FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at Shinkansen Ticket.com

Since you need to have "physical tickets" to ride Shinkansen, shipping information is required in order for us to ship your tickets (There are no "e-tickets" for Shinkansen).

You can choose from the following options to receive your tickets:

Option 1) Shipping to your accommodation in Japan - Hotel, Airbnb, or your friends home address

Option 2) Pick up at one of the post offices in Japan below

 - Tokyo Central Post Office (located next to Tokyo station - open 24hours)

 - Kyoto Central Post Office (located next to Kyoto station - Business Hours: 9:00 - 21:00 weekdays / 9:00 - 19:00 weekends)

 - Mielparque Osaka Post Office (5 min. walk from Shin-Osaka station - Business Hours: 9:00 - 17:00 weekdays only

 - Narita International Airport Terminal 1 Post Office (Business Hours: 8:30 - 20:00 daily)

 - Narita International Airport Terminal 2 Post Office (Business Hours: 8:30 - 20:00 daily)

Option 3) International shipping - Your home address in your country (this option requires additional payment for international shipping)

Please refer to the sections given below for the details of these options.

No, you need to have "physical tickets" to ride Shinkansen and there are "no e-tickets" for Shinkansen.

We will ship your tickets to your hotel a week prior to your check-in date (should be delivered to your hotel within a day or two) so that you can collect them upon checking in at your hotel in Japan.

You will be asked to fill in the following information on the form after you add your ticket items to the cart.

1) your hotel name  2) check in date  3) full name used for reservation 

There are no additional charge for shipping tickets to hotels in Japan.

Yes, we can ship your tickets to your apartment address at Airbnb accommodation.

We usually ship your tickets in an envelope a day after your check in so that you can receive them directly from the mailbox.

However, please be aware that sending tickets to Airbnb has higher risk of not being able to be delivered to the right person (you) if you don't check the environment of where you stay properly.

We do not take any responsibility for troubles regarding ticket delivery at Airbnb (apartment) address, so please be sure that you check following conditions thoroughly with your Airbnb host beforehand.

1) You have permission from your host to use the mailbox of the place while you stay (an envelope with tickets inside will be dropped into the mailbox of the apartment). 

2) Only you (or the host) can open the mailbox so that no other guests at Airbnb can pick up the tickets sent to you from the mailbox

3) The address information you give us is correct including the name of the host and your room number, if any. If no matching name or room number is available, the tickets will not be delivered correctly

In case you cannot receive your tickets at your Airbnb accommodation, please consider receiving your tickets by picking up at Tokyo Central Post Office (if you depart from Tokyo station) or International Shipping.

Yes, we can ship your tickets to your friend's house.

Please fill in your friend's name and address on the form where name of the hotel is asked (will be shown after you add your ticket items to the cart), or leave the form blank and simply email us with the information after you completed your order.

We do not take any responsibility for troubles of not being able to receive tickets at the address where tickets are sent to, so please make sure that you give us the full address including a room number (if any) and your friend is aware that there will be a parcel delivered from Shinkansen-Ticket.com.

Yes, we can ship your tickets to any offices located in Japan.

Please fill in your company name, address, and the name of the person who can receive the tickets on the form where information of the hotel is asked (will be shown after you add your ticket items to the cart), or leave the form blank and simply email us with the information after you completed your order.

We do not take any responsibility for troubles of not being able to receive tickets at address where tickets are sent to, so please make sure that the person who receives tickets is aware that there will be a parcel delivered from Shinkansen-Ticket.com.

To Hotels:

We will ship your tickets to your hotel a week prior to your check-in date (should be delivered to your hotel within a day or two) so that you can collect them upon checking in.
If your order is made less than a week prior to your check in date, then we will send your tickets as soon as we purchase your tickets (usually this can be done within a day after your order).

To Post Offices:

We will ship your tickets to your selected post office a week prior to your pick up date.
If your order is made less than a week prior to your pick up date, then we will send your tickets as soon as we purchase your tickets (usually this can be done within a day after your order).

To Airbnb accommodation:

We will ship your tickets to be delivered a day after your check in (so that you can pick up the tickets from the mailbox of your room).
Please let us know if there is any specific date you want your tickets to be sent, by filling in a date on the form where check in date is asked (will be shown after you add your ticket items to the cart).

To your friends home / To your branch office in Tokyo:

Please let us know when you want your tickets to be delivered, by filling in a date on the form where check in date is asked (will be shown after you add your ticket items to the cart).

Please visit the post office counter during their business hours with your ID (e.g. passport) with you.

Please refer to the links below for the location and business hours of the post offices where you can collect your tickets from.

