“Is It Worth It?” Green Class Tickets On The Shinkansen Bullet Train

So my Partner loves trains 🙂 . I try to incorporate them into our travel plans as much as I can because he loves them so much.

That has led to some fun adventures, such as taking a sleeper train up the west coast of the US (even though it’s much slower and more expensive 😉 ) and taking trains around Europe this past fall. I also found individual sleeper cars in trains to be a good alternate pandemic travel solution.

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So obviously when my Partner told me that he’d like to join my plan to visit Japan with college friends I wanted bullet trains to be a part of that. In Europe we had experienced the Frecciarossa bullet trains in Italy, which go about 200mph and he enjoyed it so I added bullet trains to our itinerary as our main way of getting around Japan.

I’ve now traveled in Green Class on the Shinkansen bullet train 3 times so want to talk about my overall experience and if shelling out extra money for the Green Class seats is worth it.

Buying A Ticket

Now this was a whole saga 🙂 . Obviously before my trip to Japan I did my research like always and discovered a few things:

1. Bullet Train (called Shinkansen) can only be purchased up to 1 month in advance
2. Expats have not been able to purchase tickets online because of issues with non-Japanese credit cards
3. Booking with 3rd party sites like Klook can lead to problems down the line

When I was in Japan in January I asked around and was told that I should go to Tokyo Station (where the bullet trains leave from in Tokyo) and buy my ticket there a few days before I leave. So that was my plan.

However, after having to look up a multitude of online guides to figure out how to navigate around the giant Tokyo Station, I also wanted to learn how to get these tickets.

I found another very helpful guide with step-by-step instructions and pictures of what to do when using either the Blue or Green ticket kiosks where you can buy bullet train tickets. Here’s the guide:

• How To Purchase Shinkansen Tickets from Ticket Machines in Japan

And here’s exactly what I did. Before I went to Tokyo Station I made note of my train travel days and my ideal arrival and departure times. I was going to travel from Tokyo to Osaka (Station: Shin-Osaka), which takes about 2.5 hours (or 6.5 hours driving on the left side of the road). So I aligned our departure with when we needed to check out of our Airbnb and when our Osaka Airbnb check in started. I made notes of these times and also did the reverse for our return trip.

In Tokyo Station I walked around until I found a hybrid Green/Blue kiosk (I had no idea those existed…) that also said Shinkansen above it. Based on the above guide this was where I could buy bullet train tickets and once I started clicking around I found that to be true. Phew!

So here are the exact steps I took to buy a bullet train ticket:

1. I double checked that the machine didn’t say “Cash Only” above it
2. I then selected “English” as the language
3. I chose a “Reserved” seat
4. I then selected “Green Class“
5. I then chose my Route (Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka)
6. I chose the Date and Time of my train
7. I selected our Seats
8. I then confirmed that I wanted a Roundtrip ticket and chose my exact trains for the return trip

One thing to note that I found confusing and only didn’t fuck up because it was clearly said in the guide above is that when it gives you the option to “Purchase limited express ticket only” do not click that and instead click “Select” under your route. I don’t know why, but it took me a bit to understand that “Select” is what they want me to press in this situation.

Luckily I did it correctly and then selected that I was paying with a credit card and I did so. It then said it was printing 10 things, which I assumed I meant I had fucked something up, but nope! Here is what I received for myself and my Partner:

• (2) Fare Tickets to Shin-Osaka
• (2) Green Class Tickets to Shin-Osaka
• (2) Fare Tickets to Tokyo
• (2) Green Class Tickets to Tokyo
• (2) Receipts

I don’t know why it’s required that you have a normal fare ticket and an additional one to go in another class, but that’s how it worked when I was there. And it was confusing 🙂 , but I got through it.

The Cost

So what did all that cost? There are 3 types of Shinkansen tickets you can buy on the Tokaido train route we were taking:

1. Unreserved
2. Reserved
3. Green Class

Unreserved Seats mean just that – you don’t have an assigned seat and go to specific cars and then try to find one. I have been told that on full trains this could lead to people standing because the seats are full.

I experienced the Unreserved car after my adventure to see Mt. Fuji, which I talked about here:

• Review: Mt. Fuji & Hakone Full-Day Tour From Tokyo, Japan

Reserved Seat cars look just like the Unreserved cars, but you have an assigned seat that you know is yours. This also obviously allows you a guaranteed spot next to your loved ones if you’re not traveling alone. Both of these cars have a 2 seat x 3 seat configuration.

