Guides · Fri 23 Oct 2026
The shinkansen, line by line
Nine lines, one network, and a logic to which line does what. The way to read Japan's bullet trains before you plan a single journey.
The shinkansen is not one railway but a family of lines built over sixty years, each answering a different geography. Read the network by line and the whole country becomes legible: where the festivals cluster, which journeys are quick hops and which are expeditions, and when a flight beats the train.
HokkaidoTohokuAkitaYamagataJoetsuHokurikuTokaidoSanyoKyushuNishi Kyushu
The lines are drawn station to station over the real map; the route between stations is simplified. The national Japan Rail Pass covers every line shown; Nozomi and Mizuho trains, the fastest on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines, need a special supplement ticket.
The spine: Tokaido and Sanyo
The Tokaido line, Tokyo to Shin-Osaka by way of Nagoya and Kyoto, is the busiest high-speed railway on earth and the axis of most first trips. The Sanyo line continues it west: Kobe, Okayama, Hiroshima, then down to Hakata in Fukuoka. Together they put Japan's greatest hits on one string, two to four hours apart at most. The fastest services, Nozomi on these lines, are the ones the national rail pass treats specially: pass holders ride them only with a supplement ticket.
North: Tohoku and Hokkaido
The Tohoku line runs from Tokyo through Sendai and Morioka to Shin-Aomori, serving the north's great summer festivals and its ski country feeders. At Shin-Aomori the Hokkaido line takes over through the Seikan Tunnel to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, the current end of the line; Sapporo is a limited express onward until the extension is finished. Two branches matter to festival-goers: the Akita line from Morioka, and the Yamagata line from Fukushima.
The snow routes: Joetsu and Hokuriku
The Joetsu line crosses the mountains to Niigata, through the tunnel country that feeds the Yuzawa ski fields. The Hokuriku line, Tokyo to Tsuruga via Nagano, Toyama and Kanazawa, is the connoisseur's route: castle towns, sake country and the Japan Sea coast, and the fastest way to Kanazawa from the capital.
The south: Kyushu and Nishi Kyushu
From Hakata the Kyushu line runs down the island's spine to Kumamoto and Kagoshima-Chuo, the gateway to the south's volcanoes and island ferries. The short Nishi Kyushu line branches to Nagasaki. Kyushu's fastest service, Mizuho, carries the same pass supplement rule as Nozomi.
Three rules that save trips
Reserve seats at festival time. Many services are all-reserved or fill their unreserved cars early on event weekends; reserving is free with the pass and takes a minute at a machine or counter. Mind the luggage rule. On the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines, bags with total dimensions between 160 and 250 centimetres need a seat with oversized baggage space, booked in advance; smaller bags go in the rack as normal. Change at the right Tokyo station. Tokyo Station for the north and the Tokaido, Shinagawa if you are coming from Haneda or staying on the south side; the two are six minutes apart and mixing them up costs more than that.
More reading on the articles page, or go straight to the events calendar.