Gran Class Shinkansen Guide and Map

Gran Class is a new ultra-luxury shinkansen service in east Japan and Hokkaido. There’s even meal service on par with a good international flight.

Gran Class Shinkansen interior – JR East Photo

Gran Class is a new ultra-luxury service on the Tohoku, Hokuriku, Joetsu and Hokkaido shinkansen lines (central/northeast Honshu and Hokkaido). While Green Cars correspond roughly to business class seats on airplanes, Gran Class is clearly first class. With only 18 seats per car, there’s plenty of room to relax and recline.

On longer routes, your fare includes a meal and beverage service. For a luxurious trip from Tokyo to Kanazawa or Northern Honshu, Gran Class is the way to go! And since it’s a JR train, it’s utterly painless to get tickets.

Gran Class Shinkansen Route Map

This map summarises the different routes taken by the Gran Class shinkansen. You can also find an interactive Google map further down the page.

Schedules

Gran Class shinkansen run daily, morning to evening.
Download a PDF of Gran Class shinkansen timetables from JR East.
You can also check Google Maps, Jorudan, or any JR ticket counter.

E5 series shinkansen with Gran Class seats – JR East Photo

Reservations and Tickets

Buy at any JR Station in Japan.
Buy online at the JR East Reservation site.

Gran Class Shinkansen Google Map

You can zoom into this Google map of the different Gran Class shinkansen train routes, as well as using it to get directions to different points along the route.

Sample Fares

The following are total fares, including fare ticket and Gran Class surcharge.

Tokyo to Shin-Aomori (3 to 3.5 hours) on the Tohoku Shinkansen:

Ordinary car: ¥17,670
Green car: ¥23,740
Gran Class car: ¥28,980

Tokyo to Kanazawa (2.5 to 3 hours) on the Hokuriku Shinkansen:

Ordinary car: ¥14,380
Green car: ¥20,840
Gran Class car: ¥29,220

Japan’s Special Trains

Here are the other special luxury, sleeper, cuisine and sightseeing trains:

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