You may sit in any non-reserved seat car for all Shinkansen trains (excluding Nozomi and Mizuho trains) and Ltd. Express trains that have non-reserved seat cars within the JAPAN RAIL PASS valid area without making a prior seat reservation. The JAPAN RAIL PASS cannot be used to board Nozomi or Mizuho trains on Tokaido, Sanyo, or Kyushu Shinkansen lines for non-reserved or reserved seats (including Green Car seats). You will first need to purchase an [ONLY WITH JAPAN RAIL PASS] NOZOMI MIZUHO Ticket.
To use reserved seats on trains other than Nozomi or Mizuho trains or travel on trains that only have reserved seats with no non-reserved seats, you must book your reserved seat in advance. Reserved seat tickets can be booked for no additional charge from railway station reserved seat ticket vending machines, the JR Ticket Office (Midori-no-madoguchi), or travel centers. If you purchased your JAPAN RAIL PASS from the JAPAN RAIL PASS Reservation (hereinafter referred to as "JRPR") service, you can book reserved seat tickets through JRPR.
For more details about the valid area, please see here.
For more details about issuing reserved seats, please see here.
FAQ ID：0639e