The Shinkansen, how I book it for guests
Guests always imagined booking the bullet train would be like booking a flight. It is closer to buying a metro ticket, and the machines speak English.
Where to buy: the green JR ticket machines or the staffed Midori no Madoguchi ticket office at any JR station. The machines have a big English button and take foreign cards. You can also book online, SmartEX covers the Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka line and can put the ticket on your IC card or a QR code, no paper at all.
What you are choosing: Hikari and Nozomi are the fast ones toward Kyoto, Nozomi being the fastest. Then reserved or non-reserved. Outside holiday peaks I put solo guests in non-reserved and never heard a complaint. Couples, families and anyone with a big case, reserved, back-of-car seats if the suitcase is hotel-sized.
The day of, arrive fifteen minutes early, not sixty. Grab an ekiben, a station bento box, and a drink from the platform kiosk, that is half the experience. The train stops at your platform for about a minute, board without drama, it will not wait. Tokyo Station is enormous, follow the blue Shinkansen signs and give yourself ten minutes inside the station itself.
Transferring from a regular train, you do not exit the station, look for the Shinkansen transfer gates, feed in your base ticket plus the Shinkansen ticket together, or tap through if you booked to your IC card.
Do I need to book Shinkansen tickets in advance?
For most trips, no. Trains to Kyoto and Osaka leave every ten minutes or so and the non-reserved cars almost always have room outside holidays. Book ahead for Golden Week, Obon in mid August, New Year, or if you want specific seats together.
Reserved or non-reserved seat, which should I get?
Reserved costs a little more and removes all thinking, you have a printed car and seat number. Non-reserved means the first three or so cars, first come first seated. Traveling as a pair or with luggage, reserve. Solo and flexible, non-reserved is fine.
Can I take a large suitcase on the Shinkansen?
A suitcase over 160cm total dimensions on the Tokaido line needs the seats at the very back of the car with the luggage space behind them, and those must be reserved. A normal carry-on or medium case fits the overhead shelf fine.
Which side of the train sees Mount Fuji?
Heading from Tokyo toward Kyoto, sit on the right side, seat E in the standard layout. About 40 to 45 minutes in, on a clear day, there it is.