2024-2025 Year-End Shinkansen Reservation System Changes
From December 27, 2024, to January 5, 2025, all seats on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen "Nozomi" services will be reserved seating only, and unreserved seating will not be available.
This change is being implemented to address the anticipated congestion during the year-end holiday season. All "Nozomi" trains will operate with reserved seating during this period.
Based on past experiences, during major holidays like the year-end period, reserved seats tend to fill up quickly, leading to long waits for unreserved seating and potential delays during boarding and disembarking. As a result, all "Nozomi" services will operate with reserved seating only during the year-end period.
Other Shinkansen services, such as "Hikari," "Kodama," "Mizuho," and "Sakura," will continue to offer unreserved seating as usual. However, these trains are expected to be heavily crowded due to limited availability.
Plan Ahead for Your 2024-2025 Year-End Shinkansen Travel!
With this announcement, it is expected that reserved seat reservations for the Shinkansen will be in high demand, so securing your tickets early is more important than ever.
If you're planning to travel to Japan during the year-end period, we recommend booking your Shinkansen tickets with us as soon as possible!
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