Can You Buy Food on the Shinkansen? Japanese Riders Explain Why the Trolley Vanished, and What They Do Instead
新幹線の車内販売はなぜ消えたのか——日本人乗客の総意と、代わりにやっていること
By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan
On the Tokaido Shinkansen the snack trolley is gone, and under a 2023 Japanese explainer the most-liked practical answer (137 likes) says the staffing shortage was only half of it: riders had already stopped buying, picking food up at a convenience store, a station shop or a department-store food hall before boarding. In the top 200 of 594 comments the complaints are specific. The cart was pricier (17 likes), one wagon could never match the lineup inside the station (20 likes), and a former cart worker says that on a bad run out of Shin-Osaka it did not reach the rear cars until past Odawara (99 likes). What Japanese riders actually miss is the rock-hard ice cream and the hot coffee, and the thread says where both live now.
These comments are from a video published in 2023. Prices, rules and crowds may have moved since; anything we checked ourselves is marked with a source.
“Onboard sales on the Tokaido Shinkansen didn't end just because of the staff shortage and labour costs. Almost every passenger now buys whatever food and drink they want at a convenience store, a station shop or a department-store food hall and carries it on board, so the cart's customers had basically vanished. That's a big part of it too. It really does feel like the end of an era.”
東海道新幹線の車内販売が終了したのは、人手不足や人件費削減だけでなく、コンビニや駅ナカ、デパ地下などで自分の好きな飲食物を事前に購入して新幹線に乗車する客がほとんどになって、車内販売の利用者がほぼ消滅したのも大きな原因ですよね。 まさに一つの時代が終了した感じです。
What Japanese people do instead
Thanks for the upload. On business trips down to Hiroshima I get a desperate craving for coffee somewhere past Shin-Osaka, and that's when cart coffee really helps. Oh, and the hard ice cream: I buy it at Tokyo Station and wait until Nagoya.
動画UPお疲れ様です。 出張で広島まで行く時に、新大阪を過ぎた辺りから無性にコーヒー飲みたくなるんですよね。 その時に車内販売のコーヒーがあると助かるんですよねぇ。 あっ、硬いアイスは東京駅で買って、名古屋駅まで待機です。
— @ピロ式-i2m22 likesThey're apparently increasing the platform vending machines to make up for it. Including the Shinkansen Sugoi Katai Ice.
naotoooike7894 ホームの自販機はその分増やすそうです。「シンカンセンスゴクカタイアイス」も。
— @神澤良和11 likesThe only things I'd buy from the cart are coffee or ice cream, where keeping the temperature matters. Bento and drinks I buy at Ekibenya Matsuri if I have time, or a convenience store inside the station if I don't. I doubt it's just me. I'd guess quite a few people do the same.
車内販売で買うのは温度保持が重要なコーヒーかアイスくらいだなあ。弁当や飲み物は時間があれば「駅弁屋 祭」で買うし、時間がなければ駅構内のコンビニで買う。自分だけじゃなく、そういう人は結構多いだろうと思う。
— @umakara5510 likesAt Tokyo Station there are so many shops selling bento on the way to the Shinkansen that you lose count of them. Buying at the station and then boarding has simply become the normal thing.
東京駅では新幹線に乗るまでに一体何軒お弁当が買える売店があるんだかってくらい多いですからね。 駅で買ってから新幹線に乗るのが普通になったと言う事でしょうね。
— @TU-sm1by8 likesWith the Kodama there are repeated waits in Shizuoka to let faster trains past, and the fact that you can go and buy at a platform or concourse convenience store during those is a big part of it.
こだま号の場合、静岡県内で何度も抜かれ待ちがあって、その時間にホームやコンコースのコンビニに買いに行かれる現実が大きいですね。
— @miraclesaorin127 likes
Places named in this article
- Ekibenya Matsuri (Gransta Tokyo)Tokyo Station, inside the ticket gates on the Central Passage
Named in the thread as where one rider buys bento when there is time, with a station convenience store as the fallback (10 likes). JR East Cross Station lists it inside the gates on the Central Passage, open from 5:30.
Sources: gransta.jp — checked 2026-08-19
Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.
FAQ
- Is there still food service on the Shinkansen?
- It depends on the line. On the Tokaido Shinkansen wagon sales ended on 31 October 2023, and from 1 November only Green Car passengers can order to their seat through a QR mobile-order service. On the Sanyo Shinkansen ordinary-car wagon sales ended on 15 March 2024, and the Green Car wagon is due to finish on 30 September 2026 and move to the same mobile order. JR East still runs a cart on Tohoku and Akita Shinkansen Hayabusa and Komachi services, but not on Hayate, Yamabiko or Nasuno.
Sources: raillab.jp · westjr.co.jp · traicy.com · jreastfaq.jreast.co.jp — checked 2026-08-19
- Where do Japanese passengers buy food before boarding the Shinkansen?
- At the station, before they get on. The most-liked explanation in this thread (137 likes) lists convenience stores, station shops and department-store food halls, and says that is why the cart lost its customers. One rider buys bento at Tokyo Station's Ekibenya Matsuri when there is time and a convenience store inside the gates when there is not (10 likes). Another points out that JR's own subsidiaries put kiosks and convenience stores inside the stations, so everything the cart sold became available at your departure station (19 likes).
- Can you still get the rock-hard Shinkansen ice cream?
- Yes, from vending machines rather than from a cart. Before the wagon ended, JR Central expanded vending machines on platforms and concourses at Nozomi stops, adding drip coffee and the Sujata ice cream sold as Shinkansen Sugoi Katai Ice; the dedicated ice-cream machines are at Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto and Shin-Osaka. Commenters flagged the plan at the time (11 likes), and one rider's trick is to buy it at Tokyo Station and let it soften until Nagoya (22 likes).
