How To Book Your Shinkansen (Bullet Train) Tickets with Smart-EX

If you’ve decided not to buy a JR Pass for your travels throughout Japan, you’ll need another way to book your Shinkansen, or bullet train, tickets. Many other travel bloggers and influencers recommend Klook, but I found it a bit confusing and saw that the prices were sometimes inflated. So, instead, I turned to Smart-Ex, the official Tokaido Shinkansen ticket booking platform in Japan. Note: Smart-Ex does NOT cover JR East or Hokkaido.

I found booking Shinkansen tickets with Smart-Ex to be user-friendly and painless. Plus, you can easily generate a QR code ticket or even link your ticket to your Suica card for an easy travel day when you arrive in Japan! More on that below.

This is a handy guide on how to use Smart-Ex and book your Shinkansen tickets easily.

Mount Fuji from our Shinkansen window

Quick Things to Note:

• If you want to pre-book your seats (which I highly recommend, especially during peak tourist season in Japan), you can only do so one month in advance. For example, if you plan on going from Tokyo to Osaka on November 3rd, you’ll need to book your ticket on October 3rd, etc. Otherwise, if you book your seats more than a month in advance, Smart-Ex will choose your seats for you.
• If you book a regular ticket (not a discounted one) and miss your train, you can board any Shinkansen on the same route and sit in an Unreserved train car. So, you won’t have to buy new tickets, but you won’t be able to guarantee you’ll have the seat you want.
• Sometimes Smart-Ex has special discounts on tickets for regular and Green class (aka First Class). You can see these discounts when you book. Just note that if you book a discounted ticket, you can only board the exact train you booked. If you miss your train with a discounted ticket, you can’t just board the next train in an Unreserved car, and you’ll have to buy a new one at the station at full price. So get there early (you should do this anyway).
• Speaking of picking seats, if you want to see Mount Fuji on your ride anywhere from Tokyo to Kyoto, sit in seats C&D in the Green car and seats D&E in the Ordinary car. We saw Fuji three times!
• The website “closes” (lol, only in Japan would a website have closing times) from 11:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Japanese time. So, you can only book tickets for up to three people during that time.
• If you plan to bring baggage larger than 160cm in dimensions, you must book an oversized luggage seat. I’ll show you how to do that below. However, I highly recommend using luggage transport during your time in Japan so you don’t have to worry about it. 
• If your bank/credit card doesn’t do two-factor authentication, you may not be able to book tickets on Smart-EX.

Step-by-Step Guide to Booking Tickets with Smart-EX

This is everything you need to know about booking Shinkansen tickets with Smart-EX

Make an Account

• Go to the Smart-Ex website and click member registration
• It will take you to the next page, which shows a picture of the credit cards they accept. Make sure your credit card is accepted, and then press Register.
  
• Fill out the email information and captcha and press Send.
  
• You’ll then get an email from @expy.jp with a confirmation link inside. Click the link depending on whether you register with a computer or phone. If you don’t see it, check your spam and set up your email so it doesn’t mark emails from that domain as spam in the future.
• You’ll then receive another email with the subject line “Membership Registration Complete” and your Membership ID inside. You’ll also be asked to set up a PIN number that you’ll use as a password.
  

Login

Type in your membership ID and password, and press login.

Start booking!

• Click Search Train
  
• When you get to the next train, enter the date, time of departure, number of people at your party (adults and children), and route. For this example, we’ll be using Tokyo to Nagoya.
  
• If you are traveling with oversized luggage, click the drop-down menu labeled “Seat Type” and choose “Seat with Oversized Baggage Area.” You can also select a wheelchair-accessible seat designation from this drop-down menu.
• Press Continue, which will take you to the next page.
• You can select the train you’d like to take here. A discount tag will appear next to Select if discounted seats are available.
  
