We are looking at going to Hokkaido for the Ice Festival in Feb and looked at getting the Shinkansen, ¥120,000 in total for 2 people, 9 hours each way.
A flight is ¥26,000 and only takes 1.5 hours each way.
Please help me understand why anybody apart from tourists with a pass would ever use this?
Edit: didn’t expect to get this many replies so I’ll just address a few common comments here.
Location – I could have been eager in my post but the Ice Festival is in Sapporo so the route I am talking about is Tokyo to Sapporo.
Price – people saying I have the numbers wrong I am just going by what Google Maps says. It is ¥27,848 each, non return. So thats 27,848 x 4 which is 111,392 total. After factoring in to and from home and hotel, its not far off ¥120,000
Time – as people have pointed out, it’s to Sapporo and Google maps say 9 hours and 48 minutes each way.
Apart from that some very good points to that I agree with. I would prefer to go via train, more peaceful, better views, less fucking around with boarding. So much so I hadn’t even considered flight! But there is no way I can justify that much extra cost, for that much extra travel time. Flights it is.
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No one goes from Tokyo all the way to Hokkaido by shinkansen. The route exists so people can get on and off along the way (did you not wonder why it takes 9 hours ?) Tbh it mainly serves the Tohoku area, where people can either go within the region or Tokyo / Hokkaido as they see fit.
Indeed aside from train freaks and those who are deathly afraid of flying it wouldn’t make much sense to take the Shinkansen
People to from Sendai, Morioka, etc.
They wouldn’t.
The whole idea is to connected the Tohoku to Hokkaido. If you live in Aomori or Hakkodate, the Shinkansen makes much more sense than flying if you want to go to and from the islands.
The line is currently being extended all the way to Sapporo. Currently, you need to change to a local train in Hakodate to Sapporo, which takes about 3-4 hours, bringing the total travel time to 9 hours. The opening of the new line will obviously shorten the time but I doubt there will be many people travelling from Tokyo to Sapporo on the Shinkansen.
>Please help me understand why anybody apart from tourists with a pass would ever use this?
First of all, the shinkansen currently does not go to Sapporo but I guess you noticed.
On top of that, Tokyo->Hakodate is not the target, it’s more Sendai or Aomori to Hakodate. There are a lot of studies/surveys on what’s more used depending on the distance, see [here](https://jikokuhyo.train-times.net/column/travel_share_2019) for instance, Roughly speaking, the cut off is around 3 hours by train (that will be more convenient than a 1h flight, taking into account the check in, etc.).
On top of the reasons folks listed prior to this comment, some folks don’t like/have a fear of flying.
I take the shinkansen wherever I can, hate flying. And yes I have gone from Tokyo to Sapporo, though I did stop at Hiroseki for one night.
Train is just so much more relaxing imo. Sit there, gaze out the window…
I did it.
You seem to be counting the time it takes to go to Sapporo and not Hokkaido. Hakodate is 4h only, from Hakodate; there is no Shinkansen anymore.
So Tokyo => Hakodate makes perfect sense: the flights are actually expensive, and going by plane to Chitose then to hakodate is much longer
jr rail pass
I’m the outlier.
Deathly afraid of planes, and I really enjoy train rides especially for new vistas. I’m looking forward to hopefully going up to Sapporo from Tokyo on the Shinkansen this year. But usually once is enough for really long trips. For e.g. I doubt I’d do the train down to Fukuoka again even though I really enjoyed it.
However, the reluctance to do it again isn’t the time taken, it’s the cost. I love being traveling more sustainably, and don’t mind compromising time for sanity (planes), but the prices are a joke so I have to draw a line and suck it up.
There are plenty of Japanese people who have never left the country/never taken a flight. It can be very difficult for them to do so.
Plus the view from the bullet train will beat the view from a plane 9 times out of 10.
You wouldn’t take the Shinkansen from Tokyo all the way to Hokkaido.
You make take a shinkansen part of the way from one spot along the line to another. We’re taking the Shinkansen up to Niigata for example.
But yeah, we’d fly to Hokkaido.
Tokyo – Nagoya is no-brainer Shinkansen. Tokyo-Osaka is slightly closer, but given the hassle of flying (getting to/from airport, check-in, luggage etc) still an easy win (for me) to go by train. Any farther than 3-4 hours and I might consider flying.
No flight ever takes anywhere near the listed flight time. It always takes an hour to get on and off a plane and then you have to get to and from the airport.
It takes 5 minutes to buy a ticket from a machine and board a Shinkansen, less if you pre booked.
Basically, airports suck!
But 9 hours is pretty long…
It’s not a great deal, but you also need to factor in time to get to the airport (an hour to two hours ahead), check in, go through security, wait, hope there are no delays, wait to deplane, and wait to get your luggage.
