If you travel to or from Osaka on the shinkansen then you will pass through Shin-Osaka Station. This is the only station in Osaka that is connected to the shinkansen network and it is the common terminus of two shinkansen lines: the Tokaido line and the Sanyo line.

This is a common point of confusion: you cannot take the Shinkansen (bullet train) directly from the main Osaka Station in the Umeda district. All Shinkansen services in the region operate out of Shin-Osaka Station, which is located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) north of the city center. To catch your bullet train in 2026, you must first take a local JR train from Osaka Station to Shin-Osaka Station; the trip on the JR Kyoto Line takes only about 3 to 4 minutes and runs every few minutes. Alternatively, you can take the Midosuji Subway Line (Red Line) to Shin-Osaka. Once at Shin-Osaka, you can access the Tokaido Shinkansen heading east toward Kyoto and Tokyo, or the Sanyo Shinkansen heading west toward Hiroshima and Fukuoka. If you are using a Japan Rail Pass, remember that "Nozomi" and "Mizuho" trains require a separate supplement ticket, so look for the "Hikari," "Kodama," or "Sakura" platforms. Always allow at least 15 minutes for the transfer between the local platforms and the high-speed Shinkansen gates.