Tokyo to Osaka by Shinkansen: what it costs, and when the JR Pass wins

A reserved seat from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka costs ¥14,720 on the Nozomi and ¥14,400 on the Hikari or Kodama in the normal season, and a non-reserved seat costs ¥13,870 on any of them. Those are adult one-way prices at the regular fare, as we read them on October 28, 2026. The Green Car costs ¥19,590 on the Nozomi and ¥19,270 on the Hikari and Kodama.

The price moves with the date you ride and, from July 1, 2027, with the date you buy. This page lists the price for each seat type, shows how the seasons change it, covers children, and works out how many other rides a JR Pass needs before it beats single tickets. For the pass price itself, see JR Pass price in 2026. To add up your own rides, use the JR Pass calculator. We checked every number on October 28, 2026.

Tokyo to Shin-Osaka: price by seat and train

The table shows the adult one-way price from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in the normal season.

The non-reserved price is the same on the Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama. The Nozomi costs ¥320 more than the Hikari or Kodama for a reserved or Green seat. For comparison, a pass holder pays ¥4,960 on top of the pass to ride the Nozomi on this route. The Nozomi extra ticket, route by route lists the price for other sections.

JR Central's rule pages explain why the Green Car price moves with the reserved price. The Green Car express charge is the reserved-seat charge for the day you ride, minus ¥530, and the Green charge is added on top. The non-reserved price is the same on every train, and it equals the normal-season Hikari or Kodama reserved price minus ¥530 (¥14,400 − ¥530 = ¥13,870, our arithmetic).

How the season changes the price

JR Central divides the year into four seasons for reserved seats. In the year from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, the reserved-seat express charge is ¥400 higher on super-peak days, ¥200 higher on peak days and ¥200 lower in the off-season than in the normal season. The same amount carries through to the Green Car price, because the Green charge builds on the reserved charge for the day.

Applying those amounts to the normal-season prices above gives this table. This is our calculation, not a published price list, so check the final price when you book:

The gap between the cheapest and the dearest day is ¥600 on any of these seats. Non-reserved seats do not change with the season.

JR Central publishes the season for each day on a calendar. The super-peak days from now to the end of March 2027 are December 29 and 30, 2026, and January 2 and 3, 2027. We do not list the peak and off-season days here, because the calendar is the place to check them for your date.

When every Nozomi is reserved

On the busiest holidays all Nozomi trains run with reserved seats only, so there is no ¥13,870 non-reserved seat on the Nozomi. JR Central lists these periods for the year to March 2027:

• November 21 to 23, 2026
• December 25, 2026 to January 5, 2027
• January 9 to 11, 2027
• March 20 to 22, 2027

The Hikari, Kodama and other trains keep their non-reserved cars in these periods.

Kyoto, and what smartEX charges

smartEX is the Shinkansen booking service for the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines. Its fare tables show Tokyo to Kyoto as well as Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, for adults and children. The smartEX tables are dated April 1, 2025 and list the regular season, with the same season adjustments of −¥200, +¥200 and +¥400 noted in the header:

For Shin-Osaka, the smartEX reserved and Green prices are ¥200 below the regular prices in the first table. The non-reserved price is the same. JR Central's comparison of its online services lists the smartEX normal-season Nozomi reserved price for Tokyo to Shin-Osaka (¥14,520) as ¥200 below the regular fare. Read the price on the booking screen before you pay. If Kyoto is where you are going, the Tokyo to Kyoto Shinkansen price page works out the round trip and how much other travel a JR Pass needs to beat it.

smartEX sells tickets from one year before the ride until 4 minutes before departure, for 1 to 6 people in one booking, with an option for children.

Children and infants

JR Central's rules for fares set these age groups: adults are 12 and over (a 12-year-old in elementary school counts as a child), children are 6 to under 12 (a 6-year-old who has not yet started elementary school counts as an infant), infants are 1 to under 6, and babies are under 1. A child's ticket and express charge are half the adult amount, and a ¥5 fraction is dropped. The Green charge is the same for a child and an adult.

Infants and babies travel free, with three exceptions: the third and later infant with one adult or child, an infant who takes a reserved or Green seat alone, and an infant travelling alone. In those cases the child price applies.

The smartEX table above gives the child prices for Tokyo to Shin-Osaka and Kyoto. We did not work out child prices for other tickets ourselves, because the halving is applied to the ticket and the charge separately.

Round trip

We priced a round trip as two one-way tickets. At the regular fare in the normal season, one adult makes a round trip from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka for:

• ¥27,740 non-reserved (2 × ¥13,870)
• ¥28,800 reserved on the Hikari or Kodama (2 × ¥14,400)
• ¥29,440 reserved on the Nozomi (2 × ¥14,720)
• ¥38,540 in the Green Car on the Hikari or Kodama (2 × ¥19,270)

These are our calculations. smartEX once sold a round-trip discount, but only for one-way sections of 601 operating kilometres or more, and it ended on March 31, 2026. JR's price release places Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in the "up to 600 km" band, so on our reading the discount would not have applied to this route anyway.