And the last option is Green Class. The Green Class cars (or just “Green Car“) have a 2 seat x 2 seat configuration and look nothing like the (Un)Reserved seat cars. Check it out:

So obviously the main difference is that you get more space on the Green Class car. For one of my routes from Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka here are how the costs for a one way ticket compared:

1. Unreserved: ¥16,600 ($114.08 USD)
2. Reserved: ¥17,450 ($119.92 USD)
3. Green Class: ¥22,000 ($132.53 USD)

So for my route a Reserved car ticket was about $5 USD more than an Unreserved car ticket and a Green Class car ticket was $12.61 USD per person per route more than the regular reserved seat. Not bad at all 🙂 .

Transit To Tokyo Station

As I mentioned, I’ve now taken this train and route multiple time so I’m going to talk about the different ways I got to the my train in Tokyo Station. One was on my way to Kyoto and the other was when I went to Osaka.

Kyoto Edition

I arrived by taxi and told the driver that I was going to “Tokyo Station Shinkansen” because there are multiple entrances that they can drop you off at and that’s the one that’s closest to the bullet train (it’s also called the Yaesu Entrance).

Once I went inside walk I walked straight forward and then followed the Tokaido Shinkansen icon, which is blue and looks like this:

So I ignored things that said “JR”, which is one of the train companies, and just followed the blue icon forward to a ticket kiosk. I put my ticket inside and then it came out the other end after opening the little doors. I then kept my ticket because I will need it when I exit in Kyoto.

Above where the ticket kiosk was there was a giant board that rotates between Japanese and English that told me what platform my train will be on. I continued forward and there was an escalator and stairs on the right that I went up. Then I followed the number of my platform and saw that one side of the hall had escalators going up and other side had them going down, so I went to the up escalator. 

Once on the platform, there were TV screens showing which train is coming to which platform so I could check if I was on the right one. There are also car numbers on your ticket. The car number is very prominent on the ground, and each car entrance has a glass door that slides back, which is where you enter the train.

So I found my car number and waited around there out of the way because people were understandably walking back and forth to and from their trains. Then my train came and cleaners in cute blue uniforms got on the train first to clean it and to turn the chairs around (Cool!). The glass doors closed behind them and then reopened when passengers could board the train.

Then I got on the train, found my seat from the number on my ticket and I was good to go! Then they announced in Japanese and English when you’re approaching different stations. 

Osaka Edition

Of course, this train experience was more complicated 🙂 . Originally, we planned to take an Uber from our Airbnb to Tokyo Station. However when I called one, it took forever.

We waited five or ten minutes and no cars became available to pick us up. So I canceled the ride for free.

Then I tried the Go App for the first time, and that app actually seemed to have a less clear interface than Uber and seemed to have the same problem finding a ride on this random weekday outside rush hour. So I gave up after their estimated time had passed.

Luckily I had planned plenty of time in case something like this happened, so we instead headed to the subway.

Also luckily, we both had Suica Cards so getting on the subway was as easy as tapping on and off at the kiosks to enter and leave the subway station. I’ll be going into all the dirty details in my Japan Slow Travel Review, but I highly recommend getting a Suica card if you’ll be in Tokyo.

It’s a million times easier than buying a ticket incorrectly like I did like 6 times because the Tokyo subway station’s ticket system is the most confusing I’ve seen anywhere in the world. It’s laughable how simple the Suica cards are in comparison and they’re very affordable so save yourself some strife if you’re going, and avoid my mistakes.

We got on the subway and got to Tokyo station without incident. There were escalators everywhere for my partner’s rolly bags, which was great.

Tokyo Station

When we got to Tokyo station, we followed the blue icon for Tokaido Shinkansen. It also said Shinkansen underneath the icon so finding our platform through this labyrinth of a train station wasn’t an issue. The actual challenge was dodging the millions of people rushing around Tokyo Station.

During our adventure following the blue icon, there was only one section where there was no escalator. We had to either get on an elevator or go up some stairs, so we grabbed my Partner’s bags and went up the stairs.

Then we followed more signs to the Tokaido Shinkansen. Interestingly, unlike my experience going to Kyoto, the route we took on this day had a kiosk to get through, like you were entering a subway station.

We had some issues getting through the kiosk because we had two different Shinkansen tickets: a fare ticket and a Green Class ticket. We also saw people tapping their Suica, but that didn’t make sense for us since we had already tapped out of the subway.

So I first tried inserting my Green Class ticket and was blocked from going through. I then tried my Fare Ticket and that worked! So I made a note that getting into Tokyo Station required scanning my fare ticket, but that might not be true everywhere in the station as you’ll see below. #Foreshadowing 😉 .

We then kept following the blue Tokaido Shinkansen icon until we encountered a problem. There was a giant swarm of people glommed together in front of us where the blue icon indicated we needed to go.

