The Shinkansen linking Tokyo with Osaka and Hakata has offered fully private cabins since 1 October. The new category, called “Supreme Class”, sits above the current first class and was launched by operators JR Central and JR West on 16-car N700S trains.
Each equipped train has two cabins: one for two people in car 7 and a single cabin in car 10. The door opens and locks with a dedicated card, and the cabins have reclining seats. The first service was “Nozomi 1”, which left Tokyo at 6:00am.
For now, the service runs on around 12 trains a day in both directions and is being gradually expanded. Between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, tickets start at 42,100 yen for the single cabin and 60,500 yen for the double cabin.
The operators also plan semi-private seats by the end of March 2028. It is the first time in over twenty years that the line has offered private compartments, after the old double-deck trains stopped running in 2003.
