“Smart-EX” How to make Online Reservation for Shinkansen 

How to make Online Reservation for Shinkansen with SmartEX site.

Shinkansen, also called bullet train is the convenient way to travel between cities in Japan. The most common route is Tokaido Shinkansen that connects Tokyo and West Japan such as Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka. There are several ways to make online reservation for this route, and today we learn about train operator’s official site/app called Smart EX.

* This contents are for travelers who are NOT getting Japan Rail Pass, and who want to purchase single Shinkansen tickets with your credit card.

You can see this contents on YouTube too.

Shinkansen Lines you can use Smart EX

You can use this SmartEX (or EX site) to make reservations for the three Shinkansen lines Tokaido Shinkansen – Sanyo Shinkansen – Kyushu Shinkansen. These Shinkansen are in direct thourgh service between Tokyo to Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, further to Kagoshima.

You cannot book other Shinkansen lines (mostly going north direction from Tokyo) with this Smart EX site. Shinkansen is owned by 5 different JR companies depends on the region. Therefore, there is no one official site that you can book for all Shinkansen lines in Japan. I know. It’s complicated even for Japanese.

The route you can book with EX site:

• Tokaido Shinkansen (JR Central) Tokyo – Shin-Yokohama – Nagoya – Kyoto – Shin-Osaka
• Sanyo Shinkansen (JR West) Shin-Osaka – Shin-Kobe – Okayama – Hiroshima – Hakata (Fukuoka)
• Kyushu Shinkansen (JR Kyushu) Hakata – Kumamoto – Kagoshima Chuo

The route you can NOT book with EX site:

• Hokuriku Shinkansen (JR East / JR West) Tokyo – Nagano – Toyama – Kanazawa – Tsuruga
• Tohoku, Joetsu, Akita, Yamagata Shinkansen(JR East) and Hokkaido Shinkanesn (JR Hokkaido)

*Just in case you wonder,  “Shin” means “new” in Japanese. Shinkansen stations are often built a little far away from city center and have “new” in its name.

The merit of using Smart Ex site.

First of all, using Smart EX is not the only choice you have. There are several sites you can purchase Shinkansen tickets, and you can also purchase at the counter and ticket machines at the station. The merit of Smart EX is the flexibility of booking and cancelling with from the app or website without need of going to the busy station, and you also access to the discount fares that are only available at Smart Ex site, especially if you could purchase early. You also have multiple choice of ways getting on the train. You can go through the Shinkansen gate just scaning the QR code on your phone, or you can also tag your reservation information to your transportatino IC card you get in Japan.

Step by Step : How to Use Smart EX Site

1. Register to become a member of EX

To use EX site, you can start from making a membership first. You need your credit card information to be a member, and when you purchase the tickets, that credit card will be used.

You cannot check fares and availability until you register and log in. JR Central is Japan’s major company and hasn’t heard of any trouble with passangers related to payment, so I haven’t worried about it. 

Your credit card won’t be charged just by being a member. Being member of Ex is completely free.

➡︎ Register Smart EX here

2. Seach Available Seats

After you make the membership of Smart EX, you can start searching your train. First, choose your schedule and destination.

Seat with Luggage Space

If you have luggage over 160cm (about 62inch) total dimensions, you need to choose either “Seat with Oversized Baggage Area” or “Compartment”. The “Area” means there is a luggage space behind your seat, and “Compartment” means the storage space on the isle. Both are available for free of charge. This is only available for reserved seat. In case you have luggage smaller than 160 cm total imensions, you can put your luggage either above your head or in front of you.

3. Find Discount Fares Available for your Trip

Let’s go to next screen. Now you find differnet fare types that are available for your date and time. In the sample screen below, I searched on a date one month later. “Smart EX” on the top is the regular fare on this site. It’s slightly more reasonalbe than the counter / machine price at the staiton. “Hayatoku-28″ is the cheapest available fare, but it’s sold out already. The next reasonable choice is “Hayatoku-21″ which you can book until 21 days prior to the travel date. You can choose your favorite fare, and proceed to “view seat map”.

Tips upon booking with EX site

1. When can I purchase the tickets on EX site?

In Japan, usually you can book train from a month before the travel date at 10am (Japan Time). However, at Smart EX site, you can book the ticket from 1 year before to 4 minutes before the departure. But it doesn’t mean the earlier the cheaper.

2. When can I purchase the discount fares?

Fares: Some fares are not available until certain date. The discount fare “Hayatoku 28″ shows up after 90 days to 28 days prior to travel date, “Hayatoku 21” is available 1 month to 21 days before the date. “Hayatoku-Green 3 Wide” which is for Green Car (1st class) can be found 1 month to 3 days prior to the departure time.

3. The seat map doesn’t show up at reservation page

Only when you make reservation after a month prior to the travel date, you can only choose your seat from Seat Map. In case you book earlier than that, system will assign your seat and notify you a month before your travel date.

For more detailed rules, I recommned you to check the EX site. Rules 

4. Can I get Non-Reserved Seats at EX site? I don’t want to fix the time.

Yes. You can purchase the non-reserved seats with this Smart EX site or app. But the price is the same at the station counter / ticke machine. If you attach the information to your IC card or use QR code, you can proceed to the platform and get on any trains. Non-Resreved car is located in Car No.1-3 for Nozomi, 1-5 Hikari. A lot more for Kodama.

