Buying & using Shinkansen tickets bought online:We bought tickets to Takayama via the ‘Japan Experience’ website’. Bureaucratically everything worked fine – selection, payment etc. We had no difficulty making reservations. Email safely received containing an order number (which we found needs to be ignored!) and a QR code (which was needed). The most important information was contained not in the email but in the attached PDF.If you are new to Japan, read all the paperwork and associated links very carefully. Travelling in Japan is very well organised, but getting used to it takes some time!When trying to collect tickets, you need first to identify the correct machine (see instructions in PDF/on website). Select your appropriate language option. The machine currently asks for a 4-digit PIN – which you have not got – or an order number (which is NOT the number printed in large letters across the main text of the email and which you should ignore - despite what the email says!) and/or asks for the relevant mobile phone number (this is NOT your personal mobile phone number, nor any of the numbers contained in the email text!) The number you require is printed in RED in the middle of the PDF user guide! Having scanned the QR code, a new page will open on the ticket machine asking for the mobile number. Insert the number printed in RED in the PDF at this point; bingo your tickets will appear!When using the tickets at an electronic wicket gate, if you have both a fare ticket and a reservation ticket, insert BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY into the machine and they will be returned to you as you exit the gate. If you have to change trains and have e.g. 3 tickets altogether, such as a fare ticket right through and separate reservation tickets for 2 different trains, when changing trains, you will need to insert ALL THREE tickets SIMULTANEOUSLY and appropriate tickets will be returned to you as you exit the gate. All quite confusing when first you encounter it, but ok, once you’ve been through the system for the first time. Despite the complications outlined above, booking in advance and remotely is much less of a hassle than trying to make last minute bookings at a machine in Japan. Trains are heavily used and are often full or almost completely full.
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Since 1981, we have been a leading tourism company specialized in providing a wide range of travel experiences in Japan.
Our mission is to become the go-to brand for anyone who loves Japan and wants to experience this wonderful country to the fullest. We sell a variety of products to our customers traveling to Japan : individual and group tours, Rail Passes, activities, excursions, train tickets, accommodations, SIM cards, etc.
More info on our company and products, on our 5 languages website: https://www.japan-experience.com/.
In March 2025 Japan Experience also acquired FTC, a DMC specialized in large group tours in Japan, and in 2022 opened Irasshai, a 800 m2 Japanese concept food store in the center of Paris (https://irasshai.co/).See more