When does the JR Pass beat single tickets?

The pass is valid on the Hikari and Kodama, but not on the Nozomi. The official online store sells the 7-day Ordinary pass for ¥50,000 and the 7-day Green pass for ¥70,000. JR-designated travel agencies outside Japan charge ¥53,000 and ¥74,000.

The table shows how much other travel you need on top of a Tokyo to Shin-Osaka round trip before the pass costs less than single tickets. It is our calculation: the pass price minus the round trip at regular fares, so the pass wins only if your other rides at regular fares add up to more than the figure shown. For whole trips that add Hiroshima, see JR Pass vs individual tickets.

If you want the Nozomi as well, add the extra ticket. A pass holder pays ¥4,960 each way between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, ¥9,920 for the round trip. Against a reserved Nozomi round trip at single-ticket prices (¥29,440), the pass at ¥50,000 plus ¥9,920 costs ¥59,920, so your other rides would need to add up to more than ¥30,480 for the pass to win. At the agency price the figure is ¥33,480 (¥62,920 against ¥29,440). That is our arithmetic from the prices above.

These figures use the 7-day pass prices, so they only apply if all your rides fall within the seven days. The calculator on this site does that sum for a full itinerary.

What changes in 2027

JR Central and JR West announced on October 16, 2026 that two charges will go up.

The Nozomi reserved charge. For tickets bought on or after July 1, 2027, the reserved-seat charge on the Nozomi and Mizuho rises. The date that counts is the day you buy the ticket, not the day you ride. For Tokyo to Shin-Osaka the total goes from ¥14,720 to ¥15,420, a rise of ¥700. A reserved Nozomi round trip would then be ¥30,840 (2 × ¥15,420, our calculation). The release says the Nozomi non-reserved charge is not revised and that the change is made by notification within the approved cap. It does not mention the Nozomi special ticket for pass holders, so this page does not say whether that price changes.

The Green charge. For rides on or after December 15, 2027, the Green charge rises on all trains, Hikari and Kodama included. In the 600 km band it goes from ¥5,400 to ¥8,400, a rise of ¥3,000. For the Nozomi Green Car from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka, the release gives ¥23,290 in place of ¥19,590, a rise of ¥3,700. That figure also includes the ¥700 Nozomi reserved-charge rise described above.

Where to buy

If the pass pays off for your trip, the official store sells it at the online price.

Buy on the official JR Pass site →

If Tokyo to Osaka is most of your travel, compare the total with single tickets first. smartEX sells reserved Shinkansen seats in English for the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines.

If your trip ends at Kansai Airport, the airport train has its own discounted visitor ticket: see Haruka ticket price from Kansai Airport.

If you stop in Hakone on the Tokyo side, that trip is on the Odakyu line from Shinjuku: see Hakone Free Pass prices from Shinjuku and Odawara.

Book single Shinkansen tickets on SmartEX →

Sources

• JR Tokai Tours, Tokaido Shinkansen seat guide (Tokyo–Shin-Osaka prices by seat; page updated July 27, 2026): https://travel.jr-central.co.jp/plan/tokushu/shinkansen/seat/
• JR Central rules, express tickets (reserved, non-reserved and Green charges, children): https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/ticket-rule/rule28.html
• JR Central rules, seasons for reserved-seat express charges (±¥ amounts and calendar): https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/ticket-rule/rule30.html
• JR Central rules, adults and children (age groups, infants): https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/ticket-rule/rule06.html
• JR Central rules, Green tickets: https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/ticket-rule/rule40.html and https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/ticket-rule/rule41.html
• JR Central, Nozomi all-reserved periods, fiscal 2026: https://railway.jr-central.co.jp/nozomi/
• smartEX, fare tables (reserved, Green, non-reserved; PDFs dated April 1, 2025): https://smart-ex.jp/en/product/plan/service/
• JR Central, comparison of the EX services (smartEX price against the regular fare, normal season): https://jr-central.co.jp/ex/point/smart-difference/
• smartEX, round trip product (ended March 31, 2026): https://smart-ex.jp/en/product/plan/service_roundtrip/
• JR Central and JR West press release on charges from July 2027 and December 2027: https://www.westjr.co.jp/press/article/2026/10/16/items/261016_00_press_shinkansen_ryoukin.pdf
• JAPAN RAIL PASS, prices: https://japanrailpass.net/en/purchase/price/
• JAPAN RAIL PASS, covered trains: https://japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp/route/
• JAPAN RAIL PASS, Nozomi/Mizuho Special Ticket: https://japanrailpass.net/en/use/special-ticket/