Two named trains run between Tokyo and Kanazawa on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, and the difference between them is not speed but seating. JR East lists the Kagayaki as “Reserved seats only”, and the Hakutaka as a train where “Seats in cars no. 1-4 are non-reserved”.
That single line decides more than where you sit. If you are travelling on a JR-WEST regional pass, the Kagayaki is closed to you entirely: JR West states that “The Kagayaki Hokuriku Shinkansen cannot be used because all seats are reserved seats.” If you hold the nationwide JAPAN RAIL PASS, the position is the opposite — that pass names only the Nozomi and Mizuho as excluded, and the Kagayaki is not on the list.
So before you look at a timetable, answer one question: which ticket are you holding? A JR-WEST area pass points you at the Hakutaka and its four unreserved cars. A nationwide pass or an ordinary ticket leaves both trains open.
The Kagayaki carries no non-reserved car at all
JR East’s own Hokuriku Shinkansen page describes the Kagayaki in three words: reserved seats only.
That is unusual on this line. Every other service JR East lists there keeps some unreserved capacity — the Hakutaka in cars 1 to 4, the Asama in cars 1 to 5, the Toki in cars 1 to 5, the Tanigawa in cars 1 to 10. The Kagayaki is the exception.
The practical consequence is that you cannot decide to take the Kagayaki once you are standing on the platform. There is no car you can walk into with a basic ticket and find a seat. A reservation has to exist before you board, which turns the Kagayaki from a train you catch into a train you book.
For a traveller with fixed dates that is fine, and arguably better — a reserved seat on a busy route is worth having. For a traveller improvising the day’s plan, it is a constraint to know about in advance rather than at the gate.
The Hakutaka keeps cars 1 to 4 unreserved
The Hakutaka is the service that behaves the way most visitors expect a shinkansen to behave. JR East states that seats in cars 1 to 4 are non-reserved.
Those four cars are what make the Hakutaka the flexible option. You can arrive at the station without a plan, buy or present a ticket, and walk into an unreserved car. If the day’s schedule is still moving — a museum that ran long, a lunch that ran longer — the Hakutaka absorbs that and the Kagayaki does not.
It is also the train that regional passes are built around, for exactly this reason. A pass that covers unreserved travel has something to cover on a Hakutaka and nothing to cover on a Kagayaki.
Which pass you hold changes which train you can board
This is the part that catches people out, because the two rules point in opposite directions.
JR-WEST regional passes. In its January 2024 announcement covering the JR-WEST All Area Pass and the Hokuriku Area Pass, JR West states plainly that the Kagayaki cannot be used because all its seats are reserved. The Hokuriku Shinkansen is included in those passes’ areas — the All Area Pass between Tsuruga and Joetsumyoko, the Hokuriku Area Pass between Tsuruga and Kurobe-Unazukionsen — but the Kagayaki specifically is not available to you.
The nationwide JAPAN RAIL PASS. Its conditions state that the pass “is not valid for any seats, reserved or non-reserved, on ‘NOZOMI’ and ‘MIZUHO’ trains on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines.” That is the whole exclusion list. The Kagayaki appears nowhere on it, and nowhere on the page dealing with trains that require a supplement.
The one Hokuriku-specific charge the nationwide pass does mention is Gran Class: when using a Gran Class car on the Tokaido, Hokkaido, Joetsu or Hokuriku Shinkansen lines, the limited express fee and the Gran Class fee must be paid additionally.
Read those two together and the rule is simple. Regional JR-WEST pass: Hakutaka only. Nationwide JAPAN RAIL PASS: either train, but the Kagayaki needs a seat reserved first.
Reserving the seat: one month before, at 10:00 Japan time
Because the Kagayaki is reserved-only, the reservation window matters more here than on a line where you could fall back on an unreserved car.
JR East’s FAQ for overseas visitors states that tickets can be purchased from 10:00 Japan time one month before the boarding date, whether you buy from outside Japan on its official site or, after arriving, at ticket counters and vending machines.
Two things follow. The window is tied to the boarding date, not to your trip, so an outbound journey and a return journey open on different days — one month before each. And 10:00 in Tokyo is not 10:00 where you are: Japan is UTC+9 and does not use daylight saving, so work out your own local time before the day arrives rather than during it.
If your dates are firm and you want the Kagayaki, that opening moment is the thing to diarise. If your dates are not firm, the Hakutaka’s unreserved cars remove the problem entirely.
The line no longer stops at Kanazawa
Kanazawa was the western end of the Hokuriku Shinkansen for nine years. It is not any more.
JR West’s announcement gives the date: the extension opened on Saturday 16 March 2024, and JR East now describes the line as running Tokyo – Nagano, Kanazawa, Tsuruga. Kanazawa is a station along the route rather than the terminus.
For a Tokyo–Kanazawa journey this changes nothing about which train you take, but it changes what you should expect on the platform and on the departure boards. A train showing Tsuruga rather than Kanazawa as its destination is still your train. It also means the pass areas quoted above are described in terms of Tsuruga, not Kanazawa, which is why the wording can look unfamiliar if you are working from older guidance.
If you are planning to continue west from Kanazawa rather than turn around, that extension is the reason it is now possible to stay on the same shinkansen line to do it.
Choosing, in one pass
The decision reduces to two questions, in this order.
First, what are you travelling on? A JR-WEST All Area Pass or Hokuriku Area Pass rules the Kagayaki out; take the Hakutaka. A nationwide JAPAN RAIL PASS or an ordinary ticket leaves both open.
Second, are your dates fixed? If yes, and the Kagayaki is available to you, reserve it at the window opening one month before departure. If your plans are still moving, the Hakutaka’s cars 1 to 4 mean you do not have to decide anything in advance.
Everything else about the two trains — where you sit, what the departure board says, whether the destination reads Kanazawa or Tsuruga — follows from those two answers.
Sources Checked
JR East — official Hokuriku Shinkansen route map page
Confirmed the train names running on the line (Kagayaki, Hakutaka, Asama, Toki, Tanigawa), that the Kagayaki is “Reserved seats only”, that the Hakutaka has non-reserved seats in cars 1 to 4, the non-reserved car ranges for the Asama, Toki and Tanigawa, and that the line is described as running Tokyo – Nagano, Kanazawa, Tsuruga.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/routemaps/hokurikushinkansen.html
JR West — news release of 23 January 2024
Confirmed that the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension opened on Saturday 16 March 2024, that the Kagayaki cannot be used on the passes covered because all its seats are reserved, and the pass areas quoted (Tsuruga to Joetsumyoko for the JR-WEST All Area Pass, Tsuruga to Kurobe-Unazukionsen for the Hokuriku Area Pass).
https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pdf/press_20240123.pdf
JAPAN RAIL PASS — official scope of validity
Confirmed that the pass is not valid for any seats, reserved or non-reserved, on Nozomi and Mizuho trains on the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen lines, that the Kagayaki is not named among the exclusions, and that Gran Class on the Hokuriku Shinkansen requires the limited express fee and Gran Class fee to be paid additionally.
https://japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp/route/
JAPAN RAIL PASS — official page on trains requiring a supplement
Confirmed that only the Nozomi and Mizuho are listed as not covered, and that the Kagayaki does not appear on that page.
https://japanrailpass.net/en/use/special-ticket/
JR East — official FAQ for overseas visitors
Confirmed that tickets can be purchased from 10:00 Japan time one month before the boarding date, from JR East’s official site and, in Japan, at ticket counters and vending machines.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/en/multi/faq/
Last updated: September 2026