Sources: trafficnews.jp · itmedia.co.jp — checked 2026-08-19
- Should I bring my own drinks onto the Shinkansen?
- Japanese riders in this thread say yes, and they name the catch. The most-cited caveat (63 likes) is that a can of beer bought before boarding is lukewarm by the time you want the second one, which is exactly what people used the cart for; another commenter simply asks for vending machines in the cars (44 likes). If you are on a slow Kodama, one rider uses the long waits in Shizuoka where faster trains overtake to buy on the platform (7 likes).
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What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 594 comments
Riding out of Tokyo, my routine was bento after Shin-Yokohama, then coffee and ice cream somewhere past Nagoya. Not being able to do that anymore is rough.
東京から乗ると新横浜出た後に弁当食べて、名古屋過ぎたあたりでコーヒーとアイス食べるのが日常だったけどそれができなくなるのがつらい
Such a shame. About ten years ago the three of us ordered practically everything off the cart between Osaka and Tokyo, and a different attendant came round roughly every twenty minutes. All three of us blowing money on drinks, snacks, ice cream and bento every single time is a great memory.
凄く残念。10年くらい前に友達3人で大阪東京間のワゴン販売商品頼みまくった時は20分置きくらいに入れ替わり立ち替わり色んなお姉さんが来てくれた。その都度3人でお酒、お菓子、アイス、お弁当を買い散財したのはいい思い出。
I think it was a vicious circle. The cart doesn't sell, so they shrink the operation, so you can't count on a cart coming and you buy inside the station beforehand, so the cart sells even less. They used to explain that it was kept on partly as onboard security, but guards have been walking the trains for a few years now, so that reason went away as well. The thing is, a can of beer you bought beforehand is lukewarm by the time you drink it, so for the second one especially I'd really like to buy from the cart 😢
車内販売が売れない→車内販売の営業規模を縮小する→車内販売があるか期待できないから事前に駅ナカで買う→ますます車内販売が売れなくなる…の悪循環だったように思います。 これまでは車内の防犯対策として残しているという説明もありましたが、数年前から警備員が車内を巡回するようになり、その必要性も無くなりました。 ただ、事前に買った缶ビールだと飲む頃にはぬるくなってしまうので、特に2杯目は車内販売で買いたいんだけどなぁ…😢
I worked the cart as a student job, so this is a shame, but I did feel the staff shortage myself. On some trains they limited which cars we walked and the cart just wouldn't come. At worst, on a train out of Shin-Osaka, the cart didn't get round until we were past Odawara, and by then people had lost any urge to buy. I miss selling in that smoke hell. It's fairly punishing work, and I was unwell for a while after the job ended.
学生時代、車内販売のバイトをしていたので今回の件は残念です。しかし人出不足は実感してました。列車によっては巡回する号車を制限していたりなかなかワゴンが来ない(酷いときは新大阪発の列車でワゴンが来たのが小田原を過ぎてからということがありました)ので購買意欲がなくなってしまった事もありました。煙地獄で販売していたのが懐かしいです。結構激務なので私もバイト終了後、少しの間ですが体調不良になりました。
Once the JR group's own subsidiaries started running convenience stores and kiosks inside the stations, everything you could buy from the cart became available at your departure station, and that gutted cart sales. Convenience stores opening outside the stations may have played a part too.
ＪＲグループ各社の子会社が駅の構内でコンビニやキオスクを経営するようになった事で、ワゴン販売で買える物が出発駅でも買えるようになった事がワゴン販売の売り上げ激減に繋がった。駅の外にコンビニが出来た事も影響したのかもしれないな。
One wagon can only carry so much, so it was never going to match the lineup in the station.
ワゴンひとつで扱えるぶんが限度だからラインナップで敵わないもんなぁ
The cart was more expensive, after all.
ワゴンのほうが高いからね
Come to think of it, I did two round trips Nagoya to Tokyo and one Nagoya to Shin-Osaka this year, and I don't think there was a cart at all. The two years before that I only rode a few times because of covid, and there was no cart then either. Not long ago there was an announcement, "the cart will be coming through, we have souvenirs, beer, drinks, bento, ice cream and more, please do use it," and at some point I stopped hearing it. Honestly, ending it was only a matter of time
そういえば今年、名古屋と東京2往復、名古屋と新大阪1往復乗りましたが、車内販売無かったように思います。 去年一昨年もコロナ禍で数回しか乗らなかったですが、車内販売なし。 ちょっと前は車内アナウンスで「車内販売回らせていただきます、お土産、ビール、お飲み物、お弁当、アイス等準備してますのでぜひご利用ください。」 のアナウンスもあったのに、いつの間にか聞かなくなりました。 正直廃止は時間の問題だったと思いました。
Shinkansen onboard sales means one thing: the rock-hard ice cream.
新幹線は車内販売と言えば、固いアイスクリームです。
If they had cut the menu down to just the Sugoi Katai Ice and hot coffee, couldn't it have kept going?
メニューをスゴイカタイアイスとホットコーヒーだけに限定したら、まだやって行けたのでは？
When I ride the Tohoku Shinkansen I usually order hot coffee and a katsu sando from the cart, so if this spreads to JR East it will quietly hurt.
東北新幹線に乗った際に車内販売でホットコーヒーとカツサンドを頼むことが多いのでこれがJR東まで波及すると地味に痛い。
The way buying a bento or a tea flask through the window on the platform is fixed as the Showa image of trains, I suppose buying ice cream and coffee from a cart inside the train is going to become the Heisei image.
プラットフォームで窓から駅弁や水筒を買うのが昭和の鉄道のイメージとして定着してるように 列車内でワゴンからアイスやコーヒーを買うのが平成の鉄道のイメージになっていくのかな