 - Tokyo Central Post Office (located next to Tokyo station - open 24hours)

 - Kyoto Central Post Office (located next to Kyoto station - Business Hours: 9:00 - 21:00 weekdays / 9:00 - 19:00 weekends)

 - Mielparque Osaka Post Office (5 min. walk from Shin-Osaka station - Business Hours: 9:00 - 17:00 weekdays only

 - Narita International Airport Terminal 1 Post Office (Business Hours: 8:30 - 20:00 daily)

 - Narita International Airport Terminal 2 Post Office (Business Hours: 8:30 - 20:00 daily)

 - Other Post Offices (You can search the location of post offices in Japan here)

Also, you will be asked to present your ID (e.g. passport) in order to receive your tickets at post office so please be ready.

Yes, we can ship your tickets to your home address in your country via Express Mail Service (EMS).

Please refer to International Shipping Page for purchasing international shipping. The shipping cost varies by country.

We will send you a delivery notice email with your EMS tracking number when your tickets are shipped, and you can track your delivery status after the shipment at the link below.

Confirmation of Outbound EMS Mail

IMPORTANT: 

Though we are responsible for shipping after accepting your order, we will not hold responsible in case you cannot receive tickets because of custom/delivery delay, your absence, etc.

We recommend you to allow more than two weeks prior to your departure to Japan, as sometimes it takes longer than the standard delivery time due to delays in the custom process.

Please refer to International Shipping Page for the price of international shipping. The shipping cost varies by country.

Please refer to the link below offered by Japan Post for the standard delivery time to your country.
https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/deli_days/ems/kanto_en.html

We recommend you to allow more than two weeks prior to your departure to Japan, as sometimes it takes longer than the standard delivery time due to delays in the custom process.

We will ship your tickets on the day we purchase your tickets.

Please note that Shinkansen tickets can only be purchased one month prior to departure date (it is a regulation by Japan Railway).

If you order your tickets well in advance (more than a month earlier), the shipping will be made one month prior to your departure date at the earliest (ex. tickets will be shipped on March 16 at the earliest if your departure date is April 15).

If you order your tickets less than a month prior to your departure date, we will ship your tickets on the day we purchase your tickets (usually within a day after your order).

We recommend you to allow more than two weeks prior to your departure to Japan, as sometimes it takes longer than the standard delivery time due to delays in the custom process.

Yes, you will find your EMS (Express Mail Service) tracking number in the delivery notice email we send you when shipping is completed. 

You can track your delivery status after shipment at the link below.

Confirmation of Outbound EMS Mail

Please refer to From Purchase To Delivery Page for our service process.

Normally, it arrives with in 5 minutes. If you cannot receive the email, causes may include the following:

- Wrong E-mail address was entered.

- You stopped operation before confirmation page of the contents of your booking.

- Trouble on the line between providers.

- Your receiver mail server recognize the email as a spam - Please check your spam folder and recycle bin.

- You have set anti-spam filtering on your mobile - Please set the filtering to receive emails from "info@shinkansen-ticket.com".

Please email us to info@shinkansen-ticket.com or use contact form from the Contact Page to let us know if we have not received your confirmation email.

Yes, please refer to our cancellation policy below:

Please send us an email at info@shinkansen-ticket.com with your order number if you wish to cancel your order.

Before the shipment of tickets:

100% Refund - Cancellation made more than 30 days prior to departure (including the departure date)

90% Refund - Cancellation made between 29 - 4 days prior to departure (including the departure date)

No Refund - Cancellation made less than 3 days prior to departure (including the departure date)

After the shipment* of tickets:

No refund is available once the tickets have been shipped

*shipment is usually made a week before your check in date

A refund will be made to the credit card account used to purchase the ticket.

No, you cannot return or get refund from us once we have shipped your tickets.

If your travel plan changes, please visit a ticket desk at any JR train station with your ticket and ask for change.

There is no limit time frame to order in advance. You can order as soon as you fix your trip schedule to Japan, even it is more than a year ahead!

However, an order should be made by three days prior to your departure date (for shipping to any designated address in Japan) since there will be no enough time for tickets to be delivered to you if you order less than two days before departure.

For international shipping, we recommend you order more than two weeks prior to your departure to Japan.

Yes, if you have any seating request such as “window seat”, "very last row seat", please let us know by filling in your request on the form where any request is asked (will be shown after you add your ticket items to the cart), or simply email us after you completed your order.

Please note that there is a possibility that we cannot meet your request especially on the peak seasons or when order is made at the last minute. 

For reserved seat, child fare for children of 6-11 years old is available. Please choose "CHILDREN (6-11 YEARS OLD)" in the ticket item page.

If you have children under 5 years old who needs his/her own reserved seat, then you need to purchase "CHILD (6-11 YEARS OLD)" seat for him/her.

