TOKYO -- Starting March 14, passengers on Japan's high-speed shinkansen trains will no longer need to buy paper tickets.
Three of the country's regional railway operators -- East Japan Railway, West Japan Railway and Hokkaido Railway -- will offer the service, which will enable passengers with registered IC cards to ride on shinkansen trains without printed tickets. Central Japan Railway and JR West, which already operate a similar service called Smart EX, plan to incorporate Kyushu Railway into the new service in the spring of 2022.
