Buy Shinkansen ticket for Nagoya at Shinagawa

Hello, this will be my first time traveling to Japan, so maybe this is a dumb question, but I am still really confused about how stations work in Japan so bear with me.

I will be arriving at Haneda airport and I'll take the Keikyu line to Shinagawa. That part is clear to me. Then I have to take the Tokaido Shinkansen and stop at Nagoya. From what I've seen online, I could buy the Shinkansen ticket directly in Haneda, but I would prefer to do it in Shinagawa, since I can't be sure I'll make it in time, being my first time there. Now, most of what I've seen online says I could buy it in either place, but then I saw this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiawI170MSM, and at 1:18 and 1:55 he says that you can't buy a long distance ticket there and have to buy it at Haneda, so that got me real confused.

Can anyone help with this?

You can certainly buy the ticket at Shinagawa! There is absolutely no issue with that.

The only possible confusion are the direct ticket gates that lead directly from the Keikyu station into the JR station. Only people who have pre-purchased a JR ticket will be able to use these direct gates. So, if you do not have pre-purchased your JR tickets, don't use the direct ticket gates. Instead, leave the Keikyu station through the regular gates once (Takanawa exit), then walk over to the JR shinkansen gates (it is about 200 meters) and buy the shinkansen tickets at a ticket office or machine there before entering the JR station through the shinkansen ticket gates.

I watched the video, got confused halfway through and stopped watching. So, I am not sure what is the cause of the confusion.

It makes no sense to me either. There is a shinkansen station at Shinagawa, as you already know. The notion that you can't buy a shinkansen ticket there is simply ludicrous.

Answered on TripAdvisor, including the point about "not being able to buy" because at point in the video they are not in the JR station.
You can transfer without an onward ticket if using SUICA, and then buy the ticket within the JR station.
Guy in the video does the transfer with a rail pass.

As long as you're at pretty much any JR station, you can buy a shinkansen ticket. Especially if you're at one of the larger stations and absolutely if there is a shinkansen already going to that particular station, you can 100% buy a ticket there.

It's pretty simple to do it on your own too. You don't need to go to the counter to ask for a ticket and you can just use the machine to get your ticket as they have English options too.

I don't understand the issue but...you can certainly buy tickets at Shinagawa. I've always bought shinkansen tickets at the station I'm traveling from. Trains are so frequent, it doesn't matter where you purchase from. Shinagawa is a huge station though, so just be mindful of the time you are going to be there -- commute times at that station are crazy crowded and busy.

Thanks to everybody! I understand it now.
I have a similar question about Nagoya station, I can open another thread but probably someone who has answered here will know that as well: after arriving on the Shinkansen, I need to get to Gifu station. I will take the Tokaido Line, Limited Express Hida or Limited Express Shirasagi, I don't have a preference, I'll just pick whichever is fine depending on the time. So I guess it's the same as in Shinagawa: if I had my ticket in advance, I could go through the Shinkansen transfer gates and to the conventional JR Lines platforms, but if I want to buy the ticket at the station, I have to exit to the Central Walkway through the Shinkansen ticket gate, buy the ticket, and then go to the platform through the Central ticket gate or Central North ticket gate, right? I have seen some maps of the station and it's not very clear to me whether some of the ticket machines are inside the ticket gates are or outside it, but I assume if the purpose of the transfer gates is to use a ticket bought in advance it would make sense not to have any such machines in there.

If you are traveling alone (or in 2) you could just buy the entire ticket at Haneda airport. And just go without a seat reservation. I don�ft know for the Nagoya-Takayama part, but Shinagawa-Nagoya you can take free seat car. It�fs slightly cheaper plus there is no waiting/no loosing your train. So I personally normally go with a man unreserved seat when I take the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka. Unless I want to take the last train.

I would also buy a Pasmo/Suica card at Haneda. It just makes taking local trains, busses so much easier.

I need to get to Gifu station. . . . . . if I had my ticket in advance, I could go through the Shinkansen transfer gates and to the conventional JR Lines platforms
Simple, at the Shinagawa JR station buy a ticket to Gifu. You do not need to buy it in Nagoya. Plus, getting it at Shinagawa will be cheaper.

As mentioned by others, the difference to the previous question is that both the Shinagawa-Nagoya section and also the Nagoya-Gifu section are operated by the same company, JR. So, you should buy the ticket all the way from Shinagawa to Gifu for convenience and to save money.

