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The story
On the 16th, JR Central and JR West announced that they will raise reserved-seat limited express fares for the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen’s “Nozomi” and “Mizuho” services starting July 1, 2027. The Tokyo–Shin-Osaka fare will rise ¥700 to ¥15,420, and the Tokyo–Nagoya fare will rise ¥580 to ¥11,880. Unreserved-seat fares and “Hikari”/”Kodama” fares remain unchanged. Aside from consumption-tax adjustments, this is the first fare hike since Nozomi’s 1992 debut, and starting that December, Green Car (first-class) fares will also rise sharply. On 5ch, opinions split over the congestion balance between Nozomi and Hikari, and over the real motive behind the Green Car fare hike.
On the 16th, JR Central and JR West announced that they will raise the reserved-seat limited express fares for the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen’s “Nozomi” and “Mizuho” services starting July 1, 2027. The standard-car reserved-seat fare for Tokyo–Shin-Osaka will rise by ¥700 to ¥15,420. The companies say this reflects service improvements and rising costs amid inflation.
According to JR Central, aside from consumption-tax adjustments, this marks the first fare hike for Nozomi on the Tokaido Shinkansen since its 1992 debut. The Tokyo–Nagoya fare will rise by ¥580 to ¥11,880. Unreserved-seat fares will stay as they are. Reserved and unreserved fares for “Kodama,” “Hikari,” and other services will not be revised.
Green Car fares will also go up starting in December 2027, rising ¥2,510 for Tokyo–Nagoya and ¥3,000 for Tokyo–Shin-Osaka. The Green Car fare increase applies across all train types, whether Nozomi, Hikari, or otherwise.
Source: 47news.jp / Original article here
What people said
The 2-seat row becomes 3 seats, and the 3-seat row gets bumped up to a whopping 5!
I rode the Shinkansen recently, and in a situation like this, you'd normally just swap seats, right?
Some oblivious idiot who couldn't take a hint ruined what was supposed to be a fun trip.
★me ◆stranger | | ●wife
Asked ★: "Would you mind swapping seats with my wife?"
Asked ◆: "Would you mind swapping seats with my wife?"
Asked ●: "Would you mind swapping seats with me?"
Every single one said "no thanks." Unbelievable.
The middle seat in a row of 3 is the worst spot there is — people normally leave it open.
Swapping ◆ with the wife would've worked, or swapping ◆ with ●.
It's probably to weed out the people who don't belong in the Green Car.
What about Supreme Class (JR's ultra-premium car)?
Doing the same thing airlines do, I guess. Not sure the Shinkansen really needs that.
https://asset.watch.impress.co.jp/img/trw/docs/2148/818/05_l.jpg
Dedicated lounges for Supreme Class and Green Car passengers are being rolled out one by one at Nozomi stations.
The shield tunnel boring machine digging from Shinagawa has only cleared about 700 meters of a stretch just under 10km — after 5 years. And right now it's stopped dead because a gear in the shield machine broke.
Still not open as of the year 2199 (a joking way of saying "never").
It still sells out anyway, so raising the price is the right call.
Doesn't matter to me either way — with an unreserved ticket I'll just hang around the decks and aisles filming video like always. If you hate the idea of standing in the aisles once every seat is reserved, just buy a Green Car ticket (aisle access included) and ride Green instead.
"Don't like it? Ride standard class!" — JR Central, probably.
Some politician probably just said, "Hey, the Green Car's packed!" That's probably all it took.
Paris–London is only about as far as Tokyo–Nagoya, but buying full price on the day costs €330 (over ¥50,000).
Depends on the country. The UK and Switzerland are expensive, while Eastern Europe and Russia are cheap. People used to say Germany was cheap too, but with the weak yen it's basically a wash now when you compare.
Compared to the Taiwan High Speed Rail, it's a total rip-off — I'd guess roughly double the price. Though to be fair, Taiwan HSR sells a 3-day unlimited-ride pass for foreign tourists for around ¥10,000.
Just make do with the thick paper oshibori (hot hand towel) and feel fancy, lol 😅
Nobody picks the Green Car for ride comfort. You ride it for the peace of mind that no sketchy people will be sitting next to you.
The Green Car is really about the clientele, isn't it.
They already paid back the tax portion after depreciation. Remember JR Central took on ¥5.5 trillion in debt back in 1988?
That's got nothing to do with JR Central at all.
Have you forgotten they were saddled with a massive debt for track-laying costs at privatization?
Having money doesn't automatically mean good manners, but I guess raising the price filters out at least some people.
Clientele quality is directly proportional to price. Seriously.
No, if people have money, the clientele does get better.
Yeah, I bet it'll get crowded. Shame, since Hikari being empty is exactly what makes it comfortable.
Nozomi's always packed so I try to ride Hikari whenever I can. Boarding from Tokyo, the ones stopping at Shizuoka/Hamamatsu empty out past Hamamatsu, and the ones stopping at Odawara or Toyohashi are usually pretty empty overall.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The fare hike applies only to reserved seats on “Nozomi” and “Mizuho” — reserved-seat fares on “Hikari”/”Kodama” and unreserved fares on all trains stay the same. Since Nozomi began running in 1992, there had never been a fare increase apart from consumption-tax adjustments, an unusually long stretch of price stability for a rail fare. The thread split between those who see the hike as simply reflecting rising costs and inflation, and those who read the roughly 60% jump in Green Car fares as a de facto way to filter out the “wrong” kind of passenger. The effect on the congestion balance between Nozomi and Hikari, plus comparisons with overseas high-speed rail fares, also came up, though since the routes and conditions being compared differ so much, no simple “expensive vs. cheap” conclusion was reached.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “JR Central to Raise Nozomi Reserved Fares — Tokyo–Shin-Osaka Up ¥700 in 2027.”
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