Nozomi (Shinkansen)

Shinkansen 500 Series at Kyoto Station, March 2005

The interior of a 700 Series Shinkansen (Nozomi), September 2004

Nozomi (のぞみ) is the fastest train service running on the Tōkaidō/Sanyō Shinkansen. Along the stretch between Shin-Kobe and Hakata, Nozomi services using 500 series equipment reach speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph). A trip between Tokyo and Osaka, a distance of 515 kilometers, takes only 2.5 hours on the Nozomi.

The 500 Series Shinkansen and 700 Series Shinkansen are presently used for Nozomi services. The N700 Series Shinkansen, currently under testing, is scheduled to be introduced on Nozomi services starting in the summer of 2007. It is projected by 2009 that all through Nozomi services (i.e. Tokyo-Hakata) will be operated exclusively by N700 trains.

The trains stop at slightly fewer stations than the Hikari trains. On the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Nozomi trains stop at Tokyo Station, Nagoya Station, Kyoto Station, and Shin-Osaka Station. On the Sanyō line, all Nozomi trains stop at Shin-Kobe Station, Okayama Station, Hiroshima Station, Kokura Station, and Hakata Station. Certain Nozomi trains stop at additional stations as well. The Nozomi is the only JR train service not covered by the Japan Rail Pass.

The word nozomi in Japanese means "hope" or "wish". It was selected since something faster than the existing services Hikari, "light, ray", and Kodama, "echo", was needed.

Nozomi began service on March 14 1992.

Nozomi Stopping Patterns (as of March, 2006)

Additional trains with different stopping patterns are added during various holiday and peak-travel periods and are not included in this table. Other shinkansen stations not served by the Nozomi are also not included.

Key
■ Terminal station
● All trains stop
▲ Some trains stop (train numbers in parentheses)
—- No trains stop/Service does not run here

Route	Tokyo - Hakata	Tokyo - Hiroshima	Tokyo - Okayama	Tokyo - Himeji	Tokyo - Shin-Osaka	Shin-Osaka - Hakata	Nagoya - Hakata
Train #	1-52	60-75	81-94, 96, 97, 98	80, 95	100-324	500, 501	54, 56, 59
Tokyo	■	■	■	■	■	—-	—-
Shinagawa	●	▲ (60, 62, 66, 69, 73, 75)	▲ (82, 97)	▲ (80)	▲	—-	—-
Shin-Yokohama	●	●	●	●	▲	—-	—-
Nagoya	●	●	●	●	●	—-	■
Kyoto	●	●	●	●	●	—-	●
Shin-Osaka	●	●	●	●	■	■	●
Shin-Kobe	●	●	●	●	—-	●	●
Himeji	—-	▲	●	■	—-	—-	—-
Okayama	●	●	■	—-	—-	●	●
Fukuyama	▲	▲	—-	—-	—-	—-	—-
Hiroshima	●	■	—-	—-	—-	●	●
Tokuyama	▲	—-	—-	—-	—-	—-	—-
Shin-Yamaguchi	▲	—-	—-	—-	—-	—-	▲ (54, 59)
Kokura	●	—-	—-	—-	—-	●	●
Hakata	■	—-	—-	—-	—-	■	■