Being from the U.S. — and not from the East Coast — I never really had the opportunity to take a lot of trains. But my first few trips to Europe changed that for me, and I’ve been a big fan of trains ever since. So I will actively seek them out when they’re available — whether it’s an overnight train in ThailandΒ during a solo trip, or trying Japan’s famous Shinkansen bullet train on our honeymoon this past autumn.
The Shinkansen is famous because it was the world’s first high-speed rail line, built to reach speeds of more than 210 km/h (130 mph) back in the 1960s. These days, you can travel between 285-320 km/h (177-199 mph) depending on the line!
While bullet trains aren’t so uncommon anymore, and we regularly take Spain’s high-speed rail service, we couldn’t miss the chance to check out the Shinkansen. So… here’s my review of the TΕkaidΕ Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Kyoto.
Logistics
On the Japanese Rail website, Shinkansen train tickets go on sale exactly one month in advance — so we booked our tickets one month in advance. While some tickets and routes may be available on shorter notice, we were excited to start planning our trip so we didn’t see a reason to put it off! Plus, booking further in advance will help you ensure you get a reserved seat.
A reserved seat is exactly what it sounds like: you get to choose your own seat at the time of booking. A non-reserved seat, on the other hand, grants you access to the train, but it’s first-come, first-served for seats in the non-reserved cars. Even though a reserved seat costs a bit more, we booked reserved seats so we didn’t have to stress on the day of travel. And the other benefit of reserved seats was choosing to sit on the right side of the train when traveling from Tokyo to Kyoto — so we’d have the opportunity to see Mt. Fuji out the window!
Once your booking is complete, you’ll have the option of how you want to receive your tickets: QR code, printed, or to load onto your SUICA card. We chose the QR code option and had no issues with it.
Our train departed at 9:30 a.m. from Tokyo Station and arrived on time at Kyoto Station at 11:44 a.m.
Convenience
If you’re traveling between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka,Β you shouldn’t have any problem booking a train on your preferred day and at your preferred time — the TΕkaidΕ typically runs about 385 trains per day, with up to 17 departures per hour! We chose 9:30 a.m. for our departure because it felt early enough to get us into Kyoto before noon, but it was also late enough that we had time to pack up, check out of the hotel, and get over to Tokyo Station.
And Tokyo Station is really big and really busy, so you’ll want to leave plenty of time to navigate from the metro line where you’re coming in, to the Japan Rail terminal. We personally felt that the signage was not great inside the station — there were times we were following a sign to the Shinkansen lines, and all of a sudden the signs would stop and we didn’t know which direction to go.
But overall, traveling by train is still a lot more convenient than going out to the airport and flying. Especially if you’re staying near Tokyo Station! (We were not, but the metro still made it relatively fast to get there.) And the train arrived at Kyoto Station, which was also well connected — the station itself is not near the downtown city center, but again, it was straightforward to get there with just a few stops on the Karasuma metro line.
Security
There was no security checkpoint at either train station.
Experience
We arrived at Tokyo Station about 45 minutes early and had no problems getting into the train platform by scanning our QR code tickets at the turnstiles. But we weren’t able to board until just a few minutes before departure. It was pretty hot, and we’d trekked across town and through the station with our large carry-on backpacks — luckily there was a “cooling station” on the platform that consisted of a small enclosed room with air conditioning. All the seats were taken, but at least we could stand and cool off while we waited.
There were also several konbinis, or Japanese convenience stores such as 7-Eleven, near the train platform. This is ideal for grabbing snacks for your trip. Apparently, some of the shops in the station even sell bento boxes that are specifically meant to be eaten on your train journey! Sadly, I wasn’t able to partake in this, but I recommend it if you’re able to. π
When it was time to board the train, it was really easy to find our assigned seats. The train was clean and comfortable, and it departed on time so I had no complaints. I also noticed that the interior of the train was a lot quieter than when we usually travel in Spain — I felt almost a little bit too loud just opening a bag of chips, but that’s just because it was sooo quiet.
We were sitting on the right side of the train in hopes of glimpsing Mt. Fuji, which we’d luckily already seen when we went to the Five Lakes region on our first day in Japan. While we did have a pretty view for the first 30 minutes or so, it soon got really cloudy — which was pretty much at the point we would have been passing by Mt. Fuji. So, sadly, we didn’t see it. That was a bit of a bummer, but there’s nothing you can really do about it.
Once I realized there would be no Fuji view on the journey, I proceeded to immediately fall asleep, and I didn’t wake up until we arrived in Kyoto.
Value
We paid about $87 USD per person for our train tickets from Tokyo to Kyoto, one-way. That seems to be pretty consistent as I’m poking around the Japan Rail website. And that’s for a journey that takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
If I were to search one-way flights from Tokyo to Kyoto for one month from today, the cheapest price I’m seeing is $37 USD. The flight time is 1 hour and 45 minutes, so only 30 minutes faster than taking the train.
So it’s cheaper to fly and there’s less actual travel time, but there are definitely advantages to taking the train. Like the fact that it’s so much faster and easier to get to/from Tokyo Station and Kyoto Station from the city center compared to the airport. And how you don’t need to worry about getting to the train station 2 hours early like you do for the airport. And how the flights are only offered at a couple specific times per day, compared to the train where you can almost choose your own departure down to the minute!
For us, it was a no-brainer to take the train. While the novelty of the bullet train has worn off for us a bit just since we do it so often now, it was still cool to take the iconic Japanese Shinkansen. I think the price was well worth it for all the conveniences I just mentioned. It makes for a much more relaxing travel day — especially when you’re traveling for about six weeks like we were, you take any type of “relaxing” you can get.
So, I would definitely do it again. Shinkansen, you will always be famous.
Have you ever taken a bullet train in Japan or elsewhere? Would you try the Shinkansen? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.
Leave a Reply