What is Shinkansen? The basic information about shinkansen.

What is Shinkansen?

The Shinkansen is a national network of fast "bullet trains" run by Japan Railways. The name Shinkansen (新幹線) means "new trunk line" in Japanese.

Shinkansen network covers most of the big cities across Japan with 2,764 km (1,717 miles) of train tracks, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The maximum speed of Shinkansen is 240 to 320 km/h (150 to 200 mph) depending on cars and lines.

Shinkansen is the most popular transportation to travel within Japan, such as from Tokyo to Kyoto and Shin-Osaka to Tokyo.

Train type

There are several train types for each line, depending on a number of stops. The fastest train stops only at major cities while others stop most or all stations.

For the most popular line, Tokaido Shinkansen, Nozomi train is the fastest one which stops at major stations, such as Tokyo, Shinagawa, Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. Hikari train stops more stations and Kodama stops all stations.

Seat type

Shinkansen seats are available in four levels:

• Unreserved seat
• Reserved seat
• Green Reserved seat
• GranClass seat

Unreserved and Reserved seats are ordinary seats. Green Reserved seat is like business class seats which have more space. GranClass seat is available only for Hokuriku and Tohoku Shinkansen. This seat is like first class seats.

More information about Shinkansen, please check here.