JR Central and JR West have announced details of a new "Supreme Class" to be introduced on the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen, Japan's most used bullet train route linking Tokyo with Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

The new class will sit above the existing Green Car and can roughly be compared to first class on an airplane. Until now, most trains on the route have offered 13 cars of ordinary seats and three cars of Green Car seats, the latter being comparable to business class.

Currently, cars 8-10 are the Green Cars, while cars 1-7 and 11-16 have ordinary seats

What is new and when?

Supreme Class will be introduced from October 1, 2026. Initially it will be featured on only six round trips per day, but the number of services offering the new class will be increased gradually. Nevertheless, it can be expected that only a minority of the trains will feature the new class even in 2-3 years from now.

Although expected to be offered mainly on Nozomi trains, the fastest service category, the new class will also be available on some Hikari and Kodama services.

Supreme Class Cabin - launching in October 2026

Each train offering Supreme Class will feature two private cabins: a double room for up to two passengers in car 7 and a single-passenger cabin in car 10.

The new cabins will have a big reclining seat with table, lockable door, luggage space and other services, while the double room will also include a sofa-style secondary seat.

Note, however, that the seats in the cabins cannot be rotated, meaning that the main seat in the double room will face backward on journeys toward Tokyo, while the seat in the single room will face backward when traveling in the opposite direction.

Double Room (Car 7, left) and Single Room (Car 10, right)           Image: JR Central/JR West

Supreme Class Seat - launching by March 2028

A second type of accommodation, the Supreme Class Seat, is scheduled to be introduced during fiscal year 2027, meaning sometime between April 2027 and March 2028. Located in car 10, it will consist of three rows of two semi-private seats, separated by the aisle. While offering a high degree of privacy, they are not fully enclosed rooms.

The seats will be similar to those in the cabins, have lockable doors and access to the same services. Unlike the cabin seats, however, these seats can be rotated to face the direction of travel or to create a pair of facing seats.

Supreme Class Seats (Car 10)             Image: JR Central/JR West

Other services

Other planned services for both cabins and seats include a dedicated Wi-Fi network, seat speakers that can connect to passengers' own devices, and a tablet for adjusting lighting, air conditioning and the volume of train announcements.

Some food and drinks will be included in the fare, such as coffee, tea, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks and sweets. Additional paid items will also be available, including the same selection as in the Green Car plus a small number of limited products. These paid items can be ordered through the tablet. Note that food service will be available only on Nozomi and Hikari trains.

How much and how to use

Supreme Class will cost considerably more than ordinary seats and Green Car seats. The list below compares the approximate cost for a one-way journey between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka:

  • Ordinary unreserved: 13,870 yen
  • Ordinary reserved: around 15,000 yen
  • Green car: around 20,000 yen
  • Supreme Class single room: around 42,000 yen
  • Supreme Class double room: around 61,000 yen*

* the second person pays only the base fare and limited express fee (for any seat type)

Supreme Class will be sold as a ticketless product via smartEX. Passengers can use the IC card registered to their smartEX account or a QR code issued through smartEX, both to pass through the ticket gates and to open the door to their cabin or seat. If cabins or seats remain vacant, it may be possible to purchase them on board.

No announcements have been made about whether Supreme Class will be covered by rail passes such as the Japan Rail Pass, but it is highly likely that the rail passes will cover only the base fare, which between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, for example, is 8,910 yen.