Number of passengers carried via JR Shinkansen in Japan FY 2015-2022

Japan’s transportation system relies heavily on railroad transportation for passenger transport, both in and between urban areas. While travel in the largest cities is covered by metros and other types of rolling stock, inter-city travel often features the Shinkansen high-speed trains (colloquially called bullet trains). In the fiscal year 2022, Japan Railways' Shinkansen high-speed trains carried around 295 million passengers, increasing from 195 million passengers in the preceding fiscal year, which was an uncharacteristically low figure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Today operated by the Japan Railways Group, the Japanese bullet train has been renowned worldwide for its reliability regarding speed, punctuality, and safety since its inauguration in 1964.

What are the busiest Shinkansen lines?

Currently, there are seven companies governing the Shinkansen railroad system as it branches out in seven different regions of Japan. From North to South, they include the Hokkaido Shinkansen, the Tohoku Shinkansen, the Joetsu Shinkansen, the Tokaido Shinkansen, the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the San’yo Shinkansen, and the Kyushu Shinkansen. The busiest Shinkansen line is by far the Tokaido Shinkansen, which covers the route between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan’s two largest metropolitan areas. During peak traffic times, 10 or more trains depart in an hour on said route from Tokyo alone.

Consumers prefer trains to planes

The mode of transport of choice for long-distance domestic travel is hotly contested between the aviation and the railroad industry. During the past decade, consumers preferred train travel over plane travel, but the margin is not overwhelmingly large. The choice of transport most likely depends on the destination. Travelers going on super-long-distance travel, such as to Okinawa, situated at the southern end of Japan, or to Hokkaido, the northernmost inhabited island, may want or must rely on flights to quickly reach the target destination. Otherwise, for destinations to or close to urban areas on Japan’s main island, Honshu, the use of Shinkansen seems to prevail, despite the lower prices offered by (ultra-budget) flight providers. Reasons that explain these consumer preferences might be the high traffic density on major Shinkansen lines that allow passengers to be flexible with their travel time. The high comfort experienced on Shinkansen and the punctuality of bullet train travel might be other reasons.