Hello everyone!
For those who doesn’t know what a shinkansen is, please read on our blog “my first shinkansen ride”.
One of the question we got quite often is, what is the different between Shinkansen ordinary car and green car? If you buy JR Pass, the gap of price is pretty big. You would want to know, is it worth it? Should I just stick with ordinary car?
For your reference, this is the price list for JR pass 7 days
Ordinary car 29,110 yen
Green car 38,880 yen
(Updated on July 2015, price in local currency depends on exchange rate. Please contact your local H.I.S. office)
Today I have the answer for you.
Many people misunderstood that Green car is some kind of eco-friendly car as the name might suggest it.
Easily speaking, green car is business class and ordinary car is economy class. There is more leg room on green car and the seats are of course more comfortable.
Last weekend, I made a trip to Kyoto by Shinkansen and had a chance to ride on a green car. Definitely it’s more comfortable comparing to ordinary car.
Please note that there is an additional cost for upgrade, 1,500 yen for Kodama train – if you don’t have JR pass. For Nozomi or mizuho, it’s more expensive to upgrade price is around 6,000-7,000 yen)
Green car
Ordinary car
For your reference, please visit JR website;
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/types.html
Please check the fare for single ticket and upgrade price here;
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/charge/index.html
Shinkansen is generally very clean. I’m impressed every time I ride on one. There is plenty of leg room on the ordinary car. Perhaps the seats is even bigger than those on the planes. Trip by shinkansen is fast, effective and always on time. By Nozomi (the fastest of all 3), it only take 2.30 hrs from Tokyo to Kyoto and about 4 hours by Kodama.
Please noted that if you have JR pass, you can’t take Nozomi or Mizuho shinkansen which are the fastest types. The speed is the same but Nozomi makes fewer stops thus it gets you to the destination faster.
Shinkansen toilet
that’s all from me today.
See you next blog!
For optional tour reservation and inquiry, please contact tic-tokyo@his-world.com or visit one of our Tourist information center in Tokyo.
"Travel Happy" Japan Travel Blog 
Thank you very much for the beautiful photos !
I see now why it is not advised to travel with your suitcase: there is no room for them (by the way, are suitcases even allowed on these trains?).
I have to say that I was really disappointed by the quality of the green cars as they looked really plain and, in my opinion, do not justify the difference in price.
Is there free WiFi on board ?
I didn’t see any toilet paper in the bathroom, are those the famous Japanese “magic” toilets that clean your butt, by any chance 🙂
I didn’t know you could use the JR Pass on shinkansens also, thank you for the information. However, the Nozomi & Mizuho are the trains that leave and arrive at the best hours so it is really a pain that we can’t use the JR pass discount on those trains.
Also, I was told that late trains are filled with drunk people and the cars stink of alcohol, is that true ?
Thank you !
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I see now why it is not advised to travel with your suitcase: there is no room for them (by the way, are suitcases even allowed on these trains?).
>> I travel with suitcase everytime and I have no problem. I always store them in front of my seat. Unless you have a super giant suitcase, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I have to say that I was really disappointed by the quality of the green cars as they looked really plain and, in my opinion, do not justify the difference in price.
Is there free WiFi on board ?
>> Green car is different from train to train. Since I took Kodama and the train is quite old, the interior is also very old. If you take a look at The interior of an E5 Green Car, it’s almost equal to first class on the plane.
Wifi is available on some trains although I have never used it.
I didn’t see any toilet paper in the bathroom, are those the famous Japanese “magic” toilets that clean your butt, by any chance
>> No, it doesn’t clean your butt. you still have to wipe it by toilet paper.
You don’t see toilet paper here because it is located somewhere out of range of my photo.
I didn’t know you could use the JR Pass on shinkansens also, thank you for the information. However, the Nozomi & Mizuho are the trains that leave and arrive at the best hours so it is really a pain that we can’t use the JR pass discount on those trains.
>> Nozomi and Mizuho tickets are almost double the price of Kodama since you need to add the express fare to the ticket. JR pass 7 days only cost 29,xxx yen. You can only ride on round trip ticket from Tokyo to Osaka with that price.
It’s already a bargain to have JR pass.
Also, I was told that late trains are filled with drunk people and the cars stink of alcohol, is that true ?
>> I really can’t comment on that. But yes, it is very likely. At least the possibility is higher than if you take an afternoon train.
hope this answer your questions!
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Excellent news, thank you very much for the added info.
I can see now how much of a bargain this JR Pass is and will surely check with the H.I.S in my country about this before making the the trip to Japan.
And I look forward to experiencing the famous Japanese bullet trains first-hand.
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Do you know the situation for snowboard bags on these trains? I’m going from Tokyo to Neisko, I can’t wait!
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