Originally we couldn’t figure out why people were standing there and then discovered that it was another ticket kiosk and people were having trouble and not forming lines, but instead just trying to get to the front and scan their personal ticket as soon as possible *deep sigh*. In addition, there were paper signs near the ceiling showing that people with QR codes go to the right side and people with tickets go to the left so we joined the ‘line’ on the left.

Luckily after waiting patiently and having several people cut us in line, we reached the front. I watched the people in front of me put their fare ticket in the machine so I did the same and got the embarrassing sound meaning I did it wrong.

The woman to my right got the same negative sound and there was an employee yelling at people at the kiosks, which I wasn’t sure was a helpful approach 🙂 . To me he yelled “TOGETHER!” which I was confused by, but he gestured to the woman next to me as well so I thought maybe he meant we had to go through the kiosk together for some reason so we tried that and NOPE!

It turns out that he wanted me to put my Green Class ticket on top of my Fare Ticket and insert both into the machine at the same time, which is something I’ve never seen in my life. I had no idea these machines would ever require a stack of tickets, but that worked so alrighty then.

I was also confused because I never had to stack my tickets when I was going on the same Green Class car to Kyoto and I never was stuck when trying to go through a kiosk. Maybe the kiosks are different, but that seems a bit silly to me within the same train station.

Anyway, I didn’t appreciate the yelling, but I assume this is frustrating to have tourists who don’t know how any of this works messing it up – like me 🙂 . So I’ll try to give it a pass though this is definitely the most stressful beginning to a train trip that I’ve ever had.

But luckily we got through and found our way to our platform! There was a small escalator my Partner could use for his bags to get there. Also I had looked on the JR Website that morning to see if it had the platform for our train listed and it did and I was happy to see that that information was accurate after we had arrived.

We were leaving from Platform 16 for the Nozomi 29 train leaving at 11:30am, so we continued following signs to Platform 16. And then we arrived! After that we found our car number and we hung out next to it while being as much out of the way as we could.

Nearby there was also a section where you could sit down inside a glass room. I assume that was mostly used for when it’s cold, but it was hot that day and even hotter in that glass cage of emotion so we stood outside by the platform instead.

Our train arrived 15 minutes early and then the cleaners in their blue uniforms went in to clean and turn seats around so they will be facing forward for our trip. After they went in, the gates closed.

The Journey

A few minutes before our departure time, the gates re-opened and we boarded the train. We then got to our seats and put our luggage on the rack above our seats.

I had previously been worried about fitting my Partner’s large rolly bag in the provided overhead luggage racks, but I checked its measurements and this official website said that it would fit on the overhead rack and didn’t count as Oversized Luggage, which you have to pay extra to store.

The reason I was worried was because its measurements were relatively close to the maximum, and I had never seen a luggage rack big enough to handle this big of a rolly bag. However, it all worked out 🙂 .

We found our seats in Green Class (Seats 3A and 3B) and were able to get my Partner’s bag into the overhead rack without issue. Nice!

And just because it’s my luck, the only kids in the Green Class car were in the seats right behind us. Curiously their parents were across the aisle behind empty seats. Feel free to switch with your kiddos if you’d like 😉 .

Their kids proceeded to somehow kick my seat repeatedly, which is almost impressive given how short their legs are and how much legroom the Green Class car has🤣. Luckily, they settled down after we got going and we were off to our next adventure!

The View

Selecting your exact seats when buying your tickets obviously determines what side of the train you’re on and the view you get to see. During my trip from Tokyo to Kyoto, I sat on the right side of the train and could see Mt. Fuji because it was a pretty clear day. On my way from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, we sat on the left side and could see the seaside of Kanagawa, which was pretty.

Wi-Fi

The train has a prominent sticker at the front of the train car that advertises that they have free Wi-Fi. However, I learned on my trip to Kyoto that it has a catch: it resets every 30 minutes.

They do warn you about that when you’re logging in, but I still found it annoying for a 2.5 hour trip, so when I went to Kyoto, I just used my Google Fi data instead of entering my email and opening an email link 5 times during one train trip.

This time we had some other issues. Strangely my Partner was trying to get back on the Wi-Fi after the 30 minutes and couldn’t. I wasn’t able to in the first place, but it’s always a possibility that that was user error 😉 .

Food

In the seat back pocket there was a menu that had a QR code on it and an explanation that Green Class passengers can use this to have food delivered to you. Fancy!

However (I’m sensing a pattern here), the QR code didn’t work for me or my Partner. It’s possible that was because we weren’t on the train Wi-Fi, but this was when it wasn’t letting us back in so that’s unfortunate, but not a big deal.

I booked Green Class for more legroom and bigger seats so free Wi-Fi and food delivery are fun bonuses, but it wasn’t a big deal if they didn’t work. However, my Partner really wanted a coffee so we found a workaround.