• Once you’ve chosen the train that works best for you, press Select.
• This will take you to a page showing the different classes. The Ordinary car is second class, and the Green car is first. If discounts are available, you’ll see it in the last two rows. A non-discounted ticket is in the first two rows and says either Smart EX or Smart Ex (non-reserved seat). Note: If you book a discounted ticket and miss your train, you must buy an entirely new ticket. So just be aware. 
• Choose the price that works best for you and press continue

Book Seats

• If you’ve chosen to take a Reserved car and book one month in advance, you can choose your seats. If you selected a non-reserved seat, you are booking between 11:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. Japanese time, or if you are booking more than one month in advance, skip this step. Smart-EX will choose your seat for you once your purchase is confirmed (unless you’re in a non-reserved car, in which case, you’ll select your seat when you board).
• Click “View Seat Map”
  
• Choose the seat(s) that work best for you. As mentioned above, if you want to see Mount Fuji, sit in seats C&D for Green Car and D&E for Ordinary Car.
• If you need an oversized baggage or wheelchair seat, you’ll see them clearly marked.
• Click continue.

Purchase your tickets

• You’ll now be taken to a page where you can purchase your seats. Enter your credit card information here, and then you can choose to save it for future purchases.
• Once everything is entered, press Purchase.
• You’ll then get a confirmation email.
• 24 hours before embarking on your trip, you’ll also get an email reminder with all of your seat and booking information inside.

Ticket Options

Here, we’ll quickly discuss the options for redeeming your ticket.

Linking your IC Card with Smart-Ex

This is the easiest and most convenient way to get your Shinkansen tickets. However, you can only do this with an iPhone or a physical IC card. Sorry, Android users. They don’t yet have a digital IC card for your Google Wallet (unless you have a Japanese phone). Maybe soon! If you’re an Android user, scroll down to the other two options. I used Suica, but the other digital IC cards have the same process.

• First, you must get your SuicaID. If you have a physical Suica card, look on the back for the number that starts with JE. For digital Suica cards, you must download the Suica app from the App Store.
• Once you download the app, it will sync with your Apple Wallet. The app is in Japanese, but don’t worry; you only have to press the Suica card, which will take you to another page. You’ll see the SuicaID above your balance (it even says SuicaID in English).
  
• Copy this number or write it down to move on to the next step.
  
• Go to the Smart-Ex home page (you may have to login again) and click My Trips.
• Click on your reservation.
• You’ll see a full breakdown of your journey. Click Designate IC Card at the bottom.
  
• Type or copy in the SuicaID and designate your ticket.
• You can also designate other tickets you’ve purchased under the same reservation to friends and family; they will just have to do the same process on their phones and give you their IC ID.
• Designate your IC card for every trip you plan to take on the Shinkansen.

And you’re done! On the day of your trip, all you have to do is swipe your IC card on the designated Shinkansen gates and a piece of paper will print out. Don’t forget to grab it, it has your seat designation and is important for if there is ticket control.

It’s super easy and fast! Truly the best option, in my opinion.

Getting a QR Code Ticket

For those without an IC card, you can do the second easiest option, generating a QR code ticket which you can swipe in with on the day.

• Go to the Smart-Ex home page (you may have to login again) and click My Trips
• Click on your reservation.
• Click display QR Ticket
  
• If you have an iPhone, you can save the ticket to your Apple wallet. Otherwise, screenshot it or print it out.
  

And you’re done! On the day of your trip, all you have to do is swipe your IC card on the designated Shinkansen gates and a piece of paper will print out. Don’t forget to grab it, it has your seat designation and is important for if there is ticket control.

Picking up a Physical Ticket at the station

If you like physical tickets, Smart-EX can generate a code that allows you to pick them up at ticket machines in the station.

• Go to the Smart-Ex home page (you may have to login again) and click My Trips
• Click on your reservation
• Click issue pick-up code. Note: You can only do this 24 hours in advance before pick-up
  
• Screenshot the pick-up code and bring it with you to the station
  
• Go to a dedicated JR ticket machine and press pick up ticket (you should see the Smart-EX Logo on the button you need to press)
• Press “by pickup code”
• Either scan your QR code or type in the 16 digit pick up code
• Select the reservation you’d like to redeem
• Confirm your details
• Click print

I didn’t do this, so if you need further guidance, Smart-EX has a handy step-by-step guide here.

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Voila! Those are all the ways to book and redeem your Shinkansen tickets with Smart-EX. Happy travels! Check out my full Japan itinerary here.

Unfortunately, I can’t provide guidance on booking tickets for areas not covered by Smart-EX (JR East or Hokkaido). However, I plan to return to Japan soon, so you’ll be the first to know once I’ve done it myself.

In the meantime, here are some links that might help you: 

Jr East Reservation Platform 

Rail passes for Hokkaido

Hokkaido tickets with Klook