Hello from Japan!! At long last, we’ve arrived in East Asia for our honeymoon, celebrating our first anniversary. 🙂 Right now we are in Kyoto, after spending about a week in Tokyo, and we’ll be headed to Osaka in a few days. And I’m so excited about all the new experiences I’m having and will eventually be able to share with you all!
This morning, we took the Shinkansen — Japan’s high-speed train line — from Tokyo to Kyoto. While we actually booked these tickets about a month ago, it took some experimenting to figure out how to actually get the cheapest Shinkansen tickets. So, here’s what you need to know!
When to Book Your Shinkansen Tickets
Shinkansen train tickets go on sale one month in advance — which means if you’re traveling on September 3 (like we did), tickets were available starting August 3. While tickets for some routes may be available on much shorter notice, even for the same or next day, you’ll probably want to buy your tickets earlier if you want a reserved seat.
The difference between a reserved and a non-reserved seat is pretty self-explanatory, though it doesn’t function quite the way you might think. For example, when you buy train tickets on RENFE or Ouigo in Spain, you’re kind of reserving a seat — but you don’t get to choose your seat. After you buy them, you’ll usually get an email stating your seat assignment.
But on the Shinkansen, there are different cars on the train for reserved and non-reserved seats. If you book a reserved seat, the price is higher, but you get to actually select your exact seats at the time of booking. With a non-reserved seat, you’re basically paying for your entry onto the train, and it will be first-come, first-served for seats in the non-reserved cars. It’s more like buying a standing-room only ticket for a sporting event (though you won’t actually have to stand on the train!).
Which Side of the Shinkansen To Sit on To See Mt. Fuji?
Now, why would you want to reserve your seat? There are a few good reasons. If you have travel companions, you might want to make sure you don’t get separated from them. Maybe you don’t like the ambiguity of not having a seat assigned and you’d rather just pay a little more to not be stressed. Or maybe you’re one of the hundreds of people who have typed this into Google: “Which side of the Shinkansen should I sit on if I want to see Mt. Fuji?”
If you don’t know, now you know: the Shinkansen route between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto is perfect for getting a great view of Mt. Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain (and active volcano!). But you need to be sitting on the correct side of the train. This is why you’ll probably want a reserved seat if this is important to you.
And the answer is that sitting on the D & E side of the Shinkansen is how you can ensure you’ll be on the Mt. Fuji side, regardless of which direction you’re going — whether to Tokyo, or from Tokyo. That’s because the Shinkansen train doesn’t turn around when reaching its destination. Instead, the seats rotate 180 degrees so that passengers are always facing the direction of travel. And that means that the same side of the train is always closer to Mt. Fuji.
However, Mt. Fuji tends to make its own clouds. So we weren’t actually able to see it at all during our train ride. 🥲
Getting the Cheapest Shinkansen Tickets: Why Klook May Not Be the Best Option
When it was time to book our tickets, my first instinct was to use Klook. If you haven’t used Klook before, it’s a third-party booking app, similar to Viator or GetYourGuide. However, from my understanding, it offers a lot more in Asia compared to the other two.
Klook is very user-friendly with a simple interface, so it wasn’t hard for me to start the process of trying to book my Shinkansen tickets with them. I put in my dates, my destination, and then went through most of the booking process… before realizing that things were starting to add up to a level that I thought was slightly ridiculous.
Not only were the reserved tickets more expensive — which made sense — but there was an extra fee to sit on the Mt. Fuji side of the train. (Remember… you might not even be able to see it!)
I was willing to pay it, but I decided to do a little bit more research to see whether this was really the best price available.
My next stop was the actual Japanese Rail website. It’s definitely not quite as user friendly — you have to make an account to even start searching for trips, and you have to enter your credit card information in order to register as well. However, for me, it ended up being well worth it. I was able to book the same Shinkansen tickets as Klook was offering, for $40 USD cheaper!
The actual price was ¥27,540, which on the day of booking was $186.46 USD. I was able to book it with my CapitalOne VentureX card, which has no foreign transaction fees, so I paid in yen and got the best exchange rate directly into USD.
Also, there was no additional fee for selecting your own seat. When you go through the booking process, you select “Smart EX” Ordinary Seats, and then you’ll be taken to a map where you can choose the D & E side for your view of Mt. Fuji. 🙂
Still Prefer to Buy Shinkansen Tickets with Klook?
If you’re a big Klook fan, or you just feel more comfortable buying your tickets there, no judgement! And in fact, I have a trick to help you save money on your Shinkansen booking with Klook as well.
Go through all the same steps as you would normally, but before checkout, there’s one last thing you should do. Go up in the top right corner and change your currency to JPY — Japanese yen.
Instead of the $227.86 USD, it came out to ¥29,337 — which converts to $198.62. Savings of nearly $30 USD! As long as you have a credit card with no foreign transaction fees, you should have no problem booking your tickets in yen and taking advantage of the cheaper ticket price.
Alright, there you have it! That’s all you need to know about getting the cheapest Shinkansen tickets, no matter which platform you choose for booking.
We’re just getting started with our trip, so lots more to come! In the meantime, what questions do you have about booking your Shinkansen tickets? Do you have any other tips or tricks? (I am far from an expert Japan traveler, so I’d love to hear any advice you have!) Let me know in the comments.
-Cathy
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