About an hour into the trip, we saw an employee with a tablet who seemed to be delivering food and taking orders, so we flagged her down as she was passing by and tried to explain that the QR code wasn’t working for us and my Partner was able to order an Iced Coffee from her.

The employee came back with his drink quickly and it was ¥420 ($2.89 USD) in cash or IC card (which includes our Suica card), but we paid cash.

Amenities

These seats had even more amenities than I realized, which included the additional legroom, deeply reclining seats, and an adjustable footrest. They also have chargers between the seats, a reading light and a heated seat button on the arm rest. Say whaaat?!

I’ve never experienced a heated seat on a train before and I was super excited about it. My butt had never been as warm and comfy on a train ride 🙂 . Also, there was a tray table that folded down from the seat in front of me and also a smaller one that came out of the seat rest. So fancy!

Shin-Osaka Station

So that was my experience riding the bullet train from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. It completely flew by in a blur of pretty views, a large comfy seat and a heated bum 😉 .

Then we started approaching Shin-Osaka station, which we learned about from an announcement in Japanese and English. So we grabbed our bags and prepared to leave the train.

The train doors opened and we arrived in Osaka right on time. We got off onto our platform, found a down escalator and went towards the exit signs.

We then had to insert both of our tickets stacked on top of each other into the kiosk to leave the train station. So we did that and then went through and followed the sign to the Taxi stand.

When we arrived outside, it looked like the queue for the taxis was all the way around the building so we stood there for a little bit trying to figure out if we should find an alternate way to our Airbnb when a kind stranger in front of us explained that they weren’t in line for a taxi, but just a random line for a tour group or something. Thank you stranger!

So we went around them and saw that the taxi line was actually much more manageable. The line was still pretty long, but it went quickly so it was all good.

However, when we reached the front of the line about 10 minutes later, the line was all the way back to where we originally thought it was – maybe another big train had arrived. Regardless, the line was still moving at a fast clip and there were lots of taxis waiting to take people at 2pm on a Friday so we weren’t waiting for more to pull up or anything.

Also just a heads up that there are actually two taxi lines that are clearly marked with numbers when you get to the front, but less clear far back in line. Line #1 is for vans, which are bigger and more expensive, but that line was empty the whole time we were there if that’s something that interests you. Line #2 was for regular cars. That’s the line we were in.

When we reached the front of the line, we got in the taxi. At this point I had taken a lot of taxis around Japan and this one had a driver and also an assistant who helped with our bags and found the route to our Airbnb on his GPS after I showed him where we wanted to go on my Google Maps app.

I’d never seen that before, but maybe he was a trainee or something? I have no idea, but found it interesting since I hadn’t seen that in any of the taxis I’ve taken in this country before.

A Tokyo Station Ticket Aside

One important thing to note if you’re coming back through Tokyo Station like I did: The ticket machine to leave the Shinkansen section of the station also requires putting in both tickets at once AND it only eats one of them if you have a Green Class ticket.

It will spit back out the other so make sure to grab it unlike I did 🙂 . I thought it ate both and kept walking only to discover I couldn’t get out of the station exit without my other ticket. Luckily I’m neurotic and had kept my receipt so I was able to find an employee office and show them the receipt and they let me through. Phew!

So heads up about that and just keeping your bullet train receipt in general because unlike online purchases there isn’t another way to show you actually bought those tickets.

Is It Worth It?

As my detailed account of fumbling my way through Tokyo Station illustrated, the Green Class experience is the same as the experience for the Unreserved and Reserved cars before I got on the train.

However, once I entered the Green Class car it was totally different. The train car feels more luxurious than the other cars – it has different, warmed lighting and I enjoy its more relaxed colors.

Green Class also obviously has wider seats, more legroom and footrests as well as food delivery and other amenities, such as the heated seat feature that I was freaking out about. Green Class seats are also configured as 2 x 2 instead of the 2 x 3 of the other classes, which I prefer as well.

So to the question of “Is It Worth It?” I would say yes if you want a more calming and luxurious experience with more legroom. If those things are worth an extra $20 USD compared to an Unreserved seat, then I say go for it. Green Class is going to be my choice when riding the Shinkansen going forward for rides over 30 minutes.

Conclusion

And that was my experience riding in the Green Class car on the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train. This just seems like another in a long line of examples where I choose comfort over cost. Instead of getting the cheapest bullet train ticket and being worried about being able to sit next to my Partner and keeping our bags near us, I paid $20 extra and had a lavish experience.

I was very impressed with the Green Class car on these bullet trains and am very surprised that they are so much nicer than the regular cars for such a relatively low cost. In summary, Green Class has completely won me over. To me, it was completely worth it.