You don't need to purchase ticket for 5 years old and under if you are going to put him/her on your lap for the whole train ride.

For unreserved seat, children under age of 5 can travel free of charge.

Please visit official JR page at http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/types.html for further information.

In the confirmation email, departure date, departure/arrival time and station names are mentioned for the reserved tickets (only departure date and station names are mentioned for the unreserved tickets).

Your car/seat number will not be mentioned in the confirmation email but they will be printed in your ticket.

If you need to know your seat number before receiving tickets, please email us to info@shinkansen-ticket.com or use contact form from the Contact Page to let us know. 

There is no price table that you can see at a glance.

Please look at each train item page in our website and check prices.

For example, you can check our prices from Tokyo to Kyoto by Shinkansen at the page below. 
https://shinkansen-ticket.com/collections/from-tokyo/products/shinkansenticket-tokyo-kyoto

Please note that our ticket prices include handling fee and domestic shipping fee.

If you would like us to ship internationally, outside Japan, please purchase our international shipping service per shipping from below.
https://shinkansen-ticket.com/collections/international-shipping 

You can pay by your PayPal account or your credit/debit card directly.

If you choose PayPal as a payment option, you will be directed to PayPal payment page.

We accept following major credit cards:

- VISA

- MASTER CARD

- AMERICAN EXPRESS

Yes, your receipt will be delivered along with your tickets.

Our cancellation policy is as follows:

Before the shipment of tickets:

100% Refund - Cancellation made more than 30 days prior to departure (including the departure date)

90% Refund - Cancellation made between 29 - 4 days prior to departure (including the departure date)

No Refund - Cancellation made less than 3 days prior to departure (including the departure date)

After the shipment* of tickets:

No refund is available once the tickets have been shipped

*shipment is usually made a week before your check in date

A refund will be made to the credit card account used to purchase the ticket.

We will send you tickets of English version in which your train name, car number, seat number and departure/arrival station names are written in English so basically you won't have any trouble reading your tickets.

Please visit official JR page at https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/examining.html for the details on how to read tickets.

If you have a child fare ticket, please check the following post; How to Distinguish Between Adult and Child Ticket

Yes, in most cases you can change the your departure date and time before departure time printed on the ticket

*Restriction may apply for some trains/stations.

Please visit a ticket desk at any JR train station with your ticket and ask if they can change date/time for you.

No, we nor JR can reissue tickets. 

It is your responsibility to keep your tickets carefully. Any problems that occur after delivery is made is the responsibility of the customer.

If your ticket's origin/destination says "City Zone," your Shinkansen tickets include local train rides within big cities before/after riding Shinkansen on the same date. 

These "City Zones" are valid to Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, Kita-Kyusyu and Fukuoka. 

For example, you can start using your Shinkansen ticket from any stations like Shibuya or Shinjuku in central Tokyo area, use local JR train to Tokyo station, ride Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka station, then switch again to local JR train to any station within central Osaka area.

If you are interested in purchasing Japan Rail Pass, please visit Japan JR Pass website which is also owned by us!

Go to Japan Rail Pass website >

Please note that YOU CANNOT RESERVE YOUR SEATS BEFORE ARRIVING IN JAPAN if you are using the pass. Please refer to the pages below for further information.

http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/purchase.html

https://japan-jr-pass.com/blogs/jr-pass/3-things-to-check-before-you-purchase-japan-rail-pass

For reserved seat, if you have children under 5 years old who needs his/her own reserved seat, then you need to purchase "CHILD (6-11 YEARS OLD)" seat for him/her.

You don't need to purchase ticket for 5 years old and under if you are going to put him/her on your lap for the whole train ride.

For unreserved seat, children under age of 5 can travel free of charge.

Please visit official JR page at http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/types.html for further information.

You can check the latest train status information from the official website provided by each JR company.
Some websites don't show the information in details, so we recommend you to go to the JR station directly to find the latest information and make any changes to your ticket if needed.

JR Central (Tokaido Shinkansen: Tokyo - Kyoto - Shin-Osaka)
http://traininfo.jr-central.co.jp/en/

JR West (Sanyo Shinkansen: Shin-Osaka - Okayama - Hiroshima - Hakata)
http://global.trafficinfo.westjr.co.jp/en/sanyo
https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/

JR East
(Tohoku Shinkansen: Tokyo - Sendai - Akita - Shin-Aomori - Shin-Hakodate Hokuto)
(Hokuriku Shinkansen: Tokyo - Karuizawa - Nagano - Toyama - Kanazawa)
http://traininfo.jreast.co.jp/train_info/e/service.aspx

The JR East also provides a telephone-based service for non-Japanese customers. Information is provided in English, Chinese and Korean. 
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/customer_support/infoline.html

Please visit the official information provided by JR below for ticket refund rules in case your reserved train is cancelled or delayed due to accident, earthquake, bad weather (typhoon, heavy rain, heavy snow, etc.), or any other circumstances.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/changes.html
(Please refer to the "Train cancelations and delays" section)

Yes, please contact JR (Japan Railway) lost and found number below directly:

JR Central - For Shinkansen operates between: Tokyo - Kyoto - Shin-Osaka 
+81-50-3772-3910 (or 050-3772-3910 from Japan)

Please press "3" while the guidance (in Japanese) is in operation. The operator will answer in Japanese, but there is an English speaking operator standing by, so please talk to the operator in English and ask for English translation. 