Find Discount Fares Only Available at Smart EX 

With this online booking system EX, you can access to discount fares called HAYATOKU that you cannot purchase from other sites and at the station counters or machines.  Let’s see how much you can get discount by using Smart EX site.

From Tokyo, Shinkansen has 3 types of services depends on the number of stops. The fastest one is Nozomi, followed by Hikari with some more stops, and Kodama that stops all stations.

The fare with NOZOMI regular reserved seats from Tokyo to Kyoto is 14,170 yen, and to Shin-Osaka is 14,720 Yen. To Hiroshima is 19,440 Yen and Hakata is 23,390 Yen.  * This might slightly change depends on the season and train you travel.

The discount you can get is different depends on how early you can purchase, and where your destination is. Let me explain four major discount  fares good to know, for popular destinations.

Shinkansen’s Online Discount with Smart EX

(1) HAYATOKU 21 WIDE (Recommended)

If you book 21 days before the trip, you can get discount of Hayatoku 21 Wide, which gives you the biggest discount for regular car fare.  

The price for Nozomi will be 11,820 yen (to Kyoto)  12,370 yen (to Osaka)  15,000 yen (to Hiroshima). So you save 2350 yen to Kyoto and Osaka, and 4440 yen to Hiroshima. 

You can purchase this fare only 30 days to 21 days prior to the traveling date, and the number of tickets are limited. So it can be difficult to get early morning Shinkansen with this fare. 

(2) HAYATOKU

For further destination, there are fare called Hayatoku. You can purchase this fare until 3 days prior to the travel date, and the price is almost same as the Hayatoku 21 for Hiroshima and Hakata (Fukuoka). However, this fare is not set for Kyoto and Shin-Osaka.

(3) EX Green HAYATOKU Wide

You can save on Green Car of Nozomi, which is the “first class car” of JR train too. The fare is called Ex Green Hayatoku Wide 

With this fare, the price to Kyoto by Green Car is is 15,400 yen, and Shin-Oaska is 15,940 Yen. Which is about 3,500 Yen cheaper than the regular price. 

(4) EX Kodama Green Hayatoku: If you take the service Kodama, which stops all stations, you can get the comfort of the green car  for 11200 Yen. That is more than 7000 yen discount. 

All these discount fares are available only until 21 days or 3 days prior to your travel date, and  the number of ticket is limited. you might want to check the site, as soon as you decided your travel plan. 

S WORK

When you are searching, you might find this ”S work seats”. 

This S Work seat is a car specially made for passengers who wants to do work. So it has better wifi, and allows 

Doing online meeting and Making phone calls at your seat. This seat is only available online, and only allows solo passengers.

All available fares for you comes up in search result

Sounds difficult, but all available fares for your conditions (schedule and direction) comes up to the search result, so I recommend you to check the site. It’s good idea to make account a month before your travel date, and start check the price. 

What to know about Smart EX and “Hayatoku” fares

No matter which fares you purchase, you can change trains with out any charge until the time of the departure time. Also you can cancel and get refund with 320 yen fee per ticket.

What happens if you miss the train you reserved

In case you miss the train you reserved, usual Shinkansen tickets allows you to used for non-reserved seats on the same day, but not for the tickets you get with fares named “Hayatoku”. You just lose the tickets. That ticket is available only for the train you reserved. So I recommend you to cancel or change to the later trains before the train’s departure time, if you think you cannot make it.

If you haven’t received paper tickets or entered the Shinkansen gate with IC cards, which I explain after, you can change or cancel on the website or app of Smart EX. (System works only 5:30～23:30 pm Tokyo Time) After you receive your physical tickets or entered the gate with IC cards, you need to go to the counter and ask for refund or change. But it still has to be before the train time. So if I think of this rule, it’s better to receive the physical ticket right before you get on the train.

What to do at the Shinkansen station

To get on the Shinkansen with the reservation you have, you need to either get physical tickets, or tag your seat information to your IC card.

Get physical tickets

To get the physical paper ticket for your reservation, you can scan your QR code to the ticket machine in the Shinkansen station.

You can get this QR code from your app or member page on the website.

1. See your reservation

2. Issue pickup code (QR code)

3. Scan the code at the machine in the Shinkansen station

In case you don’t know how, please talk to the station staff.

Use your IC card

You can tag your reservation information to your IC card, and enter the Shinkansen gate with the IC card.  The IC card can be anything issued in the major cities in Japan, such as SUICA, Pasmo, and ICOCA. It’s NOT a special IC card for Shinkansen.

1. On the member page or app, you can register your IC card number to the Smart EX account.

2. After you make a reservation, with a few clicks, you can tag your seat information to the IC card you registered.

3. Your ticket and seat information is in your IC card, so you can just tap the IC card to the Shinkansen gate. 

(Important) Small paper comes out from the gate machine, saying your train number and ticket information for your note.  Make sure you take this one and keep it with you. 

* Even if you use IC card for this, your IC card won’t be charged anything. 

* You can not use this Smart EX site to make your reservation with Japan rail pass. 

I hope you could get some idea of how to book Shinkansen tickets online. 

In case you travel in busy season, you might want to check the seat one month prior to the date of your travel. I hope you enjoy the travel on matter what fare you get. 

Articles that might help you:

How to get on Shinkansen

3. Scan your QR Code.

You can also scan your QR code on your app directly to the gate machine.