Shinkansen shake-up: prices to change on Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines from April 2025
On the 30th of January 2025, JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu announced that they would revise fares for some sections of the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines from April this year.
Fare revisions by JR West and JR Kyushu will result in a mix of increases and decreases in fares in the Keihanshin area, which covers Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto. Prices are set to increase across Kyushu, so journeys to Fukuoka and other major destinations will be affected.
The fare changes are in part due to JR West unifying the fare system, which was previously divided into three types, in the Keihanshin area as of April 2025.
How the price changes will affect your journey will very much depend on your starting location and end destination.
For example, as part of the revised fares, the price for reserved seats in ordinary cars on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines between Kyoto and Nishi-Akashi will increase from 4,140 yen to 4,160 yen if you purchase them through the online reservation Smart EX service on Nozomi and Mizuho trains, and will decrease from 5,600 yen to 5,500 yen for the Kyoto-Himeji section.
Whilst some sections will see increases, others will see decreases as in the above example. This will lead to some travellers saving money, whilst others will see a slight increase in the cost of their journey.
Though the changes across the Keihanshin area are not set to alter current fares too drastically, as some journeys may actually see a decrease in cost, travellers looking to explore Kyushu after April 2025 will be most affected, as all Shinkansen fares in the area are set to rise after this time.
JR Kyushu will increase fares by an average of 15% from April. The Kyushu Shinkansen will see an increase in both tickets and limited express tickets.
For example, if you purchase a reserved seat in an ordinary car through Smart EX between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chuo after April, the price will increase from 10,440 yen to 11,750 yen.
JR Central and JR West also announced that they would increase the price of the “S WorkP Seat”, a business-oriented seat with a partition in the middle of a three-seater seat, by 800 yen, making the additional charge a total of 2,000 yen, on top of the original ticket price, to use this seat type from May 15th 2025.
Domestic travel is already suffering due to an increase in tourism leading to higher hotel prices across Japan, often pricing out Japanese residents due to the currently weak yen.
With fares now set to change across some of the most popular train lines in the country, this could lead to a further decline in numbers of residents looking to travel within Japan.