Travel: Trains in Japan

Trains in Japan – it’s the best and fastest way to travel over the four major islands. Speaking of islands, did you know Japan has more than 14,000 islands?! That’s wild.

Okay, confession time – I actually Googled countries with the most islands and Canada is third! Guess how many island Canada has? Take that number and double it, at least – we have more than 52,000 islands – I had no idea! Alright, back to trains.

Tips for Trains in Japan

A few tips before we take a peek at the photos.

For the best deals, look at least 28 days in advance (there are special fares for 28-21 days out).
Use the EX app if you can – or the Smart EX site.
If you’re passing Mount Fuji, book seats D and E for the best view.
Bring food, it’s perfectly acceptable to eat on the Shinkansen.
You only need to be on the platform about 7-10 minutes before your train is set to depart.
Utilize virtual passes as they update with boarding locations.

I’d say the biggest tip above is booking early and then having snacks. The seats all adjust and face forward, so you don’t need to worry that you’ll be facing the wrong way – all good there.

Trains in Japan

We rode the NOZOMI on our first train ride. It was smooth and fast. Took us 2 hours and 14 minutes to get from Tokyo to Kyoto, which if we drove would have taken just under 7 hours. And to fly, with airport security and travel time, it would have taken about 4 hours for the 1 hour and 5 minute flight.

The trains in Japan are fast!

If you board in Tokyo, like we did, there are attendants that’ll pop on (see the staff in the blue and grey uniform above) and tidy the car, flipping all the seats to the proper direction. They’re so fast, too. Very little downtime between stops.

There’s also plenty of room for you bags – the racks above our heads are massive and hold even the large checked bags. We didn’t worry about space at all, not like on an airplane.

From Kyoto to Osaka we took the HIKARI and that trip was 14 minutes. Just one stop.

On the way back we took the NOZOMI again from Osaka to Tokyo and then dashed all the way to the other side of Tokyo Station to catch the train to the airport. It took us about 20 minutes to get from one side to the other. It’s a massive, ramen filled, station!

Well, there you have it, the Shinkansen or the bullet train.

I would love it if there was a high-speed train from Edmonton (say, the airport) to Calgary and/or Banff. Could you imagine? A trip from the Edmonton to Banff is about 4 hours, and on this train it would be about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Yes, that would be awesome!

Happy travelling.