry says:

    Hi Takeshi,

    Quick question here regarding the seat reservation, what happen if we missed the train that we have reserved (I hope we don’t miss it..zzz)? Do we allow to do a replacement and how the charges look like? (I have bought the 5 days Takayama Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass, just for your information)

    Thank you in advance! 🙂

    Cheers,
    Terry

    • Hi Terry,

      You can return your ticket and rebook a seat for later train. But this pass allows you four times to reserve a seat. You will lose one of four times.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

      • Terry says:

        Noted with many thanks Takeshi 🙂

      • Terry says:

        Hi Takashi,

        I just looked at my itinerary, following route probably need the reservation;

        05-Jan-2019:
        Depart From Kyoto Station to Kanazawa with [LTD. EXP. THUNDERBIRD]

        06-Jan-2019:
        Depart From Kanazawa Station to Shirakawago Bus Station with [Nohi Bus]

        07-Jan-2019:
        > Depart From Shirakawago Bus station to Takayama Station with [Nohi Bus]
        > Depart From Takayama Station to Toyama Station with [LTD EXP WIDE VIEW HIDA]
        > Depart From Toyoma Station to Kanazawa with [Shinkansen]

        08-Jan-2019:
        Depart From Kanazawa Station to Shih Osaka Station with [LTD. EXP. THUNDERBIRD]

        Questions:
        1. I suppose the Shinkansen train from Toyoma to Kanazawa doesn’t allow for seat reservations and only allow to take non-reserve seat with Takayama-hokuriku tourist pass?
        2. Do Nohi bus counted as one of the reservation quota for Takayama-hokuriku tourist pass? If yes, total i will be needed is 5 times of reservations which exceed the 4 times quota that given by Takayama-hokuriku tourist pass, with that, any suggestion which are more important in reservations to guarantee the seats during our travel period?

        Thanks again for your help 🙂

        Cheers,
        Terry

        • Hi Terry,

          1. That’s right. You cannot use a reserved seat on this segment. But if you take “Tsurugi”, it’s very easy to find a seat. It’s usually almost empty. Even if you take “Hakutaka”, you will be able to find a seat.

          2. It’s not included. 4 times is applied to a train reservation only.

          Cheers,

          Takeshi / JPRail.com

  10. YH says:

    Hello Takeshi-san,

    I chanced upon your website as I was reading up on train reservations. Can I ask you about eki-net reservations? I have already purchased our JR East-South Hokkaido Rail Pass, but when I am trying to reserve seats on ski-net for the Hakodate-Sapporo journey on the Super Hokuto 7, I am asked to enter the credit card details to pay for the reservation seat fee of 3,110 yen per seat. Can I check if this is correct? I had thought that the Rail Pass should cover both the ticket fee and the seat fee, so I am a little confused as to how to proceed.

    Your guidance on this is much appreciated!!

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