Hokkaido Shinkansen

The Hokkaido Shinkansen carries the bullet train from Honshu to Hokkaido, 148.8 km from Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, and most of its trains run through from Tokyo. The view is not the point: for about twenty minutes the train is inside the Seikan Tunnel, 53.85 km long, 23.3 km of it under the Tsugaru Strait and 240 metres below sea level at its deepest.

What makes the ride unlike any other Shinkansen is that it has to slow down. The tunnel and its approaches are shared with the freight trains that carry Hokkaido's goods south, on track laid with three rails for two gauges, so the bullet train normally runs through at 160 km/h. Only on the busiest holidays, when freight is thin, is it allowed through at 260.

For eighty years before the tunnel opened in 1988, the crossing was made by ferry, and two of the old ferries are moored as museums at either end of the line: the Hakkōda Maru in Aomori and the Mashū Maru in Hakodate.

The line begins at Shin-Aomori, where the Tōhoku Shinkansen from Tokyo ends, six minutes from Aomori's old station on the Ōu Line. Northbound trains run out across the Tsugaru Peninsula through low forested hills, and sixteen minutes out the stopping trains call at Okutsugaru-Imabetsu, the last station in Honshu.

Under the strait

A few minutes later the train enters the Seikan Tunnel. Surveys began in 1946, and after five ferries were lost in a typhoon in 1954 the work became urgent. It was built to Shinkansen size from the outset, decades before any Shinkansen ran through it. The two headings met under the strait in 1983 and the tunnel opened on 13 March 1988, the day the ferries stopped. A time capsule buried at the meeting point is to be opened a hundred years after that date.

From the window there is only darkness and the lights of the tunnel wall. The train dips to 240 metres below sea level, about a hundred metres under the seabed, and climbs back out into Hokkaido near Kikonai, the first station on the island.

Shared rails

About 82 km of the line, the tunnel included, carries dual-gauge track: a third rail lets JR Freight's narrow-gauge container trains, hauled by locomotives of the EH800 class built for the tunnel's Shinkansen voltage, run on the same line. A bullet train passing a freight train at full speed could unsettle it, so the Shinkansen keeps to 160 km/h here. During the New Year, Golden Week and Obon holidays the two are kept apart by time of day, and the morning trains run through at 260 km/h, five or six minutes faster.

Into Hokkaido

Beyond Kikonai the line crosses farmland and forest to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, where the Shinkansen track stops at buffer stops pointing towards Sapporo. The Hakodate Liner meets the Shinkansen for the fifteen- to twenty-minute run into Hakodate, and the limited expresses to Sapporo leave from the same station.

The trains

Every train is a ten-car set, either JR East's E5, with a pink stripe, or JR Hokkaido's own H5, with a purple one chosen for the lilacs, lupins and lavender of Hokkaido. The two classes run in one pool, so either may turn up. Each has a Green car and a Gran Class car, the premium class above it; most services are Hayabusa, with a few stopping Hayate early in the morning and late at night.

Thirteen trains a day cross the strait in each direction, every day of the year. Most are Hayabusa running through to or from Tokyo; the fastest take 57 minutes between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto and 3 hours 57 minutes from Tokyo. Every seat is reserved.

Northbound — Tokyo and Shin-Aomori to Hokkaido (a selection)

Southbound — Hokkaido to Shin-Aomori and Tokyo (a selection)

Good to know:

• Stops. Only about half the trains call at Okutsugaru-Imabetsu and Kikonai; the rest run non-stop across the strait. The times above are departures.
• Into Hakodate. The Hakodate Liner meets the Shinkansen at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto for the 15- to 20-minute run to Hakodate; after Hayabusa 5, for example, the 12:35 reaches Hakodate at 12:50.
• Holiday running. At New Year, Golden Week and Obon, trains through the tunnel until mid-afternoon run at 260 km/h and keep different times. In summer 2026 that applied from 12 to 17 August, with the fastest Tokyo run cut to 3 hours 51 minutes; the New Year 2026–27 dates had not been announced.

Times as of October 2026, from JR Hokkaido's timetable. Check your date on JR Hokkaido's Hokkaido Shinkansen timetable (opens in a new tab).

Every seat is reserved, and a ticket is the fare plus a seat charge. From Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto that comes to ¥8,050, a little more in the busy seasons; from Tokyo, ¥24,200, and ¥24,530 through to Hakodate with the Hakodate Liner included. Buy them at any JR station ticket office.

A Green car seat costs ¥6,800 on top of the fare between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto instead of the ordinary seat charge, and Gran Class ¥13,800 on a Hayabusa. On some trains Gran Class runs without its attendant service. Fares checked October 2026 against JR Hokkaido's fare search; Japanese yen.

The Hokkaido Rail Pass does not cover this line. JR Hokkaido excludes the Hokkaido Shinkansen from it, so a holder still buys a ticket across the strait.

Two passes do cover it. The JR East–South Hokkaido Rail Pass, ¥40,000 for six consecutive days, covers JR East's lines and the Shinkansen to Hokkaido as far as Hakodate and Sapporo; a return from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto costs ¥48,400 in reserved seats, so it pays for itself on that trip alone. The Japan Rail Pass, ¥50,000 for seven days, covers it too, but is worth buying only for a longer tour of the country. For the crossing alone, from Shin-Aomori, no pass pays: the single fare is ¥8,050. Green car and Gran Class cost extra on the JR East–South Hokkaido pass.

Checked October 2026 against JR Hokkaido's rail pass page (opens in a new tab), JR East's JR East–South Hokkaido Rail Pass (opens in a new tab) page and the Japan Rail Pass prices (opens in a new tab).

Both ends repay a night. Aomori has the ferry museum and the nebuta; Hakodate, fifteen minutes beyond the line's end, has the other ferry, the star fort and the view from Mt Hakodate, with Ōnuma nine minutes up the line from Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto.

Stay in Hakodate rather than at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto: the city is a short ride away, and the ferry museum, the morning market and the ropeway are all within reach of its station. On the Honshu side, central Aomori is a better base than Shin-Aomori.

Planning this trip and stuck on something, or spotted a time, fare or detail that has changed? Send us a message about Hokkaido Shinkansen. We read every one, and we update this page when something has changed.