If you add all these incidentals, the time factor might not be so bad. Now the cost on the other hand…
I want a night train from Tokyo to Sapporo.
Went from Osaka to Sapporo in one day and it was so nice. Green Car is just so much more comfortable then airplanes and I personally am tall person, so flying is always the last option within country.
Agree with the rest of posts that main benefit of shinkansen is people can do only partial route as opposed to flight. I usually go like that to Hakodate. There’s no shinkansen service to Sapporo and all the way from Tokyo to Hakodate (that’s as far as shinkansen goes) takes about 4 hours and costs 24kJPY. Flight isn’t cheaper (40k-ish) nor shorter if I consider going to and from airport which is usually much farther away from city center (in Hakodate it is actually same). I’m tall and find shinkansen much more comfortable than flight. I usually take it when going to visit friends in Fukuoka too… often don’t even take a day off and wfh from train as docomo internet coverage is very good.
One thing that surprised me about Japan was how expensive public transportation is outside your local area. Many foreigners who visit Japan using the JR Rail Pass may very well see a greater span of Japan than many Japanese I know. From the Shinkansen to the kōsokudōro, Japan doesn’t operate in a deficit like many other countries do and you have to put up the Yen to use it.
Wait till OP finds out there’s a ferry.
1.5 hour flight.
How far and how long it takes people to get to an airport, wait until departure, and then leave the airport and to arrive at their destination is not 1.5 hours nor 26,000 yen. Shinkansen may be more expensive, but realistically traveling from your door to your hotel room is likely to take closer to 9 hours “by airplane” than the “flight time.”
I’ve done Tokyo to Hakodate with the family. It’s 4 hours and you just chill, eat a bento, and play games or whatever.
Going to the airport and doing all the security checks is a pain and nerve racking.
Flying also makes me nervous after taking a materials science class for mech engineering in uni. I’d like to stay on the ground when possible.
According to Google Maps, 23,380JPY for one person (x2=46,760JPY), and takes 4h9m (departing at 7:20 pm with significant delays) to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. There’s a night bus that goes to Sapporo from there if you can’t get the Limited Express train.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HJq2WfnnswCYBXvY9?g_st=ic
Not 9 hours each way, and not 120k JPY.
Plane should actually be slightly more expensive, plus you have to show up early for inspection, and then baggage claim afterwards, etc. Time and cost are basically comparable.
If you take the shinkansen, you get to see some scenery along the way. Early morning would be best…tomorrow 6:32 am would be fun.
Also improvements to technology over the coming years will bring the time down to under 4 hours to Sapporo once the Shinkansen connects there. My guess is you checked the path to Sapporo which goes via Limited Express and not Shinkansen (Shinkansen stops at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto until the remaining stretch gets finished). Keep in mind the airport in Chitose is about 40 minutes away from Sapporo by train, and you’ll probably have to wait for that.
Edit: It’s an additional 30 minutes from Tokyo Station to Haneda Airport. Total plane time Tokyo Station to Sapporo Station is more like 4.5 hrs – 5 hrs. Still shorter than train now but actually longer once the shinkansen gets completed.
TLDR: Airport might make more sense for you now, but once the shinkansen actually gets finished it will be competitive with air travel for sure.
I once took the Shinkansen from Akita to Fukuoka, with a little stop at Tokyo. It just was fine and way more convenient than flying. Always trying to avoid flying.
Flying through tohoku during a snowstorm in the middle of winter is one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever experienced lol. The turbulence was unlike anything I’ve ever felt, for a good minute I really felt like we were gonna crash
Because for lots of japanese the shinkansen trip is an experience on par with the rest of the trip itself (I think). Chugging Asahi Super Dry, eating ekiben and basking in the glorious train culture is a memory of its own, rather than being the “in-between”.
I just did it (Niseko, not Sapporo). Train up, flight back. It is a bit quicker to fly, but only by an hour or two door to door. The “1.5 hours each way” comparison is ridiculous as it doesn’t factor in time for booking flights, getting to an airport, checking in, waiting for bags, getting from airport to wherever you eventually want to go. Or indeed the cost of transfers.
Biggest point for me is that I got a good solid 4 hours of work done on the train up, vs almost zero on the way back.
Next time I go I’ll very likely choose the train if I can.
Fewer queue’s waiting to get your tickets, your luggage checked, security clearance, to get on the plane, get off the place , get your bags again, then to a city a center.
I bet the Shinkansen drops off right downtown or close by
Back in the day, like 2004 or so, I took the local trains all the way from Kyoto to Morioka. Took the ENTIER day, and there were no apps back then so had to research all the transfers and times and that in a giant book my local station had. Did the same on the way back. Great adventure and saw so much I never would have on a plane.