JR East - For Shinkansen operates between: Tokyo - Karuizawa - Nagano - Kanazawa / Tokyo - Sendai - Shin-Hakodate Hokuto

+81-50-2016-1603 (English, Chinese and Korean) (or 050-2016-1603 from Japan)
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/customer_support/infoline.html

Most of shinkansen depart on time. Being at the platform 5 minutes before the departure time should be okay.

However, since stations where Shinkansen stops are very complicated with many platforms, we recommend to be at the station at least 30 minutes prior to your departure time.

Usually, you can get on your train 5~10 minutes prior to your departure time.

You can still use your ticket in unreserved seat (in an unreserved cabin) of later trains on the same day without reissuing tickets* or visiting a ticket counter.

Please visit a ticket desk at the JR station if you need further assistance.

*Restriction may apply to some trains and tickets.

Please ask station staff if you find anything unclear at the station.

We keep updating our routes. However, we have not completed to cover all routes.

If you can not find the one you are looking for, please contact us from the contact form. We are happy to create new routes upon your request.

Yes, in most cases you can. Please visit a ticket desk at the JR station to change your seat assignment.

*Restriction may apply for some trains.

However, you may not be able to change your seat depending on your schedule. Trains depart in the morning, evening and peak seasons are often booked full in an early stage.

If you are a group of more than 2 people, your seats will be arranged together, so you don't need to ask us to request for seats next to each other. 

We will inform you separately only in case we cannot arrange seats together.

If you are a group of more than 4 people, we recommend you to purchase tickets 30 days in advance so that we can arrange your seats together. 

Yes. Basically, we reserve seats at non-smoking cars as many trains have non-smoking cars only.

There is a seat designed for wheelchair in some of the cabins in Shinkansen and some Express train where the actual seat is removed for a wheelchair to be parked (and the one regular seat next to it is also booked for that person, so he/she can either be seated in the wheelchair for the whole ride or can be seated in the regular seat).

The price will be the same as the regular reserved seats (there is no seats designed for wheelchair in Green reserved, so please choose to take regular reserved).

Please leave a note at the comment field that you request for a seat for wheelchair when you place an order so that we can arrange your seats accordingly.

Yes, there are spaces above your seats where you can put small to medium sized items (such as carry-on luggage and coats).
However, please remember that the spaces are limited, especially during busy times. 

There's no charge for taking luggage on Shinkansen rides.
To be specific, each passenger can bring up to 2 pieces of luggage with less than 30 kg and shorter than 250 cm three dimensions (length should not be more than 200 cm).

Small to medium size items (such as carry-on luggage and coats) can be placed on the overhead rail.

There are some space to put bigger luggage in each cabin in Hokuriku Shinkansen (connects between Tokyo - Nagano - Kanazawa).

For other Shinkansen such as Tokaido Shinkansen (connects between Tokyo - Nagoya - Kyoto- Shin-Osaka - Shin-Kobe - Hiroshima - Hakata), there is some space where you can put big luggage (size of check-in luggage) behind the very last row seat. This space can be used by any passengers.

Please request for the very last row seats upon placing order if you have huge luggage. We will be happy to arrange seats at the very last row*.

*The number of these seats is very limited so we recommend you to book well in advance.

You can take a bike on the Shinkansen, but it needs to be covered up fully with a type of bag designated by JR (Japan Railways) with the limit on the size below.

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Each passenger can bring up to 2 pieces of luggage with less than 30 kg and shorter than 250 cm three dimensions (length should not be more than 200 cm).   - from JR official page

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Please ask JR directly for further details.

Yes, you can both eat and drink in Shinkansen (Shinkansen tickets do not include meal services).

There are on board sales in Shinkansen, but selection there is very limited.

It is recommended that you buy foods/drinks at the departure station where there is a larger selection of bento boxes and other foods/drinks.

Yes, most of the Shinkansen have three choices (marked in Japanese and English).

1. "Western Style" sit down toilets (also ones for handicapped)

2. "Japanese Style" toilets

3. Urinals for men.