Note that local trains are almost as fast and much more frequent (every few minutes) between Nagoya and Gifu (25 minutes) as the limited express trains (20 minutes). So, depending on timing, you could consider taking one instead of a limited express.

So let me check if I got it right (the instructions at JR Central's website aren't very clear to me): if I get the ticket to Gifu from Shinagawa too, I have to insert the Shinkansen ticket at the gate at Shinagawa and collect it, and then at Nagoya insert both the Shinkansen and the conventional line one at the transfer gate and collect the conventional line ticket again, and then use it to exit the gate at Gifu. Is that it? I don't have to insert the conventional one at Shinagawa?

Don�ft over think it. If the turnstile doesn�ft let you pass you put the wrong ticket. And someone (I.e. a JR employee) will �gjump out of the shades�h explain and help you through the correct process.

What I�fd expect is that the ticket is Shinagawa -Gifu and the Shinkansen supplement Shinagawa-Nagoya. Which means that in Shinagawa you need to put in both tickets at Nagoya again, but you�fll get back only one and then at Gifu the train ticket again and it will be �geaten�h by the machine.

But as said, don�ft overthink it. The beauty of traveling in Japan is that there are always people (employees) ready to help.

You will most likely receive two tickets: one is for the "base fare" which covers the entire distance from Shinagawa to Gifu. And the other is the "shinkansen supplement" which covers the additional fee you have to pay for taking a shinkansen (as opposed to regular trains).

Whenever passing ticket gates, you will have to insert the "base fare" ticket. In addition, when passing shinkansen gates, you additionally have to insert the "shinkansen supplement" ticket. As a matter of fact, most ticket gates won't mind if you always inserted both tickets.

So, don't think in terms of "shinkansen ticket" and "conventional line ticket". Instead, you should think in terms of "base fare" and "shinkansen supplement".

@ lucsansag - essentially, yes, that is correct.

On the JR-Central website, you can see the images of JR basic-fare ticket and Shinkansen reserved seat ticket.

- JR-Central: How to read the information on the tickets
https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/tickets/read/

You put the both tickets together in a ticket gate machine
when you enter the Shinkansen at Shinagawa
and when you exit the Shinkansen at Gifu.

To take a Shinkansen train,
you pay for the Shinkansen surcharge and buy your Shinkansen super-express ticket,
for your train ride either with your seat reserved or without seat reservation.

After getting off your Shinkansen train at Nagoya,
you follow signs for JR lines and reach Shinkansen North or South transfer gate.
(The signboard above the transfer gate says "Transfer to JR Lines";
you don't find the term "transfer gate" but please don't feel getting lost.)

Regarding Nagoya -- Gifu leg,
as Uji mentions, you don't have to choose a Limited Express train;
you can take any Gifu-bound Local train or any Ōgaki-bound or Maibara-bound rapid train.

To take a JR Limited Express train,
you pay for the Limited Express surcharge and buy your Limited-Express ticket.
For JR conventional lines, in most cases, ticket gate machines would not check Limited-Express tickets.

I recommend that you apply for the three JR tickets together in advance,
in which case your get a 50 percent discount for the Limited Express surcharge,
on the condition that you make the transfer in one same day.

JapanCustomTours:
You can transfer without an onward ticket if using SUICA, and then buy the ticket within the JR station.

Well, in the JR conventional line zone, there might be long queues in small spaces;
it may be better
to go outside the gates and visit a JR ticket counter or ticket vending machine near the Shinkansen gates.

You more likely to use PASMO than Suica;
because you choose Keikyu (adopting PASMO) in the airport,
it would be more time-saving to get a PASMO card at a Keikyu vending machine.

You select the amount of e-money to charge first;
1000 yen is enough to get to Shinagawa.
You pay another 500 yen as a deposit.

@omotenashi "there might be long queues in small spaces"
True, and I have seen some monumentally long lines at different stations, especially with major disruptions. However, from memory there are only a couple of ticket windows in Shinagawa at the shinkansen transfer gates, but I do not ever recall seeing much of a queue there. Having said that I did not use it as a spot for beginning/ending my travels there very often.
Exiting the Keikyu station and getting the JR tickets is pretty easy. But, it may still take a reasonable amount of time to get tickets anyway - it is a busy station and lots of people buying tickets. But, they will have that factored into the departure time when they do get to the front of the queue.