Because flying sucks, and the shinkansen is relaxing? You get a much better view out the window from the shinkansen, you aren’t packed in like sardines in a can, boarding is far more pleasant. Or you’re stopping at one of the many stops along the way.
The Shinkansen is better ventilated and doesn’t use jet fuel, plus I wouldn’t have to drive an hour each way and pay parking for however long I’m in Hokkaido. So I’d choose it over a flight.
Not this specific route, but here are the reasons why I’ve taken the Shinkansen anywhere between Yamaguchi – Tokyo – Aomori:
1. If you know how to book, it can actually be pretty cheap
2. Flights suck for my body, they are just exhausting as heck. I also have a tendency to throw up at the smallest turbulence.
3. I have a small child who can’t sit still for any extended period of time, being able to move around inside the train is a blessing
4. Airports are usually outside of the city, so getting to the airport in Tokyo, waiting for check-in, going through security (even if it’s a joke within the country, it’s a hassle with a kid), waiting to board, waiting on the plane itself to lift off, waiting, waiting, waiting, just to then be spat out at an airport in the middle of nowhere is absolutely beat by changing trains once or twice to get where I want to go
Flying includes going to the airport a couple of hours before the flight, checking in luggage if that’s the case, going through security, waiting, getting into the tight and uncomfortable plane seat, the flight, disembarking, waiting for your luggage and exiting the airport.
The flight might be an hour and a half, the whole process is much, much longer. Four, maybe even five hours if the airport is not in the city center.
For a train ride you can show up a few minutes early, take your luggage with you (in most cases) and seat in a much more comfortable space. Once the ride is over you just get out with your things.
Also, train stations tend to be in the city center while airports are in the outskirts.
A train ride is much nicer, simpler and relaxing. The price difference is the only reason why I don’t take more trains instead of flying. That being said, I rather drive than fly for similar reasons, but that’s not always an option.
To introduce another option …
There’s a really lovely overnight (15 hour)ferry boat cruise from Sendai to Tomakomai Hokkaidō (near Sapporo). You can apparently also board at Nagoya and get off either at Sendai or stay on to Hokkaido for a 40-hour journey. (I guess you could also Shink up to Sendai and then head to the port to keep your travel times under 24hours.) Fares are pretty different depending on what kind of cabin you want, if you’re bringing a car/bike with you, etc, but are definitely substantially cheaper than your all-train option. They’ve got a decent English website too.
Having taken that ferry option to Hokkaido during my JET days, if you’ve got the time to spare, there’s something really lovely about waking up rested (in a real bed) while enroute to your vacation. Using the Japanese style baths onboard, lounges, playing some mah jong or with a deck of cards you pack, chatting with passengers, just disconnecting a bit until your boat gets there … it’s all an experience.
Yuki Matsuri is great! You’ll have a fantastic and magical time! I met my Japanese husband there in 2014, so I’ve got an extra nostalgic soft spot for it.
I used to ask myself this question.
But just recently I traveled from Sapporo to Tokyo and back with my 4 year old daughter. The time we stepped out of our apartment in Sapporo to the time we checked into our hotel room in Tokyo was about 9 hours. The flight is short, but you have to leave early because the airport is far away from the city, arrive at the airport early, check in for the flight, check bags, go through security, wait to board the plane, probably deal with delays, wait for your bag at your destination, and then take a long time to get to central Tokyo because the airports are far away from the city. It’s all very stressful, especially with a young child. If we could take the Shinkansen, we’d be relaxing on the train almost the whole time.
I’ve used the shinkansen from Tokyo to Hokkaido (Niseko), and I would do it again.
* **Price**: more expensive than flying
* **Time**: about the same time (5 hours) if you factor in transfer to / from airport, security check, etc.
* **Confort**: a lot more comfortable to sit in a comfy train for 4 hours than running around doing airport transfers, security checks, terminals and being stuck in a cramped plane for 2 hours. Also, you can see the landscape slowly turn from urban into a snowy wonderland while eating your delicious ekiben.
* **Carbon footprint**: Huge win for train, the carbon footprint of planes is a nightmare. It’s something you should care about. That’s the reason some EU countries banned domestic flights when there’s a high speed train alternative.
I’d use the train again.
I also went by ferry once (with the car). It takes 20 hours, but is super comfortable and you can relax and / or get super drunk. There’s a karaoke room you can rent by the hour. Loved it.
There is a law called the Basic Shinkansen Law which was passed decades ago and is intended to ensure everyone gets a Shinkansen even if they don’t really need it and it bankrupts the country.